How south Essex has survived heatwaves throughout history

We could see the record-breaking temperatures. But, of course, we’ve seen it all before. Historic heatwaves are plentiful.

People have always needed to find ways of keeping cool when it becomes too sweltering to bear. That has meant drinking plenty of water and beer, sleeping outside in the garden and even night-swimming on the seafront in Southend.

But in August of 1932 a late summer heatwave swept across south Essex and one woman took her quest to be cool a bit too far.

She breezed into St Mary’s Church in South Benfleet, wearing nothing but a bathing suit and a large sun hat.

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Deckchairs and blistering heat - this photo was taken on the beach at Southend during the 1948 scorcher

This was nigh on sacrilegious in those days. It would still raise eyebrows today.

The vicar of the church, the Rev Ralph Gardner, was certainly left boiling with rage.

“During the recent heatwave a lady was seen to enter the church dressed in a bathing costume and a large sun hat. Apparently she had no sense of indecency in doing so,” he sniped.

Referring to the hat and the tradition of women covering their heads in church he sarcastically fumed: “Possibly she thought the hat satisfied St Paul’s ruling. On the other hand, such is the ignorance of many people in elementary matters today, she had possibly never heard of St Paul.”

That August had been particularly sizzling. On one day alone Southend police and ambulance workers had been called to help 11 people who had collapsed on the beach because of the heat and on several days the mercury was higher at 7pm than it had been at midday, so there was no escaping the uncomfortable conditions even at night time.

Men working for the famous Garons company in Southend get to work in the ice department during a heatwave in the 1920s

Many people know of the famous heatwave of 1976, but there have been many infamous heatwaves over the past century. One of the worst was in 1911 which lasted for two and a half months, but in 1948 there was another big heatwave across Essex.

Temperatures soared to 88 degrees – a record at the time – and so many people clambered to buy sun hats that shops in Southend ran out.

Only cheap straw hats were left, such was the scramble, and no self-respecting Southend man or woman at the time would be seen in such a bland piece of headwear.

One Southend trader told the Pictorial newspaper, however, that he was loving the weather, because it drew in the crowds and they couldn’t wait to get to his fruit stall.

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Southend boatmen napping in deckchairs on the beach as the sun becomes too much in 1922

He was selling 18,000 peaches as well as two tons of apples and cherries every day that sunseekers flocked onto the beaches.

Things got so hot at Benfleet Council that leaders voted to fit two electric fans in the council chamber for £49 each.

“That should get rid of some of the hot air,” swiped one council member.”

In 1949 there was another heatwave. Chelmsford almost ran out of water and the borough’s water engineer admitted he was on his knees and praying for rain every night as water reserves ran scarily low after 25 days of hardly any showers.

The following summer, in 1950, temperatures soared again, leading to complaints being made about the way animals were being treated at the Essex County Show.

A sudden heatwave resulted in firemen being brought in to soak the canvas tents containing the show’s pigs with water, which were in danger of overheating.

Visitors to Southend have always lapped up the sun, but there have been times when it’s got too much for even the most ardent sun-worshipper.

In the summer of 1935, the intense heat, mixed with throngs of 300,000 jovial revellers crammed into every inch of free space in Southend to watch the carnival, led to dramatic scenes never seen before.

Every available police officer was deployed to the streets.

Kids cool off in the Lake Meadows paddling pool in Billericay during the 1970s

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So many people were collapsing that fainted bodies had to be passed crowd-surfing style above the heads of others to reach ambulance crews.

The picture-perfect parade was marred by sweltering heat and panicked scenes.

By this time the carnival was in its glorious heyday and the golden age of the weeklong parade meant larger crowds piling into the town on the trains.

This summer in particular had been a scorcher and by the time of the main event – the five mile long carnival procession of floats – the spectators were feeling the heat.

“One thousand collapse in heat at carnival” was the headline in the Daily Herald newspaper.

“Nearly 300,000 people cheered as the five-mile carnival procession made its way through the town. It was the most important spectacle in the town’s history,” described one journalist.

“For hours the crowds stood in the sweltering heat and ambulance men and women had more work than they could cope with.”

That day more than 1,000 cases of men, women and children fainting were dealt with.

The crowds were so dense, that patients had to be lifted over the heads of people to be taken to the dressing stations, which were manned by ambulance staff and volunteers.

It got so bad, that all police leave was scrapped and every available officer deployed to the town.