Barking and District Historical Society

Barking Explosion 1899

On Friday 6th January  1899 at 3pm a faulty boiler at Hewitt & Co was being tested. Suddenly the boiler burst and fragments were flung in all directions.

One piece was carried across a field & struck a bakers, going through wall, a bedroom floor and into the kitchen. A fee charged to view the boiler fragment with the proceeds going to a relief fund to help sufferers.

Walls thrown down and "men were cast about like feathers". Six were killed outright, 11 wounded and a further two later died.

Eric Feasey has very kindly sent in the following report from the Sowerby Bridge Chronicle  of 13th January 1899:-

TERRIBLE BOILER EXPLOSION AT BARKING MANY KILLED AND INJURED  GREAT DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY

A terrible disaster occurred on the afternoon of Friday of last week at the Barking works of Messrs. Hewett and Co. (Limited), engineers, boilermakers, and shipbuilders. Nine deaths immediately resulted from the catastrophe and a tenth occurred in hospital on Sunday, while there was great destruction of property. There is also a long list of injured, and the condition of several of these is described as of such a nature  as must inevitably cause their death.

The disaster occurred about three o'clock. Messrs. Hewett are widely known as the proprietors of the Shadwell Fish Market, and they not only build but equip their own trawlers and smacks.

Roughly about 100 men are employed in the Barking works, and driving power for the engineering sheds and pattern shops is supplied by two boilers, one of which is known as the main and the other as the auxiliary. It was the latter which exploded. It is described as a multiple marine boiler of 80 nominal horse power, 9ft. in diameter. It is said to have undergone a thorough overhauling and repair about two years ago, and, having been for some time out of use, it  was being got ready for service.

For this purpose, and previously to reconnecting the pipes, the foreman fitter and an assistant were ascertaining if the valves were in working condition. What is known technically as "priming up" took place at ten o'clock in the morning, and it is positively  asserted that the dial indicated only a pressure of 14lb. a moment before the large dome lifted with terrific force, dealing death and destruction around.

Another remarkable fact may be here stated-namely, that on a recent test the boiler withstood a water pressure of 100 lb. hot and 200lb. cold.

The havoc wrought to the fabric of the works must (says the Times account) be seen to be fully realised. A brick stack 60ft. in height fell crashing on to the sheds. Portions of iron plating and pipes were hurled hundreds of yards, and if a still standing portion of the company's offices be excepted the whole property may be said to have been demolished. As may be readily imagined the greatest consternation among  the populace in and around Fisher-street followed the loud report of the explosion.

Work was in full swing, but the fall of the buildings in an instant reduced all to chaos, and, those who were lucky enough to escape knew only too well that many of their fellows lay beneath the heaped-up debris, killed or maimed.

The manager, Mr. Donald Gordon, had just passed the boiler on his way to the pattern shop. On emerging there from and realising the position of affairs, he called for assistance, which was readily given, not only by employees, but by members of the local  fire brigade, no time, of course, being lost in despatching messengers for surgical aid.

Wagons' belonging to the firm were utilised for conveying wounded to Poplar Hospital. There were many harrowing scenes amongst wives, children, and other relations of the men, who had flocked to the spot on the dreadful news getting abroad.

From underneath the fallen masonry several bodies were recovered, the names and descriptions of the men being: Walter Taylor, 30, single; Edward Lloyd, 20, single; Alfred Grant, 15; William Marshall, 19, single; George Pratten, 45, married; and Alfred  Burness, 55, married. In addition to the foregoing six, another of the workmen, William Page, 60, married, was instantaneously killed, but a diligent search for the body, necessitating the removal of many hundredweights of earth and portions of machinery,  proved unsuccessful and after several hours was suspended for the night.

Two other men died after removal, their names being Arthur Hume, 19, single, and James Thornton, 36, married. Those of the dead whose bodies were taken to the Barking Town Hall Mortuary had been so frightfully maimed as to be in several instances scarcely  recognisable. One poor fellow had lost an arm and a leg, another had both legs torn away, and a third was found with the upper part of the head blown off.

