The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-10-09 00:00:00

TERRIFIC THUNDERSTORM

ON Thursday, at mid-day, Liverpool was visited by a terrific
thunderstorm, which continued till nearly two o'clock, with
intermittent torrents of rain, and flashes of lightning fol-
lowed by loud peals of thunder.
During the storm a violent explosion of fireworks, gun-
powder, &c., took place, and excited much consternation. A
man, named Arthur Lawrence, a firework artist, resided with
his wife and family of six children, in a house in Green-
land street, situate between the Black Horse spirit-vaults and
the Circus, where he has carried on his business upwards of
four years. During the past week or two he had been busy
in the manufacture of fireworks for the affair to-day, and was
assisted by a man named John Bird, and his (Lawrence's)
eldest son, about 14 years of age. Besides a considerable quan-
tity of fireworks already completed, there were in pre-
paration a number for a pyrotechnic display, and, it is ad-
mitted by Lawrence, a "few pounds " of gunpowder and other
combustible materials were also in the workroom of the house.
During the thunderstorm the lightning was exceedingly vivid,
and Lawrence and his family, while seated at dinner, fancied
that an unusual smell, akin to sulphur, was perceptible,
and he went upstairs and opened a skylight. Imme-
mediately afterwards, three or four of his children left
for school, and his assistant, John Bird, returned to the
workshop after dinner, about two o'clock. Almost as soon
as he entered the premises, a terrific explosion took
place, the windows and roof of the house were literally
blown into the street, the windows of the Black Horse
vault, and those of several other houses in the imme-
diate visinity, shared the same fate, while the shock of the
explosion was felt for a considerable distance around. The
man Bird, and Lawrence's son and daughter, were buried in
the ruins. Mrs. Lawrence escaped with a few burns, and her
cap was burned from her head; her husband likewise being
considerably burned about the hands. A lad named Patrick
O'Brien, who was passing the house, had his leg broken, and
was otherwise injured by fragments of the ruins falling upon
and knocking him down ; and a youth named George Rankin
was likewise very seriously injured. During the exertions
made to extricate the man, boy, and girl, from the debris,
flames burst forth from the wood-work of the premises, and
soon there was a conflagration, which raged with great fury.
The fire-engines were sent for, and soon at the spot, together
with a body of police, but it was some time before a supply of
water could be obtained ; and, when it was forthcoming, the
fire was all but exhausted, the house being gutted. The three
injured persons, Bird, O'Brien, and Rankin, were conveyed to
the Southern Hospital, where Rankin, who was fifteen years
of age, and resided in Prince William-street, died about five
o'clock. From the loud report occasioned by the explosion,
which shook the houses more than a quarter of a mile off, it
is believed that there must have been a large quantity of gun-
powder in the house.

At the inquest, Arthur Lawrence, the maker of fireworks,
stated that if all the fireworks he had in his shop had exploded
they could not have produced such an explosion ; nearly all of
them remained unexploded. The jury found a verdict that
death ensued " From the house accidentally taking fire."
Wm. Simpson, plumber, Cabbage-hall, was struck with
lightning while standing in his car at the door of Mr. Wm.
Penn Smith's warehouse, Hanover-street. He was immedi-
ately attended to, but the loss of one eye is inevitable.
In Conway-street, Birkenhead, some trees were struck by
the electric fluid, and the top branches were scattered in all
directions. Two sheep were killed in a field at Holt-hill.
During the storm, the lightning entered the house of Mr.
Bloxham, in West Derby-street, but was not productive of
fatal results. In the height of the storm, and immediately
previous to a loud crash of thunder, a ball of fire came down
the chimney to the kitchen grate, whence it darted to the
centre of the stone floor, expanded into a flame of several feet
in circumference, and, after burning for some seconds, died
out, leaving the place filled with dense smoke. A servant,
who was nursing an infant, had but just previously removed
from a chair beside the fire; two young children were
standing gazing from the window ; while the mistress of the
house was engaged at the dresser opposite to the fire-place.
About a quarter to one o'clock in the afternoon, the brig
Mary Hale, lying in the Victoria Dock, nearly ready for sea,
was struck by the lightning, which shattered her top-gallant
mast, but left it standing. One of the crew of a flat lying
alongside was struck in the face by a splinter, which caused a
slight abrasure of the skin.
On the same day, Manchester was visited by a severe storm.
At a quarter to three, there were vivid flashes of lightning,
showing that the storm was passing directly over the city.
The rain, at the same time, fell in torrents, and it was thickly
mingled with hail. The grids were, in many places, in-
capable of receiving the surface water, and several streets
were flooded, and cellars inundated. The hail created some
damage to skylights in different parts of the town ; several
panes of glass were broken in the roof of the Victoria Station.
Rochdale and Middleton were also visited by a thunder-
storm, accompanied by a heavy fall of rain and hail, but no
particular damage is reported.
On Thursday afternoon, the metropolis and the adja-
cent country for many miles round, was visited by a most
destructive storm. It commenced shortly before four
o'clock, and continued for upwards of an hour, during
which the lightning was very vivid, accompanied by
very loud peals of thunder. The market gardeners in the
vicinity of the metropolis, particularly about Tottenham and
Edmonton, &,c., suffered severely, the surface of the soil having
been completely washed away, and many young shrubs de-
stroyed ; some thousand squares of glass have been broken by
hailstones, some of which were fully an inch in circumference.
The small rivulets, Colue and Ravensbourne overflowed their
banks, inundating the adjacent grounds; and considerable
damage has been occasioned by the partial overflow of the
Brent. The masters of the fishing vessels report that several
of the low-lying marshes in Kent and Essex are under water.
The accounts received by the guards on the Eastern Counties,
Great Northern, and South Western Railways, describe the
-storm as most violent ; in many places the rails were inun-
dated, the sluices being insufficient to carry off the water, and
that considerable damage has been sustained by the occupiers
of land adjoining the railways. The storm commenced again
in the City about three o'clock this afternoon, the thunder
and lightning being followed by heavy showers.