The National Register.
London, England, 1814-10-23 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL _ •

6A4

ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES.

DREADFUL ACCIDENT VT MEUX'S BREWIIOUSE.

The neighbourhood of St. Giles's was thrown into the utmost con- 1
sternation on Monday night, by one of the most mehmeholy ;tech-
dents ever remembered.—Ahout six o'clock, one of the vats in the
extensive premises of elessrs. Henry Merle and Co. in Baubuty-
;street, St. Giles's, burst, and in a moment New street, and sevetal
ethers in the vicinity, were deluged with the contents, amountine
to 5500 barrels of strong beer. The fluid, in ire course, swept
every thing before it. Two honses m NetV street. adjoining the
brewhonse, were covets- demolished. 'I 1w inhabitants, who wert
.
of the poorer elass, weie all at home. Io the first floor one of
them, a mother and dem:liter were at tea : the mother was killer I
int the spot; the &melee'. was swept ;way by the cement throwgh a
partition, and dashed to pieces. The back part of the house of
Mr. Geodwin, poulterer, of Mr. Hawse, Tavistoek Arms, and Nos.
24 and :25, in Great Revs& street, were near! destroyed. The
female servant of the Tavistuck Arms was suffocated. Three of
Mr Merle's men employed in the brewery were rescued with great
difficulty, by the people collected to afford relief, who had to wade '
up to the middle through the beer.
The site of the place is low and flat, and there being no decli-
vity to carry If the fluid, in its fall it spread and sunk into the
neighbouring cellars, all of which were inhabited. The bursting
of the brewhonee walls, and the fall of heavy timber, materiel'y.
contributed to aggravate the mischief, by forcing the rook and
wells of the adjoining houses. The crowd collected tiom the time
of the accident to a late hoer was imnweoe It presented twiny
distressing scenes of children and others inquirieg for anti lament-
ing their parents, relatives, and friends.
A great number of workmen were employed the whole of Toes i
day, in clearine away the rubbish', and the folluoing dead bodies
were timed :
Ann Saville, about 6n years of ;lee.
Eleanor Cooper; between 14 and 1.5 years of age, servant to Mr
Hawse, tee Tavisteek Aims.
Hannah Bamtield, a child, four years and a halt'
Mrs. Butler, a poor Irish weiman, her daughter, and erend-
daughter, and two others, whose names were not then ascertained.
One person was elite out alive. 'ewo brothers, of the
Crick, store-house clerks, in attempting to save some of the pro-
perty, were sevetely hurt. Two other persons are missing from the
neighbourhood, whose hodies have net yet hero foiled. :any of
the cellars on the south side of Russel street were completel)
immdated with beer ; and in some houses the inhehitante heel to
save themselves from drowning, by mounting their highest pieces
of fureiture.
One of the interesting circumstances attending the melancholy
event was observable ie the anxiety expressed by several gentle-
men who were drawn to the spot, to prevent any noise amnog the
crowd, that the persons who were employed in eleerieg away the
rubbish might, in pm-suing their work, direct their cars to tee
ground, in order to discover whether any of the victims were call-
ing
for :assistance. 'Die caution and humanity with which the la-
bourers proceeded in their distressing task, excited a strong in;
terest, and deserved the warmest approbation.
When the beer began to flew, the neighbourhood, consistiee, of
the lower classes of the Ifish, were busily employed in putting in
their claim to a share, and every vessel, from a kettle to a cask,
were put into requisition, and many 3e them were seen on Tuesday
enjoying themselves at the expeese to the proprietors, whose loss is
estimated at an immense sum.
Covers en's INQUEST.—Wctine,clav afternoon at two o'clork, an
Inquest was held in the Hoard Room of St. Giles's Workhouse, be-
fore George Hodgson, Esq. Coroner for Midelesex, on view of the
bodies of the following unfortunate persons who fell victims to the
bursting of the vat in Messrs. Holly Meux and Co's Brewhouse, St.
1. Eleanor Cooper, 14 years of age, servant to Mr. Richard
Hewes, the Tavistork Arms. Great Russell stree t.
V. Mary Mulvey, a married woman, aged 30 years.
5. ThOnlaS Min ry, aged 3 years, so:i to Mary Mulvey, by a former
Leh:hand.
4. Hannah llaYfield, aged 4 years and 1 months.
5. Small (hate', 3 years itltl 5 months.
6. Arti Saville, aged 60 years.
7. Elizaecelt Smith, a married woman, aged '27 yea's.
Catherine Butler, a wislow, aged ee years.
Ailey the Jury were Wynne:lied and Sworn they proceeded to

OCY. 113.

