Edinburgh Zeppelin raid 1916: How Evening News reported death and destruction brought by the German airships

As the Edinburgh Evening News marks its 150th anniversary, a look back to the First World War

On the night of Sunday April 2, 1916, two German Zeppelins hovered over Edinburgh and dropped dozens of bombs, killing 13 people and injuring another 24.

Those who died included a baby fast asleep in his cot in the Bonnington area, a four-year-old child in a St Leonard’s tenement and six men killed when a bomb landed on the pavement in Marshall Street, Newington. The Germans had started using Zeppelin airships to carry out bombing raids on British towns and cities at the beginning of 1915, bringing terror to a civilian population which had previously been largely removed from active fighting. The huge hydrogen-filled aircraft were viewed as shadowy killers, raining fire and destruction from high in the night skies.

In the raid on Edinburgh that Sunday night, which lasted into the next day, one bomb exploded outside the White Hart Hotel in the Grassmarket, killing one and injuring four; another hit a whisky bond in Commercial Street, Leith, setting it ablaze; and others landed near the Castle, in Holyrood Park and in the grounds of George Watson's College. Research in recent years has suggested the catalogue of deaths and damage may have been more extensive than acknowledged, with Leith Hospital among other targets.

The Edinburgh Evening News of April 4, 1916, reporting the Zeppelin raid. British Newspaper Archive.

The Evening News reported on the raid, but it was restricted in doing so because of a D-notice imposed by the Government after a raid on London in May the previous year which had claimed 28 lives. Although theoretically voluntary, the D-notice effectively banned papers from reporting which cities and towns had been hit. So, while the Evening News could describe some of the devastating damage done by the Zeppelins' bombs, it could not say it had happened in Edinburgh.

On Tuesday April 4, under the headline "The Air Raid on Scotland", the paper reported: “The Secretary of the War office made the following announcement last evening: Air Raid – It appears that altogether six Zeppelins took part in the air raid of last night. Three of them raided the south-east counties of Scotland, one the north-east coast of England, and the remaining two the eastern counties of England. The vessels which raided Scotland crossed the coast at 9pm, 9.45pm and 10.15pm respectively, and cruised over the south-eastern counties of Scotland until around 1.10am. Their course gave no indication of any special locality of attack, but in all 36 explosive and 17 incendiary bombs were dropped in various places, damaging some hotels and dwelling houses.”

However, a couple of pages later, the News carried more graphic accounts of the raid, still without specifying locations. It said residents had first been alerted to the approaching danger around 9pm when they heard “the whirr of propellers over head”. “Shortly before midnight the first detonation was heard and an incendiary device ignited a building which blazed up, revealing the landscape to the Germans. Bombs continued to fall in quick succession, several missed prominent buildings narrowly.

Edinburgh Evening News 150 years: History of paper including Lloyd George, James Connolly and world war

A First World War German Zeppelin - two of the airships cruised over Edinburgh on the night of April 2-3, 1916, dropping bombs on the Capital

“A bomb passed through four storeys of a tenement without injuring anyone. A woman who ran to her window to see what was happening was badly cut by falling glass. Her husband, who stayed in bed, felt the bed begin to fall and when he recovered himself he found that he was in a room on the floor below, the bed having slipped down." The paper noted the most serious damage to life and property was in densely-populated poorer districts.

A doctor and his family had a lucky escape when a bomb fell through the roof of their house and penetrated four storeys to lodge in the kitchen pantry, A "scholastic institution" had a bomb drop in its grounds, making a hole four feet deep and shattering all the windows. "The school vacation was due to begin on Wednesday, but as a result of the raid the boys get an extra three days holiday.”

In its leader column, the Evening News observed: “The Zeppelin raid on Sunday night and yesterday morning was on a large scale. Germany has evidently developed a considerable amount of reserve strength in military airships and quite as apparently the radius of flight has been increased. Considering the number of bombs believed to have been dropped, the list of killed and injured on this side of the border is surprisingly small.”

But the paper lamented the failure of people to take sensible precautions. “Thousands of persons found their way into the streets when they would have better served the public good and been in more security if they had remained at home. The work of the authorities in the course of a Zeppelin raid is difficult enough without the streets being crowded by great numbers of people who are really out to satisfy curiosity. As stated in the unofficial reports today, the heaviest addition to the casualty list was actually caused to persons who had assembled in the open doorway of a tenement. Had these people been sheltering in the houses of the tenement, the list of accidents would have been lighter. If the bombardment in Scotland proved any material fact, it was that our heavily-built stone tenements will stand a very severe shock, and that absolute wreckage will be rare.”

During the Zeppelin raid, one bomb exploded outside the White Hart in the Grassmarket, killing one and injuring four.

Edinburgh in 1873: A look back at what Edinburgh life was like 150 years ago

And the News also criticised the restrictions of the D-notice: “Whether it would not be well in the interests of this country to state plainly the name of any historical place on which the enemy attempted his programme of murder and arson is a point to be temperately pressed. We think it would be well if this were done. We have now reached the stage in the war in which the recklessness of the enemy is extreme. In nothing are they more reckless than in the propagation of lies and these should be countered the world over by a few straight truths which do not communicate anything of 'military value'.”

In a grim reminder of the price of war, an advert for “Zeppelin insurance” from the Century Insurance Company Limited of 18 Charlotte Square appeared regularly in the paper around the time of the raid. The ad warned readers: “The ordinary Accident Policy does not cover this risk. Protection may had by effecting an Insurance with “The Century" at a premium of £1 covering the following benefits: Death by aircraft accident £1000; loss of two limbs £1000; loss of two eyes £1000; loss of one limb or one eye £500; permanent total disablement £30 per annum for 10 years; temporary total disablement £5 per week for one year.”

Meanwhile, another advert announced “Corset Week” at Blair’s on the corner of College Street and Nicolson Street. “70 Different Styles to choose from,” it said. “This week we are showing a magnificent assortment of the new styles in Corsets, just arrived from the makers; their leading features are durability, comfort, and wonderful value for money These new models are adapted to the present style of dress. We do not show the extreme shapes which are featured in some widely-advertised lines of Corset, nor do we ask any fancy pirces. Our range of sizes and styles enables us to fit practically every figure.”