Family of factory worker who died from asbestos-related cancer appeal for former staff of Camberwell’s Samuel Jones package makers to come forward
The family of former factory floor worker have appealed for information about his job after he died of an asbestos-related cancer.
Philip Bevis, pictured above, worked for package makers Samuel Jones & Co Ltd in Camberwell from 1948 to 1970. He was a factory floor worker for the first five years of his employment before becoming a driver – and died aged 85 from mesothelioma.
His family hope other Samuel Jones staff who worked with him will come forward with more information.
Philip, who grew up in Peckham before moving to Kent in the mid-1960s, was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, early in 2019 and died on March 19, 2019.
Philip’s family think he was exposed to asbestos during the first five years of his employment at Samuel Jones & Co, working as a factory floor worker, when he was 15 to 20 years old. His children believe his job involved sweeping floors, collecting offcuts, cleaning machines and assisting anyone who needed help.
Samuel Jones & Co was a large manufacturer in the area who made gummed papers and other paper products – the company no longer exists.
One of Philip’s children said: “Mesothelioma caused our dad much pain and suffering. We are looking to find out a bit more of how he may have been exposed to asbestos.”
Claire Spearpoint, asbestos claims solicitor, said: “We do not know how Philip was exposed to asbestos but we believe it is likely there were lagged pipes due to the processes going on and the age of the factory, but this has not been confirmed.
“We would like to speak with anyone who worked at Samuel Jones & Co Ltd in the 1950s who recalls the conditions of the factory and the sorts of jobs a factory floor worker like Philip may have been undertaking.”
All information will be treated in the strictest confidence. If you have any information that might help, call 0161 393 3557 and ask to speak to Claire Spearpoint or alternatively e-mail cspearpoint@leighday.co.uk.
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I helped my father who was also diagnosed of mesothelioma. He worked in exacly that period on a big shipyard in The Netherlands. Many jobs which people were doing in his direct (!) surroundings on the wharf and in factory-buildings with ALL types of asbestos – also the sprayed type which is the blue-asbestos – were very likely the causes of his 45 years later diagnosed mesothelioma.
I would like to mention here also that already in 1993 (the year of prohibition of ALL asbestos related work and use in The Netherlands) a medical lung-diseases specialist diagnosed ‘pleural plaques’ on/in my father’s lungs. That alsó was a proof (!) that he have been working with (!) or being exposed to asbestos (!!) in his past. Then 15 years later it also developed mesothelioma in his abdomen, of which he died 5 months after being diagnosed.
Maybe this information might help someway. Good luck.
(I know what a following up by a juridical proces means, 5 years and even more from 2008 until 2013. After that NEVER being able “to let go” the subject. -Read this.- Losing a beloved one, lots of searching, reading, time and energy might help others. I hope that, for every victim of asbestos.)