The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-31 00:00:00

Total Destruction of the Surrey Theatre
by Fire.

The Surrey Theatre, in the Blackfriars-road, the
favourite theatre on the south side of the water, was
at a late hour last night totally destroyed by fire
under the following, circumstances. At about 20
minutes to 12 o'clock the last scene in the panto-
mime of " Richard Coeur de Lion was being played,
and Rowena, the clown, had just begun his per-
formance of a burlesque solo on the trombone,
when, happening to cast his eyes to the ceiling of
the theatre, he saw a strong light reflecting through
the aperture over the chandelier. At once suspect-
ing there was a fire, he with great presence of mind
left the stage quietly and communicated his suspi- '
eions to Mr. Green, the acting manager. That gen-
tleman at once despatched some of the stage car-
penters to see what was the matter, but at the same
moment some of the audience were alarmed by a
cloud of smoke descending through the aperture'
named, and the cry of fire was raised. Mr. Green came
upon the stage and implored the people to leave the
house quietly, and the curtain was at once lowered.
Fortunately, the audience, which had been by no
means large during the evening, was at that time
extremely scanty, and the house was speedily
cleared without accident. At the time the last few
people were leaving, the flames burst with great
fury through the ceiling, which was composed of thin
laths and painted canvas, and in a very short space
of time caught the drapery running round the boxes,
and the proscenium and stage curtain, from which
it at once extended to the scenery, and the whole
stage became a mass of flame. The scene on the
stage and in the dressing-rooms of the theatre at
this time was almost indescribable, the numerous

actors and actresses who had been engaged in the
pantomime running about in the greatest confusion,
and the screams of the ballet girls were heartrend-
ing. To add to the horrors of the scene, Mr. Hink-
ley; the gas superintendent-6f The theatre, to -a-voi'd
explosion, turned off the gas in the back portion of
the theatre, which was thus for some time left in

:otal*darkness. Had it not been for the presence o:
. _ _ _ _

mind displayed by Mr. Green, the acting manager ;
Mr. Rowella, the Clown ; Mr. Evans, the Panta-
loon ; Mr. Vivian, the Sprite, and some other of
the pantomhnists, the loss of life behind the scenes
would probably have been considerable. Those
gentlemen, at the risk of their own. lives, dragged
the screaming and terrified women and girls through
the burning scenery to the stage door, from whence
they were conveyed to their homes in a but lightly
clothed and fainting state in cabs provided by the
police. The last persons brought out of the burning
building were several children, who had been repre-
senting the characters of fairies in the transformation
scene. Messrs. Rowella and Vivian having reported

to the stage manager that all persons had been saf
removed from the theatre, they made their own
escape, dressed as they had been while playing their
respective parts, no persons engaged in the panto-
mime having had time to change their dress, so
rapid was the progress of the fire. In less than ten
minutes from the first alarm, indeed, the whole in..
terior of the theatre was one mass of flames.

While the above scene was taking place inside the
building, there was the greatest excitement in the
neighbourhood of the theatre. Crowds of people,
attracted by the reflection of the flames, which,
shooting high up, illuminated the air for miles
around, came rushing up, and cabs, loaded with
people, were being driven to the scene from all
directions. Within 10 minutes of the alarm being
given a strong body of the M and L divisions of
police from the Stones-end and Tower-street stations
arrived on the ground, and, by dint of great exer-
tions, cleared a sufficient space for the engines, seve-
ral of which, both steam and manual, had by that
time arrived, the powerful steam engine of Mr. F.
Hodges being amongst the first arrivals. So rapid,

however, had been the flames that, before any of the
engines could be brought to play, the whole interior
of the theatre was completely burnt out, the roof,
galleries, and boxes, falling in rapid succession, and
nothing was left standing of the building but the
portico and front wall, facing the Blackfriars-road.
Several small houses, also, in the rear of the theatre,
occupied by poor people, had by this time fallen a
prey to the flames, the inmates barely eseaping with
their lives. The theatre was bounded on the north
side by the Flowers of the Forest Tavern, kept by
Mr. Osmond ; and on the south by the Equestrian
Tavern, kept by Mr. Harris, the governor of the
Licensed Victuallers' School, and both these houses
being in imminent danger, the attention of the
firemen was directed to save them, in which
efforts they were successful. For at least a
quarter of a mile round the theatre the streets were
strewed with burning embers from the theatre, and
several persons were severely burned by the large
flakes of fire which fell upon them. So intense was
the heat that the fronts of the houses on the oppo-
site side of Blackfriars-road facing the theatre were
much scorched, and the wood work was only kept
from igniting by copious streams of water being
played upon it from two engines specially detailed
off for that purpose. About 1 o'clock Mr. Shepherd,
one of the lessees of the theatre, arrived at the scene
of destruction, and was immediately surrounded by
the male members of his company, all dressed in
their theatrical costumes, but begrimmed with dirt
and smoke and saturated with water, the result of
their efforts in the first instance to extinguish the
fire and afterwards in rescuing the female portion of
the company. His first inquiry was, " Are there
any lives sacrificed ?" and on being informed that it
was thought every one had escaped, he fervently
ejaculated, " Thank God for that !"

So rapid was the fire that not a vestige of any
thing belonging to or in the theatre was saved from
destruction. The new and splendid scenery, the
valuable properties, the costly wardrobe, the money
receipts of the evening, and every article of clothing
belonging to the company, were all consumed in a
few minutes. Much commiseration was expressed
by the neighbours and the crowds of people present
for the lessees of the theatre—Messrs. Anderson and
Shepherd. Although insured to some extent their
loss will be very great. At least 300 persons will
also be thrown out of employment at a season when
there is little opportunity of obtaining any other en-
gagement.

The part of the house where the fire was first
observed, immediately above the chandelier, was
used as the painters' and carpenters' workshops,
but its origin cannot at present be ascertained.
It is certain, however, that the catastrophe
did not arise from any cause immediately connected
with the performances of the evening. -
At 3 o'clock this morning the fire was still burn-
ing, but all further danger was over. The firemen,
however, were playing upon the burning ruins, and
an immense crowd of people was assembled look-

ing on.