Summary
Maud Comissiong, aged 54, was alone on a rented cabin cruiser, moored near the yachting station of Great Yarmouth. She apparently wanted to make a cup of tea. She opened the filler cap of a paraffin stove, presumably to fill it up, before lighting it.
Shortly after 3:30 p.m. her screams attracted attention, the chest part of her dress was completely burnt away, flames and smoke were coming from her clothing on her arms and shoulders, and she had halfway come out of the forward hatchway of the cruiser. A policeman inspecting the scene of the accident noted that the stopper of a two gallon paraffin tin was removed, the tin was lying on the engine cover and paraffin had come out and was burning. A half-burnt piece of brown paper was lying on the floor. In the ambulance the victim stated: ‘I was trying to make some tea. I could not get the top back at first.’ She died of severe burns the next morning in hospital.
It seems plausible that ‘top’ refers to the stopper of the tin, and that she had lit the paper to see better where it had fallen. When she bent down to pick it up, she lighted her own clothes, and in the panic of trying to put out the flames, the tin toppled, the paraffin streamed out and was ignited by burning pieces of clothing falling on it.
The police constable thinks she used the lit piece of paper to look into the tin. However that seems impractical, as merely moving the tin would give a fair impression of its fluid content. The interpretation of ‘top’ as ‘forward hatch cover’ is dubious.
In the following newspaper articles about this case have been reproduced; the line endings are as in the orginals.
1. Liverpool Echo, 30 July 1938
page 8
WOMAN IN FLAMES
TRAGIC END TO BOATING
HOLIDAY
A tragic end to a woman’s Broads
holiday was described to the Great Yarmouth
Coroner, to-day.
He returned an “Accidental death”
verdict on Mrs. Maude Comissiong, aged
54, of Fosse Road, North Leicester, who
was burned in an accident on a motor
cruiser and died in hospital.
Albert Comissiong said he left his
wife resting on the cruiser at Yarmouth
whilst he went to Great Yarmouth with
friends.
Two Sheffield holiday-makers, Ronald
Cutting and Bertram Donovan des-
cribed how they heard Mrs. Comissiong
scream, and then saw her in flames on
the cruiser.
They were commended by the
coroner for going to her aid.
A police officer said apparently Mrs.
Comissiong’s clothes caught fire while
she was making tea. She took the top
of an oil stove and removed the
stopper from a paraffin can with the
intention of filling the stove.
For some reason she lit a piece of
paper and the paraffin ignited.
2. Birmingham Daily Gazette – Saturday 30 July 1938
page 1
Woman’s Fatal Burns
on Yachting Holiday
Mrs. Maude Commissiong [sic], aged 54,
of Fosse-road, Leicester, who had been
holidaymaking in the yacht Perseus,
died yesterday in Great Yarmouth
Hospital from burns.
She was lighting an oil stove in the
yacht when a two-gallon tin of paraffin
became ignited, and Mrs. Commissiong
was burned about the face, neck, chest
and arms. Other holidaymakers ran
to her assistance, and wrapped her in
blankets until the arrival of the ambu-
lance.
An inquest will he held to-day.*
* this newspaper apparently is a morning newspaper.
3. Bradford Observer, Saturday 30 July 1938
at the time the title was Yorkshire Observer
page 1
YACHTING TRAGEDY
Mrs. Maude Commissiong [sic], aged 54,
of Fosse Road, Leicester, who had been
holiday-making in the yacht Perseus,
died yesterday in Great Yarmouth
Hospital from burns.
She was lighting an oil stove in the
yacht when a two-gallon tin of paraffin
became ignited, and Mrs. Commissiong
was burned about the face, neck, chest
and arms.
4. Nottingham Journal, Saturday 30 July 1938
page 1
ON YACHTING HOLIDAY
Leicester Woman Receives
Fatal Burns
Mrs. Maude Commissiong [sic], aged 54, of
Fosse-road, Leicester, who had been
holiday-making in the yacht Perseus,
died yesterday in Great Yarmouth
Hospital from burns.
She was lighting an oil stove in the
yacht when a two-gallon tin of paraffin
became ignited, and Mrs. Commissiong
was burned about the face, neck, chest
and arms.
Other holidaymakers ran to her
assistance, and wrapped her in blankets
until the arrival of the ambulance. An
inquest will be held to-day.*
* this newspaper apparently is a morning newspaper.
5. Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, July 30, 1938
page 7
YACHT FATALITY
Mrs. Maude Commissiong [sic], aged 54, of Fosse-
road, Leicester, who had been holiday-
making in the yacht Perseus, died in
Great Yarmouth Hospital from burns.
She was lighting an oil-stove in the
yacht when a 2-gallon tin of paraffin
became ignited, and she was burned
about the face, neck, chest and arms.
Other holidaymakers wrapped her in
blankets until the arrival of the
ambulance.
6. Leicester Evening Mail, Friday 29 July 1938
page 1, columns 3 and 4
Screams Reveal Yacht Blaze Victim
A Leicester woman was badly burned when a two-gallon tin of
paraffin caught fire in the cabin of her yacht which was moored
at the Yarmouth Yacht Station.
SHE is Mrs. Maude Comissiong, aged 54, of Fosse-road North, Leicester,
and she was taken to hospital, where she was detained and an opera-
tion was performed last night.
Holidaymakers on yachts at the
station heard screams, and one of
them, Mr. B. Donovan, of Sheffield,
went aboard Mrs. Comissiong’s
yacht, Perseus, and found Mrs.
Comissiong enveloped in flames.
