The Lynmouth Flood Disaster. Bananas and Other Surprising Gifts

As well as for its extraordinary beauty, Lynmouth is known for the flood disaster on the night of 15–16 August 1952 in which over 100 buildings were destroyed and the final death toll reached 34.

Much of the tragedy has been catalogued and indeed many of our guests who come to stay with us at St Vincent Guest House are those who were here at the time, or those who have studied the flood in their Geography lessons.

We were given a book by a guest called The Lynmouth Flood Disaster by Eric D Delderfield (1953) and were fascinated by the stories of hope and goodwill that emerged from the tragedy. One thing that stood out was the amount of support and gifts that arrived within days of the flood happening. Within six weeks, more than 12,000 parcels and some 21,500 letters of sympathy arrived, all delivered by the British Railways and Post Office free of charge.

The wide range of gifts sent to Lynton Town Hall from all over the world varied from caravans to

A child with her dog at the rest centre

carpet-cleaning soap and from paints to toys and sweets. Toys from America, tinned food from New Zealand and currant bushes, strawberry plants, daffodil and iris bulbs from various parts of Britain. Some of the most touching gifts came from people had no money, but who sent their wedding and engagement rings as part of the relief aid.

People power was also volunteered. The American Airforce offered to fly any items required, the Norwegian Chamber of Trade river technicians and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company engineers.

W A Bustamante

One of the most striking donations came from Jamaica – five tons of bananas, five tons of sugar and half a ton of coffee! This gift came from W A Bustamante, the sixty-eight year old Chief Minister of the Jamaican Legislature who later became the first Jamaican Prime Minister following the country’s independence in 1962. When he arrived in Lynmouth, he met with those who had lost their homes and expressed his sorrow and that he was here reciprocating the help that Britain had given to Jamaica following the hurricane that almost destroyed the country twelve months before.

During his address, hands of bananas were given out as he said:

“Poor children, you shall long remember the terrible experience through which you have passed. You shall have your lovely homes rebuilt. You shall be happy. You shall forget. You shall grow up lovely, strong people like your mummies and daddies. You shall have bananas. One ton, two ton, three ton, four ton, five tons of bananas.”

If you know of any photographs of this event, we would love to see them!

Jackie King being given a banana from Bustamante. She says it was possibly the first banana she had ever seen!