Albert Tomlinson, the timekeeper of the works, described his own remarkable escape. He was in the office immediately adjacent to the shed and was knocked violently against a wall from which the wall paper was stripped. Flying glass caused a clean cut wound on the right cheek and on the right side of the nose. Though bleeding freely from these hurts, Tomlinson was amongst the most active in the arduous and distressing task of searching for the dead and giving first aid  to the wounded. A cupola was in the ordinary course to have been set blowing in another half-hour, and had this been in a state of activity at the time the effects of the disaster must inevitably have been even much more deplorable.

The boy Grant, whose father is a chief engineer on one of the company's boats, was on the boiler at the moment it went up, and parts of his body were found 60 yards distant. The young man Lloyd had been a fireman on board the steamship Velocity and had come into the yard for an interview with the manager, the purpose of his coming being to obtain further employment.

Foreman fitter Burness leaves a widow and six children. He was a member of the Barking Urban District Council. Others also married leave families.

One or two incidents will illustrate the tremendous force of the explosion. A piece of iron plate was thrown into the room of a dwelling-house some hundreds of yards outside the foundry gates, and the tenant of another dwelling found on his back premises two pieces of piping too heavy for him to lift. Mr. Seabrook, the landlord  of the Fishing Smack public house, which abuts on the boundary wall of Messrs. Hewett's works, while resting in a back bedroom, was aroused from his sleep by the crashing in of the window frame, but was luckily unhurt.

The dome of the boiler is lying in an adjoining field. Mr. Robert Hewett, a member of the firm, was telegraphed to and reached Barking from town about five o'clock. Mr. Gordon laid special stress on the assurance, which he says was given him by the foreman fitter on passing him a minute or two before the accident, that there was but a pressure of 14lb. as shown by the gauge.

The greatest alacrity was shown by everybody about the place in providing for the wounded. A number of these were treated on the spot and then conveyed to their homes for further attention. But 10 men and boys were found to be so injured that their removal  to hospital was necessary.

Unfortunately Poplar hospital is three miles distant from Barking, and some delay and much suffering were inevitable in the transport. The unfortunate man, James Thornton, whose right leg and left arm were found to be broken, was placed in a gig, whose  horse was galloped at such a speed that on arrival at the hospital door it was covered with foam and hardly able to stand; but this availed nothing for the poor fellow died half an hour after admission.

The rest were placed in open waggons, which are used by the firm, and driven more quietly to the hospital. For the more seriously hurt stretchers were procured. Fellow-workmen accompanied them and did all that was possible to mitigate their sufferings.

The cases of some of these wounded are, however, desperate. Two boys, Alfred Bradshaw and John Shelley, both aged 14, sustained compound fractures of the skull. Another boy, Walter Sugden, of about the same age, has several ribs broken and is cut about  the head. One man, John Crick, aged 40, has a fracture of the base of the skull.
The other injured persons are in a much more hopeful condition, though Henry Burton, aged 22, is suffering from a large scalp wound; James Harding, aged 47, has a fractured forearm and fractured leg ; Charles Porter, aged 20, a cut scalp and an injury  to the hip ; Frank Farrier, aged 21, contusions about the head ; and John Laird, aged 32, a bruised left hip.

The whole works were completely wrecked, and are said not to have been insured, for the business was so extensive and had so many ramifications that it was considered more profitable for the firm to bear its own risk.

As already indicated, it became known on Sunday that the lad John Shelley, who had been taken to the Poplar Hospital suffering from a fractured skull, had succumbed to his injuries. The poor lad died early on Sunday morning in the hospital, where the  body of Mr. James Thornton is also lying.

Shelley was a schoolboy living with his parents at 3, Emily-cottages, Fisher-street, Barking, and at the moment of the accident he was holding a horse in Fisher-street, about 120 yards from the works, when he was struck on the head by a piece of iron,  a portion of the boiler, and was so seriously hurt that his instant removal to the hospital was ordered by the local medical men.

During the course of Sunday Mr. T. Carlton, the Board of Trade surveyor, visited the scene of the disaster and made an examination of the ruined boiler and the wreckage in the vicinity. He was accompanied during his official inspection by Mr. R M. Hewitt,  one of the directors of the company, and Mr. Donald Gordon, the manager of the works.

