WITH reference to the Zeppelin raid on York which resulted in fatalities, this was in the late evening of Tuesday, May 2, 1916, in which six men and three women were killed.

George Avison, 71, at 13 Upper Price Street, whose house received a direct hit, plus Sarah Ann Avison, 69 (wife of the above); Edward Gordon Beckett, 29, in St Saviours Place, an army sergeant on leave who lived at 4 St John Place, Hungate; Emily Beatrice Chapman, 28, at 6 Nunthorpe Avenue, a railway clerk; William Chappelow, 49, in St Saviour’s Place, a coal bargeman who lived at 32 Garden Place, Hungate; Ernest Coultish, 24, in St Saviour’s Place, captain of a barge, who lived 47 Volta Street, Selby; Leslie Hinson, 18, in St Saviour’s Place, a soldier who was billeted on Knavesmire, native of Hessle; Benjamin Sharpe, 20, in St Saviour’s Place, Leetham’s Mill worker who lived 1 Wilsons Row, Layerthorpe; and Susannah Waudby, 65, in St Saviour’s Place, lived at 8 St Saviour’s Place.

It appears that several people gathered in St Saviours Place to see the new huge structure in the sky and were killed in the open air.

There were further Zeppelin raids on York later in 1916, on September 25 and November 27, fortunately without any further fatalities David Poole, Penyghent Avenue, York.

• IN REPONSE to Roger Lake’s letter, there were three raids on the city in 1916.

The first was on May 2, in which one Zeppelin dropped 17 bombs, one high explosive, three incendiary and other explosives. Nine people were killed and 27 were injured. The areas bombed were Dringhouses, Scarcroft Road and Hungate.

The second raid was on September 26, when one zeppelin dropped eight bombs, explosive and incendiary, in the Heworth area; there were no casualties.

The third raid was on November 27, when two machines dropped 16 bombs, explosive and incendiary; in this raid four people were killed and 37 were injured. Both Zeppelins were shot down, one off Durham and the other off Norfolk.

Further information can be found in the book by the late AJ Peacock, York In The Great War 1914-1918.

Peter A Jackson, Elma Grove, Shipton Road, York.

• ROGER LAKE asks about Zeppelin raids on York during the First World War (Letters, March 31).

I am sure I have read that York has the dubious distinction of being the only British city bombed more heavily in the First World War than in the Second. Certainly there were a number of raids, and I believe that on at least one occasion casualties – particularly in The Groves area – were depressingly high by the standards of the time.

A less fatal attack took place in the spring of 1916, straddling Fulford, Osbaldwick and Heworth. The first Heworth bomb fell at the junction of Main Avenue and Second Avenue, creating a substantial crater in the road and damaging properties. Another fell between the last house on the south side of East Parade and the West Front of Holy Trinity Church. I’ve seen a photograph of the house with its front blown in entirely; and it is believed, locally, that the missing pinnacle on the church tower is a consequence of this blast.

That said, there isn’t a trace of damage to the west front of the church. Presumably a restoration was carried out, though I have been unable to uncover the details.

Jeremy Muldowney, Churchwarden, Holy Trinity and St Wulstan, Heworth, York.