A FORMER policeman has completed a poignant account of an often-forgotten boating tragedy in the Lake District which claimed the lives of five Sunday school teachers from Nelson.

Retired inspector Ray Greenhow was surprised how little evidence had survived of the Derwentwater Disaster, of August 1898, where a boating accident on the lake saw Lomeshaye Mill workers Helena Clegg, Frances Crossley, Nancy Pickles, Mary Alice Reed and Mary Jane Smith all drown.

His research took him to archives in Cumbria and Lancashire, as well as the last resting place for the five friends in Nelson Cemetery.

Their 19-feet high grave dominates the Walton Lane burial ground and a joint funeral, when their bodies were returned home, attracted thousands of mourners.

Mr Greenhow said: “I’m a retired police inspector who regularly walks the fells and I’m always looking for things to unearth.

“It really concerned me that the tragedy appeared to be forgotten, particularly in the Keswick area.”

In compiling his book, The Derwent Disaster, he was able to track down contemporary newspaper accounts of the tragedy, as it was relayed during the subsequent inquest.

All five women, who taught at the former Nelson Wesleyean Church Sunday School, had been on a trip arranged by the Co-operative Holidays Association, when they embarked on a boating expedition on Derwent Water.

Before the fatal day, it is likely they would have embarked on an excursion to Skiddaw and attended a lecture, in the grounds of Crosthwaite Church, by Hardwick Rawnsley, later to be better known as Canon Rawnsley, one of the founders of the National Trust.

The boat in which they set out, on August 12, was built for five but was carrying eight, with the women joined by three male colleagues.

But partway through the journey, a lunch satchel was lost overboard, and one of the crew, John James, noticed water was seeping into the boat.

Within minutes the craft had started to sink - the three men survived but each of the five mill-hands, weighed down by their heavy dresses, all perished.

The operation to retrieve the five bodies lasted through the day, with grappling hooks used to dredge the lake’s bed. Five caskets were later dispatched from Keswick to Nelson for the funeral.

Mr Greenhow added: “The disaster led to a change in registration arrangements so that local councils could take the independent registration over from the self registration system which was then in place.

“How it came to be that the event was not remembered is unclear. But whatever the reason, I hope this book will go some way to address that lack of knowledge and be a lasting memory to their lives.”

While the five young women were given a towering memorial at Nelson, there is no monument or plaque on Derwent Water to record the events of more than 119 years ago.

The author has paid particular tribute to library staff who assisted him with his work, including members of staff in Nelson and Burnley, as well as the county archive, Pendle Council and Nelson Town Council.

His comprehensive account, which was launched at a literary festival in Keswick recently, is available through the Carlisle literary retailer Bookcase.