Henry E. Westwood

1883 - 1939  (56 years)

• Name	Henry E. Westwood
  Born	11 Jun 1883  [1]
  Gender	Male
  Interesting	accident, story
  Misfortune	1939
  	Accident: killed in gas accident
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-387851
  Died	11 Jul 1939	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Buried	Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Person ID	I387851	Generations
  Last Modified	7 Nov 2024

  
  

  Family	Ellen Elizabeth Thorn,   b. 21 Jun 1890, , England ,   d. 28 Sep 1925, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 35 years)
  Last Modified	12 Nov 2024
  Family ID	F262334	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  3 Galt Workmen Drowned in Tank Overcome by Gas; Topple Into Two Feet of Water; Foreman Dies, in Attempted Rescue. GALT.-After consulting Crown Attorney Clement of Kitchener, Coroner James McQueen called an inquest for Monday night into the triple fatality at the septic tank of the city sewage disposal plant on Water Street South Tuesday morning, in which three regular Board of Works employees lost their lives. The Coroner's belief the men were drowned when they were overcome by sewer gas, was confirmed by a postmortem performed. The victims were Harry E. Westwood, 58, widowers, father of five, City Sewer Inspector and city employee for 28 years: Albert Hatfield. 49, married, city employee for 11 years, and William E. (Pete) Britton, 31, father of two small daughters, employed by the city since the spring. Victims of Methane Gas A theory was advanced that the men were victims of methane gas, the presence of which cannot be de tected, and that they toppled into the water which was only about a foot deep. The tragedy was not discovered until shortly before noon when Works Superitendent William Mc Lellan motored to the plant to bring the men back to the city. He found the door open, but saw no trace of them. He went in to make inquiries at an adjoining garage, and with H Kitchen, a mechanic, went back to the building and made the discovery. Firemen were called, and one without a gas mask went down into the hole and attached ropes for lifting the bodies. Hatfield and Britton were wearing rubber boots, while Westwood, the foreman, had on leather shoes, which led to the belief that he probably gave his life in an attempted rescue, when the other two were overcome. Kitchen said he heard the men in the tank shouting about 45 minutes before the bodies were found. "We didn't think anything of it," he said "They often called to each other for pieces of equipment or to have some one turn on a valve." The tank in which the men lost their lives is 12 feet long, 6 feet wide, with board covering and 16 feet deep. The Waterloo Chronicle (Waterloo, Ontario), Friday July 14, 1939, pages 1 and 8

  
  

• Sources

  [S2598] Cemetery - ON, Waterloo, Cambridge - Trinity Anglican Cemetery Internet Link. Henry E./ WESTWOOD/ Jun. 11, 1883 - Jul. 11, 1939/ Ellen E./ THORN/ June 21, 1890/ Sept. 29, 1925/

  
  

• Event Map

  Died - 11 Jul 1939 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Buried - - Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth