The wife of the former managing director of legendary music equipment firm Marshall Amps died from an aggressive form of cancer caused in her childhood when she hugged her beloved father as he came home from work, an inquest heard.
Elaine Ellery, 67, would run to Walenty Snoch when he got in from the factory which employed him and inadvertently inhaled asbestos fibres his clothes had come into contact with.
She also visited the premises and, in a statement given before her death, described how she remembers ‘a substance which looked like snow’ on the floor.
The mother-of-two - who was married to second husband Jonathan, 68, the MD of Marshall Amps until the early 2020s - had no known contact with the material during her adult life, her inquest heard, and must have been exposed to it through her father’s job.
A coroner has ruled her death last year was the result of an industrial disease after hearing about her childhood experiences in Bedfordshire.
In her statement, she recalled how her father was an unskilled labourer at a factory from 1949 until he was made redundant in 1974.
‘When I attended junior school in those days we came home at lunchtime,’ she said.
‘My father also came home from work at lunchtime and we all had a meal together.
Elaine Ellery pictured with her husband Jonathan, former managing director at Marshall Amps, as they arrived at an event in Las Vegas in 2015
‘When he came home at lunchtime he was in his work clothes because he did not have time to change.
‘I did not pay much attention to his overalls but I remember that he just wore his own clothes to work which were suitable for labouring duties.
‘I was very close to my dad and as soon as he came home I would go up to him and hug him. I was still very young and it was exciting when my father came home.’
Mrs Ellery had also helped her mother wash the contaminated work clothes, she revealed.
‘My mother did all of the clothes washing in a twin tub and hung them on the line outside and I used to help her regularly,’ she said.
‘I would help my mother load the clothes into the wash basket, including my father’s work clothes.’
Visits the factory between the age of eight and 14 for its annual Christmas party may also have brought her into contact with deadly asbestos, the inquest was told.
‘I was always excited to go there because there was a substance which looked like snow on the ground,’ she added.
Elaine Ellery, who died aged 67, would run to her father, Walenty Snoch, when he got in from the factory where he worked and inadvertently inhaled asbestos fibres his clothes had come into contact with
‘It was not snow but had a similar appearance and, in hindsight, I believe it must have been asbestos on the ground from the factory’s operations.’
Mrs Ellery’s father was diagnosed with cancer in 1982 and died aged 59 the following year.
A coroner ruled at the time that his death had also been caused by industrial disease resulting from asbestos exposure.
It has also been her mother’s ‘worst fear’ that asbestos was harmful, Mrs Ellery said in her statement, and she had been ‘absolutely floored and devastated’ when she was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma in October 2024.
The aggressive cancer - which develops in the lining on the outer surface of some organs, particularly the lungs – is detected in around 2,700 people every year.
Most victims are aged 75 or over and who worked with asbestos before its use was restricted and then banned in 1999.
Symptoms including shortness of breath, fatigue, persistent cough, night sweats and loss of appetite, develop gradually over time.
There is no cure and, as it is normally caught late, the treatments are usually limited to chemotherapy or radiotherapy to try and prolong the patient’s life.
American guitarist and songwriter Eddie Van Halen in front of a stack of Marshall amps before a Van Halen concert in 1978
Mrs Ellery, who retired as a personal assistant in April 2019 and lived in a detached property in Bacton, Norfolk, died at Priscilla Bacon Lodge hospice in Norwich on August 6 last year.
Concluding her death was the result of an industrial disease, area coroner Johanna Thompson said: ‘She died from exposure to asbestos as a child.’
Addressing her family during the hearing at Norfolk Coroner’s Court, she added: ‘I would like to offer my most sincere condolences. I am so sorry for your loss.’
Charity Mesothelioma UK says that nine out of ten cases of the disease are thought to be caused by exposure to asbestos.
Families were often exposed through fibres and dust brought home on workers’ clothing before stricter workplace protections were introduced.
Mr Ellery worked with Jim Marshall, who founded the famous British company in London in 1962 and which makes amplifiers, speaker cabinets and effects pedals.
He was managing director of the company and joined the board of Marshall Group in 2019 after a merger with Swedish company Zound Industries.
The business was acquired by China-based HongShan Capital Group in January last year in a deal worth more than £750 million.
Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page signs a Marshall amp at the Classic Rock Awards afterparty in London in 2009
Stars to use Marshall equipment have included Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page Eddie Van Halen and Slash of Guns N’ Roses.
Guitarist Nigel Tufnell, played by Christopher Guest, famously had a Marshall Amp that went 'up to 11' in 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.
