Great Tyneside Fire 1854

Returning briefly to the subject of local history, I have long had something of a fascination for an event that took place on Friday 6 October 1854.

In the early hours of that morning, a fire began in the upper stories of a large building occupied by worsted manufacturers, Wilson & Sons in Gateshead on the south bank of the river Tyne. The alarm was raised and efforts were made to confine the fire to the upper floors while rescuing stock from below. Unfortunately all efforts failed as the amount of flammable material, including oil used to treat the wool, fueled the flames and within two hours the upper floors collapsed allowing the fire to spread.

Crowds of people thronged along both banks of the river to witness this spectacle. Even the bridges crossing the river were used as viewing platforms by the onlookers. These bridges included the old Tyne Bridge a nine-arched stone construction that had been built in 1771 and the much more recent Robert Stephenson designed, High Level Bridge which had only opened five years earlier in 1849.

As teams of firemen on primitive horse drawn appliances rushed to the scene and fought to contain the fire, the inevitable happened. 

The Gateshead shore was a mass of warehouses and industrial works including many manufacturing and storing toxic chemicals. Between these and stretching up the hill away from the river were many densely populated slum dwellings. The close proximity of these meant that the chances of flames spreading to other buildings were high. Close to Wilson's factory stood a seven storey bond warehouse owned by Charles Bertram. The items stored within this vast space included on that night, sulphur, nitrate of soda and many other combustible materials. As the flames gradually consumed this building also, the melting sulphur streamed in bright blue rivers from the many windows. An even greater spectacle for the onlooking crowd.

The first explosion was felt by the firemen and the spectators on the bridges. That and the following two explosions were ignored. The reverberation of the final explosion was heard or felt as far as 40 miles (64 km) away. Even coal miners working deep underground 11 miles (18 km) away in Monkwearmouth colliery thought that part of their mine had collapsed and came to the surface.

Debris was hurled high into the air and some landed almost a mile away. Gravestones from the nearby St Mary's Church were uprooted and tossed into the night sky. Some burning debris crashed down onto the stone bridge, some onto the masses of wooden ships moored on the river and some even onto the buildings of Newcastle on the opposite bank. As this blazing debris landed on other wooden structures, the fire extended well beyond it's original source. Within hours, both sides of the river were ablaze, as were dozens of ships.

The fires raged for the remainder of that night and for much of the following day until eventually they were brought under control and extinguished. A total of 53 people had lost their lives and it is believed that almost 500 were injured, some terribly so.

My own interest in this horrific event stems from the fact that I discovered through my family history research that some of my ancestors were residing in the tenement dwellings clustered around the church and the factory where the fire began. My paternal great grandfather was only three years old at the time and lived in Blackwall, Deptford House while other family members lived at Saltmeadows and Church Walk. Fortunately none were among the numbers killed or those treated at Gateshead Dispensary or Newcastle Infirmary. I can only try to imagine however, what they must have gone through on that night.



The tragedy was commemorated in 2004 with a plaque which is now attached to the southern support of the new Tyne Bridge. 

Now, Lonely Tower Film & Media have produced a short documentary film about the incident. Written and narrated by Mark Thorburn, the film is well worth a watch and you can do so by clicking on the following link.

Great Tyneside Fire 1854