tee Dead !house, to take a t.iew of live of the bodies that were de-
posited there; they then went to take a view of the phew where
the accident happened, ate) (If the other three bodies that Mete
taken home by their &lends. On returning to their Jetry-morn, the
first witness expeeintd was
Georee Crick. who deposed, that he was store-house clerk to
Aleeim Hem y Men, and Co. of the Hersteshoe Brewhonse, in St.
Giles's; he has served them about 17 years, near six years of which
he was iti the present brew house. Monday afternoon one of the
large iron hoops of the vat which .burst fell off; witness was not
alarmed on that account, as he had (retinently seen such accidents
occur without beieg attended by any serious eenseyience; he
wrote to inform Mr. *Venue, one of the pat tners in the tieni,.of
what had happened, he ees also their vat builder ; witness heed Ilse
letter in his hand in order to send it to Mr. Voting about halt past
Five o'clock in the evenine, which was abort an hour atter the hoop
fell etf; witness was standing on the platform !within three yerds 01
the vat, when. without the smallest pre vions notice, it burst; he
heard the crash of the vat eoing otf, he ran to the store-hoese where
the vat was, he was above his knees in beer, he was shocked at the
sight that pieseeted itself to his view ; one side of the honse, up.
wards of '25 feet in height, with a considerable -part of the roof, lay
in !inns. The fist *object that took his attention was his own
brother, who is Slirt-intendant finder him ; he saw one of the men
nulling him front tinder one of tie butts that lay eta one si:le, he and
one of the labourers were now in the Middlesex Hospital in a dan-
gerous' way. The height of the vat was V feet ; it wa- filled within
four belies of the top, and then contained e.e.f.i barrels of entire,
being beer that wes 10 multtlyi brewed, the four inches that were
empty of the vat would hold between 30 and 49 barrels more; the
!toil) %%inch burst was about seven hundred weight, which was the
least weight of any of 1%1. hoops on the vat, and seven large lumps,
each of which sveighed near a ton ; when the vat burst the finer mid
piessure was so great that it stove several hogsheads of purter, :eel
also knoc'eed the reek out of nearly as large a vat that was in the
• cellar or reeiens below, this vat contained '2400 barrels, all of which
hut about f,OO barrels also ran about ; they lost in all bet wevii 8 and
eooo letriels; the vat from whence the cock sees knocked out rim
I abent a barrel a minute ; the vat that burst had been built between
,
j eight arid eine years, mei was kept always nem if full; the vat hall
en °pe nile! on the top about a yard square, it ',vas about eight invitee
float the wall; witness supposes it tsar the rivets of the hoops that
slipped, none of r e hoops being broke, and the foundation wle-re
the r.,t stood not giving way ; the wall which fell was in licig:it
1 about e 5 feet, and two bricks and a halt thick ; witness and the men
employcd under hint had 0 ranch business of their own to attend to,
I mid never concerned theingelves about what liappetied ontsidc.
The cellar and t‘%o deep wells which were in it were full of beer,
anti all were employed to save what beer they c etld ; nor w itntss
did lice know at the time hut that some of thiir own men might
j have been killed ; about an hour and a halt after witness found the
body of Ann Saville floating among the butts, and also part of a
private still, both of which floated from some of Ile. neig%hote leg
,tunas, a.: he is certain neither were there before; she was glitC
dead, and her body was carried to the Horse-shoe puolic-honse.
Richard Hawes deposed, that he lived at No. 22 Gyeal Russell-
! street, Bloomsbury, the Tavistock Arms Public-house ; about halt:
(l past five o'clock on Monday evening, witness was in his tap-room,
j when he heard the crash ; the back part of his house was beaten ill
j i and every thing in his cellar destroyed, the cellar and tap-room tilled
il with beer, so that it sins ponying across the street into the areas on
I. the opposite side ; the deceased Eleanor Cooper, his servant, was in
I. the yard washine pots at the. time the accident happened; she was
buried notivr the tains. from whence rite was dug mit about e 0 mi-
j! Mitts li,rit eight u'rlUek ; She was found standing by the water butt.
II Mr. Ogle, a Surgeon, attended to render medical assistance, but
l' ,he was quite dead.
I John ClilliMillC deposed, that he was a bricklayer, and lived in
Pratt's-place, Camden-town ; being the oweer of some houses in
! New-street, where the principal part of the persons who were lost,
Iresided, he attended on the spot all day on lite:Arty, to render all
r the assistance in his power to the sufferers ; Elizabeth Smith, a
i! bricklayer's wife, was the first body they found. about twelve o'clock,
I! in the ruins of a first floor ; Sarah Batea, a child, was discovered iu
shoot an 11011 r after, in the ruins of No. 3, New-street ; ('atherine
i Vutler, a widow, Mary Mulvey, and her son, Thomas 'Murry, a boy
1 three years of age, were founti about four o'clock ou Tuesiloy even-
]) ing ; Hannah Banfield, a girl about four years and a halt old. w ith
Ibet' mother, and another child, wet;!' at tea on the first floor, the two
former were washed by the flood into the ruins, the dead body of
I Itaimah Beefield was 'found in the rnins about half past six ; the
1! mother was carried to the Middlesex Hospital, where slit: lies iu a