§ Mr. R. Beaumontasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he can make any statement with regard to the accident at Whale Island on 23rd February in which a stoker received fatal injuries when a 12-pounder field gun overturned?
Lord StanleyThe accident to which my hon. Friend refers occurred during a practice of the field gun run for the Tournament to be held at Olympia. In part of this demonstration the gun, on its carriage, has to be run at speed up a ramp. Unfortunately on this occasion the gun did not run quite straight and one wheel slipped over the edge of the ramp with the result that the gun and carriage toppled over. In their fall they struck one member of the gun team, Robert H. Rumbelow, Stoker, 1st Class, of H.M.S. Excellent, who received injuries to the head from which, I regret to say, he died shortly after admission to hospital. The inquest was held on Friday, 26th February last, when the jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure.