Horace John William Crump was one of two men to die following an accident at the George Kent munition works at Chaul End on January 8th, 1917.

Born and bred in Caddington, he had moved to live at 90 Ash Road, Luton, with wife Ada Elizabeth and their seven children. The bricklayer's labourer was working as a labourer at the Chaul End works at the time of his death.

Details of exactly what had happened at 11 am on that Monday morning were not given at the opening of an inquest two days later, but an explosion involving materials being used at the works is implied. Works manager Mr Arnold G. Hansard said the incident was very violent and disastrous. Mr Crump, aged 45, and fellow employee Herbert Andrews, aged 17, had received such injuries that they could not possibly survive.

Mr Crump was taken to the Bute Hospital in Luton, where he died at 5.25 on the afternoon of the incident. Herbert Andrews had died on the way to hospital. A third victim, Harry Rowe, aged 17, of Luton Road, Toddington, was badly injured but survived.

Mr Crump was included on the George Kent Roll of Honour containing the names of ten civilians who lost their lives working for the firm. He is also commemorated on the Caddington War Memorial in the village churchyard.

The George Kent memorial is now housed at Stockwood Discovery Centre.

[Photo courtesy of Mr Crump's grandson, Alan Moore]