Eric Ernest Cousins (9)

The Dakeyne Street Communal Shelter was located under Black’s lace factory at the junction of Dakeyne Street and Carlton Road, Nottingham. During the raid of May 9th 1941, the shelter sustained a direct hit which killed twenty two people, fifteen of them children. Many years later, Ethel Warwick (née Cousins) remembered: ‘There was my father and two brothers and myself at home in Sneinton. Dad said we were going to stay together but things got a bit hottted up around us so I said to my brothers that we were going to the shelter. It got a direct hit after about two minutes – I got hold of my brother Eric’s hand but there were a lot of bricks on him. I don’t remember much after that but someone got me out and took me to King Edward Park. They took my brother to the morgue they’d set up in the Victoria Baths. I was terrified for the rest of the war. As soon as the sirens went, I just panicked.’ (Nottingham Evening Post, Letters 20/2/1986)

Nottingham Evening Post, Deaths, Monday May 12th 1941: COUSINS- Eric, beloved son of Joseph, late Martha killed by enemy action. Asleep with mama. Service St Alban’s, Wednesday 12.0, Funeral Wilford Hill – Broken hearted father, brothers (Joe and Harry in Egypt), sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins. Nottingham Evening Post, 9/5/1942, Page 2, In Memoriam: COUSINS – Treasured memories of our darling Eric, died through enemy action one year today. Asleep with mam, dad. – From sisters and brothers. COUSINS – Silent sorrow, our dear brother Eric. Safe with Jesus – Dick and Harold. COUSINS – Treasured memories of nephew Eric. A beautiful flower in God’s garden. Reunited with mammy, daddy – Aunties Kitty, Florrie. Uncles Claude, Albert. Cousins. Grave Reference: Wilford Hill: H27/60 Buried 14/5/1941