During the course of Sunday thousands of sight-seers visited Barking to see Messrs. Hewitt's works and Mr. J. Decker's shop in Gascoigne-road, into the back kitchen of which house a portion of the boiler, weighing about 15cwt., was hurled without inflicting  any personal damage.

The works were guarded by a squad of police under Inspector Coles, and entrance to the yard was forbidden. Spectators were not permitted to approach the walls, which were thought to be in a somewhat dangerous condition.

The masses of masonry which were blown on to the pavement outside the works in Fisher-street had not been removed, and the curious gazed on these with much interest.

The principle attraction, however, was Mr. Decker's bakery, outside which large crowds remained all day. Their presence was turned to good account. Sightseers were admitted by the police stationed at the entrance to the shop, but they were expected, before  passing into the back kitchen, where the boiler-plate was to be seen, to contribute towards the fund which is being raised on behalf of the families of the dead workmen.

Having satisfied their curiosity and contributed to the fund, the spectators passed out by the back gates into the meadow lying behind the shop. The meadow was churned up into a broad expanse of mud by the continuous stream of visitors, each train bringing  hundreds of sightseers.

Outside the gates of the works in Fisher-street firemen of the Local Volunteer Fire Brigade in uniform asked for contributions to the "Sufferers' Fund," and their requests were liberally responded to. Collecting-boxes placed on tables draped with the  Union Jack were placed opposite the works, and a good deal of money was dropped into these by sympathisers.

Mr. Wynne E. Baxter, coroner for East London, opened his inquiry on Monday evening at the Poplar Hospital.

The Terrible Boiler Explosion at Barking
Facsimile Drawing by Melton Prior
Published
The Illustrated London News
14th January 1899

Mr James Wood has very kindly emailed the two very interesting pictures below relating to the Barking boiler explosion of 1899 that were amongst items handed down to him by his mother. One is the front of a paper bag showing the damage to the bakers. It would seem they had souvenir bags printed to give to customers and sightseers. The second is a picture of the workers of the bakery standing next to a boiler segment. The lad (second from the left at the back with the head bandage) was Mr. Wood's grandfather Alfred March, born 1885, who worked at the bakers as a delivery boy.

The 1901 census for 140 Gascoigne Road lists Harry Decker a 35 year old baker who was born in France, his wife Louisa, also aged 35 who was born in Marylebone and two sons; William Decker aged 10 who was born in Finsbury, and Edward Decker - aged  9, who was born in Highbury. Living with them were two other bakers; Charles Brown, aged 26 year who was born in Germany and Robert Barnes, aged 18, who had been born in Epping.

The 1901 census for 2 Howard Road, Fisher Street shows Alfred March,  a 15 year old baker’s carman who had been born inTottenham. His father Alfred March, aged 47, and a younger sister Hetty , aged 14, who were also born in Tottenham,  worked in the rubber works.

The Barking Boiler Explosion

James Wood

Mr James Wood has very kindly emailed the two very interesting pictures above relating to the Barking boiler explosion of 1899 that  were amongst items handed down to him by his mother. One is the front of a paper bag showing the damage to the bakers. It would seem they had souvenir bags printed to give to customers and sightseers. The second is a picture of the workers of the bakery  standing next to a boiler segment. The lad (second from the left at the back with the head bandage) was Mr. Wood's grandfather Alfred March, born 1885, who worked at the bakers as a delivery boy.

The 1901 census for 140 Gascoigne Road lists Harry Decker a 35 year old baker who was born in France, his wife Louisa, also aged 35 who was born in Marylebone and two sons; William Decker aged 10 who was born in Finsbury, and Edward Decker - aged   who was born in Highbury. Living with them were two other bakers; Charles Brown, aged 26 year who was born in Germany and Robert Barnes, aged 18, who had been born in Epping.

The 1901 census for 2 Howard Road, Fisher Street shows Alfred March,   15 year old baker’s carman who had been born inTottenham. His father Alfred March, aged 47, and a younger sister Hetty, aged 14, who were also born in Tottenham,  in the rubber works.