The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-03 00:00:00

Tremendous Conflagration at Lambeth.

Last evening the inhabitants of Lambeth, near the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury's palace and Hodges' distillery, were
thrown into a state of excitement, owing to the outbreak of
a fire of no small magnitude in the extensive range of pre-
mises belonging to Messrs. Ogleby and Co., the well-known
i wax bleachers and patent candle manufacturers, situate n
Paradise-street, Lambeth.
The property in question, as most of the public are
aware, covers an immense space of ground, and comprises
sundry erections, some of brick and timber, others of cor-
rugated iron and glass, whilst the open yard serves the
purposes of a wharf or general depot. Each building con-
tained many tons of fat, oil, spermaceti, and other equally
inflammable articles, such as are calculated to spread (Es•
may, which was the case last evening, upon the sudden
outbreak of a fire in such an extensive range of buildings
as stood upon the ground. To add to the excitement which
prevailed upon the alarm being raised, it is necessary to
state that Messrs. Hedges' distillery is within. a few yards
i
of the factory, and a great number of small houses inter-
vened between the distillery and the blazing property, in
Norfolkr-ppleaocpelane, daNraoriftolkw-arsowd. These
stressinhg to houses wore e
h ow tenantedthey
by
hurled their furniture into the street to avoid the ravages
of the flames,

From inquiries made, it appears that Mr. Myers, the
manager of the works, left the premises at 5 o'clock, when
the factory appeared perfectly safe from fire, but in less
two
_aodre.
vesenhrgaladetaasno,tdi,oß;M:rbianellr:tnetshn:Pßse..
than an hour afterwards some one cried out that the pressing
rooms of the factory were in flames, Such, unfortunately,
turned out to be correct, and in less than 5 minutes subse-
quently immense bodies of flame rolled from that part of the
factory, and huge sheets of smoke nearly obscured from
the public eye the Archbishop's palace. It then becarae
apparent that a fire which could not easily be catinguidua
had begun.
The various workmen, upon finding they Were unable
to get such a body of fire ,extinguished, sent for the aid. of
(Libly brief,
the fire-engines, and, in a space of time incre ~.„,,,,
__
the parish engine attended, closely followed by CaPL Hodges
and Lieut. Becker, with three engines from the first-named
Torrent land steamer
gentleman's distillery, including the 'm also came u
from the same firm. Various brig
aelarget number of
in rapid succession, including
land steamers, one of their powerful
rid
ctv, direction
anry d
mFriannuceaslswoofrklinVgaleensgilnanesd, steamer,
nearlyan
Mcr FOrelraell
metropolis. The force
the steam engines.
djloenrr,ettlide,
wchhioefheansgcm"
ofhargeof
.1
neighbourhood at the time, Mr Phipps, the secretary the LatabethWater Company
who was in the n eewraafor founmthdee under
itsht eri
upon seeing the
flames rising so high into the air, hurried to the spot, and
gave instructions to
such the turncockslar as to the best mains to be
opened to supp l y ge n
urrAber of engines as were
Upon such an present•emergency Hodges' distillery, it
shoull be stated, afforded sufficient water to feed 12 pipes,
a
but the Thames took the first honour of supplying the float-
ing engine.
The firemen, under the direction of their superior officers;
upon seeing the danger that existed of the flames lapping
over and seizing upon the distillery, laboured incessantly,
as did also Mr Deeley, from Burnett's distillery.r.r :
Eventually, about 9 o'clock, all danger of any further
extension of mischief was over ; but the damage done to
Messrs Ogleby and Co 's
remises is very serious. It is
gratifying to state, however, that instead of the whole of
their hands—as is generally the case when a catastrophe
p
occurs in large establishments—being thrown out of em-
ployment, the business of the firm will be carried on as
heretofore. The damage done, large as the fire was, may
be described as follows :—The boiling houses and pressing
rooms destroyed, and various other portions of the factory
damaged by fire and water. The origin of the fire is un-
known, The firm was insured in the Phoenix, the Royal,
the Germs!, the Hand in Hand, the Imperial, and the
West of England Fire-offices. Messrs C. and 11. White,
of the County Fire-office, with Mr Superintendent Webb,
and Inspectors Heath, Edmunds, and Byron, mndered es-
sential aid to the firemen by keeping an immense crowd of
spectators out of danger, and with the help of the workmen
in removing sundry casks of fatty matter out. of the reach
of the flames.

Several persons in Norfolk-place and Nor folk-row will
also be serious loaers,