On April 15th 1908 accidents at the quarries took a more sinister turn when the first known fatality took place at Bampton Quarries. Rock was being drilled manually at Kersdown Quarry, and filled with explosive which was then detonated from a distance. Of six charges laid, four exploded and, contrary to all safety instructions, Alfred John Harper, aged 48 and who lived in West Street, went to investigate the failure – at which point the charge blew, seriously injuring him, and he died a few days later from his injuries. He was taken in a wagon to the Infirmary at Tiverton, accompanied by a Bampton policeman, to whom he related the details of the incident. He contracted gangrene, from which he died on April 23rd, and was buried at Bampton on April 26th. It seems that the gelignite was being used at sub-zero temperatures which made it unstable. Interestingly, the 1896 map shows Kersdown Quarry disused.

Compensation of £190.10.11d at the rate of £13.0.0. half-yearly was paid to his widow, Ann Marie, which enabled her to purchase a shop in Brook Street, selling sweets which she and later members of her family ran for a good number of years. (The shop, now converted to a house, stands on the corner of Brook Street and Bridge Terrace). Her son Harry took the shop over some time later, then her daughter Gladys Lee (Mrs. Yum Yum to some local children!) and her husband Ernest. Gladys made the only home-made ice cream in Bampton, but only on Saturdays. She used to send her son to Bampton Station to await the arrival of the train from Exeter to collect a tray of ice, with which he dashed back home for the ice-cream making to start. By a horrible co-incidence, Alfred’s brother, Samuel James, was killed in another accident at Whipcott Quarry near Holcombe Rogus in 1915.