Others came to her assistance and
she was wrapped in blankets. In the
cabin was found a two gallon tin of
paraffin ablaze beside the stove.
Mrs. Comissiong was alone in the
yacht at the time, and told her rescuers
that she was lighting the stove to make
herself a cup of tea when the accident
happened. Her husband and others
were out shopping at the time.
VAUGHAN COLLEGE WORKER
She is the wife of Mr. Albert
Comissiong, the electrician at the
Vaughan College, Leicester. He has
been stage manager for the Vaughan
Players and assistant stage manager
for the British Drama League Festival
productions at the college.
Mrs. Comissiong was severely burned
about the head, neck, chest and arms.
7. Leicester Evening Mail, Saturday 30 July 1938
page 7, columns 1 and 2
LEICESTER WOMAN BURNED TO DEATH IN HOLIDAY MOTOR BOAT
Attempt To Make Cup Of Tea Ends in Tragedy
THEORY THAT SHE LIT
PAPER TO SEE HOW MUCH
PARAFFIN WAS IN CAN
THE tragic end of a Leicester woman who was burned when making her-
self a cup of tea while on holiday was investigated at Great Yarmouth
to-day by the coroner. The woman, Mrs. Maud Commissiong, aged 54, of
Fosse-road North, Leicester, died in hospital yesterday at Yarmouth after
an accident aboard a motor cruiser. Returning a verdict of accidental
death the coroner declared, “I wish
people would take notice how danger-
ous some oil stoves can be.”
Evidence of identification was given
by the woman’s husband. Albert E.
Commissiong, the electrician at the
Vaughan College, Leicester.
He said that on Thursday about 3.30
p.m. he left the motor cruiser Perseus
which he had hired, lying in the river
near the yachting station and went into
town with friends. His wife was lying
down on the bunk and would not go
with them as she preferred to rest.
When he returned at 7 p.m. he was
told his wife had been taken to hospital
suffering from burns.
Bertram Donovan, aged 30, of
Nicholson-street, Harley, Sheffield,
said he was in a dinghy when he
heard a woman scream on the
Perseus.
“I hurried towards the Perseus, where
I saw the woman lying on the deck with
people attending to her,” he said. “I
saw that her face and chest were burned
and her smouldering clothing lay
around her. I immediately got some
blankets and put them round her and
rubbed her burned flesh with some oil
which a bystander handed to me. The
ambulance arrived two or three minutes
afterwards.”
CHARRED PAPER
When he went down below in the
yacht he saw a two-gallon can contain-
ing paraffin lying on the engine cover.
The stopper was out and flames were
licking the petrol tank of the yacht. The
filler tap was off the stove nearby, and
there was some charred paper lying on
the floor.
Ronald Cutting, of Sheffield, said he
was walking along the quay when he
heard a woman scream, and he saw
Mrs. Commissiong about half way out
of the forward hatchway of the cruiser.
“I saw flames and smoke coming
from her clothing on her arms and
shoulders,” he said…. “l rushed on
board and found the clothing on
her chest had been burned away. I
lifted her on to deck, and with the
assistance of another man beat out
the flames.”
He added that Mrs. Commissiong ap-
peared so shocked that she could not
tell him how she came to be on fire.
P.c. Fisher, who went to the scene
in the ambulance, said he found the
woman being attended to for burns on
the face, neck, arms and chest. She
was immediately wrapped in blankets
and removed to hospital.
[next column]
Suggesting the cause of the accident,
the constable said, “It would appear
that about 3.30 p.m. the woman was the
only person left aboard, and took the
filler cap of the oil stove and also
removed the stopper from the paraffin
can with the intention of filling the
stove.
“She then appeared to have lit
some paper– probably to see how
much paraffin there was in the can.
“The paraffin became ignited and she
was burned. I later examined the cabin
and found charred brown paper on the
floor.
“On the way to the hospital Mrs.
Commissiong said to me ‘I was trying
to make some tea. I could not get the
top back at first.’ ” He took it that by
“top” she was referring to the hatch
cover.
Dr. C. Conway, house surgeon at the
hospital, said Mrs. Commissiong became
unconscious early yesterday and died
shortly afterwards. Death was due to
cardiac failure following upon collapse
and toxaemia, caused by extensive
burning.
The Coroner commended the prompt
action of Cutting and Donovan and
expressed sympathy with Mrs.
Commissiong’s relatives.
8. Leicester Evening Mail, Wednesday 03 August 1938
page 7, column 1
Leicester Victim of Yacht Blaze Buried.
Mrs. Maude Commissiong, of Fosse-
road North, Leicester, who was fatally
burned when spending a holiday on a
yacht at Great Yarmouth last week, was
buried in Great Yarmouth cemetery
yesterday.
She was the wife of Mr. Albert
Commissiong, electrician at the Vaughan
College, Leicester.
The interment followed a quiet
service, attended by Mr. Commissiong’s
sad relatives.
The development of this story
Sensationalist literature quoted the Liverpool Echo (reference 1 above) as follows (note the anonimity of the victim and lack of details)
Woman burned to death on motor cruiser on the Norfolk Broads. A police officer said, “ Apparently, her clothes caught fire,” but couldn’t suggest how.
Other sensationalists transformed this into a story of a woman bursting into flames in front of her husband and children, in one case while ‘paddling about in a small boat’ and in another case ‘while sipping a drink in the lounge’ and they describe the victim as reduced to ashes or a charred corpse in a very short time. Harrison in Fire from Heaven (1976) makes up the name ‘Mary Carpenter’ for the victim.