22 perish in ‘great’ fire Southampton in 1837

The inscriptions pay tribute to “22 brave and disinterested men” who perished while fighting a “calamitous fire” in 1837.

Thousands pass the High Street memorials every day yet few know the full and terrible story behind the tragedy.

One local newspaper called it “one of the most awful visitations from fire that it has fallen to the lot of man to witness”.

The fire broke out at 11.15pm on November 7, 1837, in the stables of merchants King, Witt and Co whose warehouse fronted on to the High Street 100 yards from the quay.

It is hard to imagine a worse place for a fire, for the goods stored there included 150lbs of gunpowder and thousands of gallons of oil, turpentine, resin, varnish and other inflammables.

“Owing to the inflammable nature of the stock the flames spread with astonishing rapidity,” said one contemporary report.

At times the wind carried the flames to the buildings opposite.

They included the Royal George Inn, where the windows were repeatedly set alight and the curtains destroyed.

A shortage of water and inadequate equipment made firefighting a hopeless task. The gunpowder was quickly and safely removed but the liquids – mostly stored in tanks or glass bottles – presented a greater problem.

“The upper portion of the building was then in flames and from the intense heat the carboys of vitriol, turpentine and other flammables had burst into flames and their contents were dripping through the joists and floor upon the parties beneath.

Dozens of neighbours and passers-by joined in the rescue work for an hour or so.

“Then, some time after midnight, there was a sudden series of explosions which destroyed the floors, roofs and joists and blew out the front of the building.

“Tragically it also blew shut the doors which would have provided the best escape route.

“About 50 persons were on the premises at the time almost all of whom were unacquainted with the interior arrangement of the building.”

Some of the people managed to escape through lower windows or into an adjoining building but others were engulfed by the inferno or buried under the collapsing frontage.

Seventeen men perished immediately, five others died over the next few days and many more were crippled or otherwise badly injured. The youngest of the dead was 16, the eldest 50.

Many were burned beyond recognition.

Most were tradesmen or workmen who had no connection with King, Witt and Co.

One was a newly-married tailor, William Oakley, who was due to return to London that evening after visiting relatives but was persuaded to stay another day.

At the inquest, survivor Richard Young described how he and butcher George Bell dropped what they were carrying and fled in opposite directions after the first explosion.

“Some of the ruins fell on Bell and I saw him fall,” he said. “I was struck on the right side of the head by some of the ruins. I reeled and fell and rolled myself over towards the gateway where I got clear.”

Bell’s charred remains were recovered later.

The disaster left Southampton in a state of shock for days.

Trading ground to a halt, the town’s theatre closed its doors and the Mayor launched an appeal fund to help injured survivors and the families of the dead.

Glowing tributes were paid to the heroism of those who risked or sacrificed their lives to fight the fire or rescue property.

But the inquest jury also had some strong comments about Southampton’s state of unreadiness for such an incident.

With proper equipment and the prompt attendance of firemen it might have been possible to pull down the stable and isolate the fire before it spread to the warehouse, they claimed.

“The jury are also of opinion that the supply of water was greatly delayed and the arrangements to obtain it insufficient and improper; that the arrival of the engines was delayed; that the fire department is itself incomplete particularly in the implements for checking fire and saving life, and the arrangements in many respects defective, especially in the discipline of the firemen.”