Pea Soupers!

[DougT]

Listening to Radio essex this morning they were interviewing people that had moved from the East End of London to Harlow when the town was being developed 65 years ago. A couple of people mentioned that one thing they did miss ( and were glad to) were Pea Souper Fogs.

I'm sure many of us of a certain age have memories of thos fogs particularly given the amount of industry in Newham and the Docks which seemed to make the fogs particularly severe.

I think it was in 1962or 1963 that such a fog descended on London towards the end of November and lasted for around a week. I had just started work in Tottenham Court Road and remember having to go to work on a train that crawled a long and when you were at street level it was necessary to have a scarf over your mouth to prevent the fog being inhaled.

Does anyone else have clear memories of foggy days.

Doug

[alan B]

Oh yes, this item could be as big as pie & mash shops. My first memory is of trolly buses all lined up one behind the other unable to move. The bus garage oppersite the YMCA used to burn huge flares to show the entrance to the garage. I used to earn a bob or two walking in front of cars acting as a pilot for the drivers. At the bottem of Sandal st on the North Woolwich line there was a signal, sometimes I would walk down and talk to the "Fogman" who would stand there with a brazier burning to keep warm with, until relieved. He could see the signal above him and as a train approaced he indicated to the driver if he could proceed onwards or not.
I can remember my own grandad he was a tram driver at Leyton, getting lost on the way home from a shift what was anormal 15 minute walk took over 3 hours. But af course as kids we loved to go out in them, they were cold, very damp and  we had no idea of the problems that they bought.

[MBrennan]

I was only born that year so obviously don't remember  - wasn't it called smog - or is that something else?

Speaking of Harlow. I have no idea why, but my mum was born in Harlow hospital even though they lived in Leyton. Maybe they anticipated problems (her mum died after giving birth). My mum and dad considered moving to Harlow when they got married. She said they planned on looking at a few houses. During the day they stopped off at a pub and it had a spittoon. She said that was enough to put her off living there 

[MickG]

I remember the pea souper fog of 1962/63. At the time I was a telegram boy based at Telephone House in the Woodgrange Road and the fog lasted for the best part of a week. In the initial stages we were still delivering telegrams on motorbikes but at a snails pace due to the thickness of the fog. All of the telegram boys reported the same phenomena of large queues of traffic tailing each motorbike. The fog was so thick, motorists could see nothing through their windscreens so when they saw a motorbike, they followed that instead hoping it would lead them a bit further on their journeys. In the end, the fog got so bad, even the motorbikes were grounded for safety reasons. That meant walking long distances to deliver telegrams.

The higher managers in the Post Office issued a emergency authorisation to use petty cash to buy face masks from Boots also situated in Woodgrange Road, I think we bought most of their stock. These were the cotton gauze type with a tinplate holder that went over the mouth and nose, all held together by an elastic band around the head. Each time we went out on foot to deliver telegrams, we were issued with a number of replacement gauzes for the masks. After about 30 minutes they need changing as they became dark black with particles of airborne soot carried by the fog. It was far better all that soot got trapped in the face mask gauze rather than us breathing it.

It was also impossible for anyone to get home, most public transport was halted as well, so we were forced to sleep on the premises. As most homes did not have telephones at that time, local telegram and sorting offices were contacted to visit our homes to let parents know where we were and that we were also safe.

I never encountered a pea souper while in the fire service but there was a procedure laid down just in case one occurred. Each appliance held a number of the long wax sticks that could be lit. If the fog was too bad, firefighters were supposed to light the wax sticks and proceed ahead of the fire appliance on either flank acting as a guide to the driver. Again if the fog became impossibly thick, the escape ladder, the one with the two large carriage wheels was supposed to be shipped from the fire appliance and then raced through the streets with everyone shouting, Hi, Hi at the tops of their voices as a warning to pedestrians and traffic.

I am glad to say that never happened as I always had a vision of doing that and then the fog suddenly lifting leaving everyone looking like a bunch of charlies.

[Duncan_Barrett]

Amazing stories! We spoke to one woman who told us that she got lost three times trying to get home in the smog one time, and by the time she did, not just her clothes but her underwear as well was all black!

[JMC]

Remember a really bad pea souper - I was at Ashburton senior school and when school finished and we were due to go home you could not see a hand in front of you - I would normally catch a bus from Canning Town to Forest Gate and then another bus to West Ham (used to live just opposite the football stadium) there was obviously no buses running so I started to walk - had no idea whatsoever where I was going - had been walking about five minutes when a lady asked me which way I was going and I told her and she said that she was going the same way and would I like to walk with her - thank goodness I did it was really very scary not knowing where you were going and she took me straight to my front door - whenever I think of that time I think of that really kind lady and not knowing who she was and never seeing her again.

JMC

[nelliesgirl]

I can remember the pea souper's. As a child my mother would place a scarf around our faces, so that we would not breath in the fog. I had  had T.B. so this was a worry for Mum, so when it was really bad, I was kept at home. When the children walked to school they would walk down Napier Road feeling the low walls that where there, so they knew they had not strayed from the pavement. I can recall a little lad was knocked down and killed in Stephens Road, during one of these pea souper's,which as been said could last for several days.
 
It was in 1942, during a pea souper that my uncle George Pink was killed, by accident,  on his way to work, by bike, to the docks,from East Ham, when he was knocked down by a trolley bus.  When these pea souper fell over London, the sound of traffic was distorted, and muffled, it was not clear from which direction the noise of the traffic was coming from.


