Record high temperatures across England spelled bad news for farmers, dockworkers, and city dwellers starting July 17, 1911. The uninterrupted sunshine and oppressive humidity drew thousands to the seaside as temperatures topped out at 98 degrees ( 36.7 C ) in cities. The two-and-a-half-month drought scorched crops, sending prices soaring. Food spoiled quickly in the heat, causing disease to spread, while in the streets, melting asphalt increased car accidents. The hours of the workday shifted, especially among hard labourers in quarries and mines, with men starting before dawn and calling it quits before the hottest temperatures arrived in the afternoon. In August, 5,000 dockworkers walked off the job at Victoria and Albert Docks because the heat could not be tolerated. By mid-September fall set in but not before more than 2,500 had been killed by the heatwave. The heat was just too much for many youngsters and families mourned the deaths of 629 children under the age of two that succumbed to the heat.
