35 year old Mary Slaughter holds a unique place in British history, she is the only person to be killed by a submarine whilst on British soil. 

She was the wife of a blacksmith from Hebburn on Tyneside, but after a Zeppelin attack on the town she went to live with her cousin Jennie Brown at Seaham. On the evening of 11 July 1916 the two women were returning home after a walk when a U-Boat, the U-39, surfaced offshore and fired a number of shells at the seaside town and the colliery more than a mile inland. As they walked through the colliery yard a shell exploded nearby. Both were thrown to the ground, Jennie got up uninjured by Mary was lay badly wounded. She was taken to hospital where she died the following day.