Nell

[ed styles]

Talking of the Pea Souper of 62-63 ,I,m surprised nobody has posted on the terrible one 10 years before in Dec 52 -53 .in which 4000 people died of breathing problems in London, I have good reason to remember this one as my dad was one of the fatalities .
Getting back to the 62 one I was an Apprentice in the Docks then, and can remember having to finish work early when these smogs were really bad, and I always understood it was a Directive Order from the P.L.A.to clear the Docks ,to prevent anybody falling into the Docks and disapearing from view.

                                         ED
.

[Albert]

Hi Mick,
I remember that fog well as I was working in Bethnal Green at the time and used to go to work on a moped.
As I came down Old Ford Road to the roundabout at the corner of Victoria Park I couldn't even see the kerb so I hooked the heel of my shoe on it as I rode along. I wanted to go straight across the roundabout and I knew the first turn left went up to Hackney through the park so I had to let go of the kerb with my heel and hope to find the other side. But I had forgotten there were entrances on each corner of the park and found the kerb on the other of the entrance and started going up towards Hackney. I realised there was something wrong when I never came to the Skew  Bridge so I got off my moped and found the wire fence of the park.
When I sorted that out and got on my way again I reached Bow Road with a queue of cars behind me. I went along the Bow Road to Abbey Lane and turned right with my convoy behind me then down Abbey Lane I lost the kerb at the left hand bend and rode straight up to the waterworks gates I knew what I had done and turned around but unfortunately it was't so easy for the convoy of cars behind me.
My future wife lived in Manor Road buildings so I stopped off to see her and by this time the heel of my shoe was nearly worn out.
I couldn't stay because it had taken a hour and half for a 15 minute ride and I had to get home because as we had no phones then I knew  my Mum would be worried.
If I remember correctly that fog lasted for about a week but gradually got better.

Albert

[Robert Rogers]

I used to live in Star Lane, and the buses terminating at Trinity Church would then drive through to get to the Barking road and back to the Garage. When the fog was thick, the conductor would walk in front of the bus with a `Tilly` lamp swinging from side to side to guide the Driver. These buses which with the fog and going so slow were almost silent and would suddenly come out of the Fog, with this light swinging and the head lights on, then slowly glide past like a Ghost before disappearing back into the fog with just the rear red lights fading into the gloom.

[MickG]

I think the pea souper smog we had in the early 1960's was probably the last worst one we had. Although I now live in a rural environment and we still get fog and thick mist where I live, there is no way they can be compared with smog.

As I recall, even in daylight everything was still darkish and gloomy with a sort of mustard brown colour everywhere with visibility reduce to only a few feet. Although we are unconsciously aware of it, there is a natural ring or echo to most things, even our footsteps. In the smog however, every thing was muffled and quiet, the lack of noise was quite disorientating. Where the brain normally calculates speed, distance and the position of things from surrounding sounds, with all these removed it was not surprising people got lost, even on foot. It is usually said that a blind person is in their own element in a fog, but I am certain given the lack of surrounding sound, even a blind person with their heightened senses would have found things disorientating.

It is hard to imagine just how restrictive to light that smog was, but I do recall touching one of those smaller lamp posts we used to have and not being able to see the light coming from the top. Every thing was so restrictive that it was not possible at times to see the other end of a terraced house.

Worst of all was the health effects. I was a teenager at the time and quite healthy but I know the more elderly or those with breathing disorders really suffered. Most of the time I was wearing a gauze face mask and even after a short time, it was not just darkened, it was jet black. It makes one wonder that if my face mask could be turned so black with just the bit of air I breathed in, just how much soot in tonnage there must have been suspended in the atmosphere.

Fortunately the Clean Air Act has now removed most of the damaging soot particles from the atmosphere and coal fires tend to be something of a rarity nowadays.

It must seem strange to be talking about the physical effects of smog but unless one commits these thoughts to writing now, how would future generations ever know about them.

[DougT]

Robert

Came across the attached photograph of a bus on route 15 being guided by the conductor through the smog of London.

Doug

[ALANF]

I have a bizzare memory of the pea souper of 62. My Father had recently died of lung cancer, and my sister said to me, "I'm glad that Dad died when he did. Can you imagine how he would be suffering if he was still alive"? On the face of it, a cruel remark, but I fully agreed with her.

Alan

[Will.B]

It's suprising how many places were affected by those fogs, at that time I worked in Canning Town but lived in Dagenham and I use to take the van home at night, on one of those bad foggy nights I decided that I would not go home by the A13 which was my normal route home but would go via Barking Road which was lit up more than the A13, but I still had nightmare journey home, I thought I was going in the right direction until I heard somebody shout stop, and I then found myself facing the entrance to Young Husband and Stevens which was in the the wrong direction.
 On another occasion after working on a ship in Tilbury we had to come home from there with each of us taking turns to walk in front of the van.
When researching my West Ham family tree and looking at the death Certificates it's suprising now how many of them died with Bronchitis and other respiratory diseases. but as well as the smogs there were many other reasons for this, not least of all heavy smoking which was not known then to be bad for you health.

[Robert Rogers]

Great, this one look as thought he has a rather more fancy version, more like the sticks they use for Airport control, but at least it proved my memeory was not playing tricks after 50 odd years