| Original caption: “Sixty-eight-year-old Mrs. Manson, pictured sitting on the wreckage of her Liverpool home. when a bomb shattered the house, she rescued her four grandchildren.” Sarah Ann Taylor Nanson (May 16, 1873 – May 28, 1949) sits with her daughter-in-law Ellen Renshaw Nanson (November 27, 1909 – January 2003) and 3 grandchildren, Leslie George Nanson (February 20, 1939 – August 11, 1981) on Renshaw’s lap, Barbara Jean Nanson (April 11, 1936 – still living as of March 2025), holding a teddy bear, and Dorothy May Nanson (December 19, 1940 – June 27, 2014), in her grandmother’s arms, outside the wreckage of 88 Bowland Avenue, Broadgreen, Childwall, Liverpool, circa May 4, 1941. Dorothy May was born during a Nazi German air raid known as the “Christmas Blitz,” and 4 months later saved with her siblings by her grandmother when her house was bombed. The Daily Mirror reported on May 5, 1941, “Baby Hitler Cannot Kill – baby Manson, with her mother — the baby Hitler cannot kill. She was born in a blitz — how she managed to live is a miracle. None she has been blitzed again. And doesn’t look any worse for her blitzing. Days later the girl Dorothy was pictured with her gran Sarah Manson, sixty-eight, on the rubble of the family’s home.” “Sarah had been at the house with her four grandchildren when a bomb hit it. The report says: “Unaided, with bombs still falling, Granny Manson rescued her grandchildren one by one, bringing them out safely.” Sarah Nanson’s husband, Septimus (April 1867 – March 9, 1932) died before World War II. Their son, Leslie George Nanson (October 3, 1909 – January 1977) served in the Royal Air Force during the war, and married Ellen Renshaw Nanson and fathered the children seen in this photo. Demolition Squad members stand atop the demolished home in the background. They were charged with investigating the often dangerous rubble for casualties and corpses and pulling down unstable structures. The May 23, 1956, Liverpool Echo reported that Ellen Renshaw Nanson recounted the story of the bombing: “We got our ‘packet’ on the night of May 2, 1941. A land mine dropped next door but one to us. It almost demolished our house. killing six people nearby. I was in the house with my mother-in-law and my three children, aged four months, two vears and five years respectively. Miraculously we all escaped severe injury. When I called for my five-years-old daughter she said quite calmly: ‘Here I am. Mummy, but there’s all bricks on me. Eventually the wardens came in. wrapped the children in blankets, and carried them out for me. The two things I remember most vividly: Amid all the ruins and rubble was a box with nine eggs still intact on what was left of the larder shelf. The remark my two-years-old son made as they carried him out. ‘Oh, look at my poor Dad’s shed; he will have a fit,’ Needless to say the shed was just. Like a heap of matchwood.” On the night of May 2-3, 1941, a 1,000 kilogram (2,200 pound) Luftmine B (“parachute mine”), a naval mine with a 25-second timer, landed between 71 and 75 Bentham Drive in the Broadgreen neighborhood, Childwall, Liverpool. It was probably intended for the docks, but dome reports indicated the Luftwaffe (“Nazi German Air Force”) used them on land intentionally. 6 civilians were killed when the mine detonated: insurance agent John George Dixon (August 27, 1899 – May 3, 1941) of 40 Bentham Drive; brass finisher Harry H. Jones (August 14, 1888 – May 3, 1941) and wife Florence W. B. Jones (February 13, 1889 – May 3, 1941) of 71 Bentham Drive; bricklayer George Willard Brown (August 11, 1914 – May 3, 1941) and factory worker Catherine “Kathleen” Grace Hanratty (November 12, 1921 – May 3, 1941) of 75 Bentham Drive; and Florence F. Wilson (March 7, 1885 – May 3, 1941) of 77 Bentham Drive. This photo was internationally circulated as an example of the fortitude of the British people during the Blitz. The Nansons rebuilt 88 Bowland Avenue during the war, but later the house was torn down. Today the parcel is the backyard garden of 79 Bentham Drive. | |
| Image Filename | wwii2028.jpg |
| Image Size | 616.95 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2924 x 2336 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | May 3, 1941 |
| Location | |
| City | Liverpool |
| State or Province | Lancashire |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NLR-PHOCO-A-7420(1221) |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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