AN HISTORIAN is appealing to the people of Barmouth to help him write a book to commemorate the 125th anniversary of a tragic boating accident near the town.

Ten holidaymakers died when their boats were swamped on the Mawddach estuary in August 1894 and author, Dr Douglas Hope, is keen to speak to anyone who may have information on the people and circumstances surrounding that fateful day.

The visitors were on a holiday organised by the Co-operative Holidays Association, which had been established the previous year by church minister Thomas Arthur Leonard chiefly to help the working class escape the polluted and crowded cities in which they lived and worked.

Nineteen visitors set off from Barmouth in three 18ft rowing boats on the evening of 1 August, heading upstream on the River Mawddach estuary to visit a gold mine at Bontddu.

But tragedy struck on the return journey when waves crashed over the sides of two of the boats, forcing the passengers into the water.

An extract from the Cambrian News following the disaster reads: “On arriving in Barmouth, relatives were so affected on seeing the dead bodies of their loved ones that the by-standers were affected to tears.

“Mr Greenwell could scarcely be got to leave his dead daughter whom he passionately kissed.

“The bodies of seven of the victims were transported to their respective homes on Friday 3 August, with the exception of that of Mr Newman, which wasn’t found until the Saturday morning and that of Marie Reid, which was privately interred in Llanaber churchyard on Saturday 4 August, the Rector of Barmouth officiating, and her mother, brother, Herbert from London and younger sister, Gertrude from Edinburgh attending as chief mourners.

“The body of the tenth victim, Edith Moore was never found.”

If you have any details on the tragedy or for more information, visit douglashope.co.uk or contact him via email: [email protected]

Read the full story in this Thursday’s north editions of the Cambrian News