The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-08 00:00:00

CLERKENWELL EXPLOSION RELIEF
FUN).

The following is the first report of the canmlttee
On Friday, the 13th of December, 1867, occurred in
Clerkenwell that terrific and fatal explosion which has
become appallingly historic in the annals of England.
" Seven persons dead in consequence of the explosion ;
41 persons badly wounded, involving loss of limbs and eye-
sight, maiming, and general disfigurement ; 56 persons, for
the most part representing families, unhoused, with loss of
furniture, tools, working materials, &c.; as many as 600
families in the vicinity suffering in health, person, and
property from the violence of the shock.
" The committee would at the outset of their report
thankfully acknowledge the prompt liberality of the
public. The public subscription to this date amounts to
£6.091 ls. Od. as received by the bankers. There are
various sums in the hands of other bankers, amounting, as
advised, to .£4:52 17s. id.

" The plan proposed by the committee for the relief 05
the sufferers was as follows :—The district affected by the
explosion was subdivided into nine sections ; to each of
these a sub-committee was appointed, consisting of mem-
bers of the general committee and honorary visitors.
These sub-committees were appointed to visit personally
every house and every family. The principle on which
relief has been distributed has been as follows :—Returns
of losses are made to the committee ; these are investi-
gated by the sub-committees of the districts respectively ;
orders are given, to a certain amount, upon the neighbour-
ing tradesmen for the supply of the furniture, bedding, &c.;
the accounts are sent in to the honorary secretary, and are
paid from the fund. In the case of the more immediate
sufferers who had resided in the now ruined houses, the
committee have acted in a liberal manner, completely
refitting them in their new apartments. As a general
rule, a very small portion of furniture has been recovered
from the ruins, and that in a very damaged and broken
condition.

" The committee have to report as follows respecting

the deceased :
"1. William Clutton, aged 47, killed on the spot has
left a widow and a son who is imbecile and to be pro-
vided for. 2. Sarah Hodgkinson, aged 30, wife of a tailor,
who is badly wounded in hospital. 3. Martha Thompson,
aged 11 years (mother and three sisters in hospital) ; father
undergoing much mental affliction since. 4. Minnie
Abbott, aged 7 (mother and four brothers and sisters in
hospital). 5 and 6. Humphrey Evans, 67, and Martha
Evans, 65, husband and wife (daughter Hannah in
hospital, badly wounded) ; by the death of Humphrey
Evans an annuity, which has been the support of the
family, ceases ; provision to be made, especially for the
wounded daughter. 7. Harriet Balza,ni, aged 34, residing
at the time of the explosion in St. James's-walk ; was
obliged to remove to other lodgings, and, owing to the
shock and exposure to cold, bronchitis supervened ; died
in King's College Hospital ; medical certificate connects
the cause of death with the explosion. All these have
been decently and becomingly buried at the expense of the
committee. The first six are interred together in Finchley
Cemetery, in one grave, which may be called the ' Victims'
Grave,' and over which the committee purpose to erect a
suitable memorial.

" The returns made to the committee from the hospitals
are detailed in the following schedule :-Caleb Beckett,
28, carpenter, disabled ; head, left arm, and hand bruised.
William Thickthener, 55, watch escapement maker, cut
in face ; concussion. John Harvey, 48, scalp wounds.
Thomas Wheeler, 10, cut in neck and head ; thumb and
index finger (left) amputated ; concussion. John Hookey,
14, fall from van through horses taking fright by explo-
sion ; cut and bruised. Mary Moseley, 48, severe cuts, of
face, wound of temporal artery ; great prostration.
Charles Moseley, 11, left side of face bruised. Maria
Giles, 33, deep cut in forehead. Mary Ann Chittleburgh,
30, large wound on, forehead, eyelids and face scorched.
Edith Chittleburgh, 2, child of last-named ; con-
cussion. Elizabeth Thompson, 47, concussion-bruised;
four children taken to hospital ; one (Martha)
died. Lizzie Thompson, 17, left eye destroyed ;
face much bruised ; severe cut on forehead. Har-
riet Thompson, 14, severe wound of head and face ;
arm lacerated ; sight of left eye gone. Martha. Thomp-
son, 11, died in hospital, after much suffering. Emma
Thompson, 8, lacerated wounds of neck and hand ; very
prostrate. Elizabeth Holder, 56, cuts on face and fore-
head. Elizabeth Hodgkinson, 61, left eye destroyed;
temporal artery cut ; face and forehead severely cut.
Henry Hodgkinson, 33, son of the last-named, tailor ;
right hand and arm disabled, and badly wounded. Sarah
Hodgkinson, 30, wife of last-named ; brought dead to
hospitaL Maria Abbott, 34, right eye destroyed ; severe
cuts on head and face ; five children brought to hospital ;
one (Minnie) died. John Abbott, 13, numerous contu-
sions of face. Arthur Abbott, 5, incised wound of face
and neck. Frederick William Abbott, 11, la, :,..:rated cuts
on hand, neck, and face, portion of nose c off ; con-
cussion. Minnie Abbott, 7, died a few .utes after
being taken to the hospital. Annie Abbott, 2, slight
concussion. Sarah Hartley, 41, deep and severe wound
of left ear, which was nearly cut off ; badly
wounded in neck and head ; three children in hospital.
Thomas Hartley, 8, cut all over the face ; severe shock.
Alfred Hartley, 3, cut about head and face. ILeiry
Hartley, 15 months, cut on forehead. Mary Young, 36,
badly cut about face, forehead, and eyes ; nearly dead
when brought to hospital. Elizabeth Williams, 30, sister-
in-law of last-named, severe cuts on head, face, and eye-
lids ; arm lacerated. Anne Bennett, 67, deep wound in
right cheek ; much shaken. Mary Ann Miles, 46, deep
wound in face, forehead, and eyelids ; very prostrate.
Martha Evans, 65, dead. Humphrey Evans, 67, dead.
Hannah Evans (Roberts), daughter of the above, incised
wounds of neck, chest, and arms. William Thomas
Parry, 6; cuts in hand and face ; severe shock. Charles
Perry, 3, concussion. Martha Parry, 2, hand cut ; shock.
Anne Cross, 8, severe compound fracture of left leg ; con-
cussion. Anne Challis, 41, incised wounds of head, face,
neck, and arms.

" Besides the cases in hospital, the committee have
received returns of personal injury to as many as 111 per-
sons, who have suffered more or less severely from the
shock. A careful perusal of these unhappy consequences
of the Fenian outrage will best illustrate the difficulty
which the Committee has all along felt as to the adequate
compensation to be made to the innocent sufferers. Most
of the female sufferers have been accustomed to contribute
their own proportion to the bread-winning'—industrious
and thrifty housewives of skilled mechanics. The com-
mittee only wish that all England could look up• n that
ghastly sight of wounded men, women, and children, and
then fix the measure of what ought to be done for those
afflicted people. i5O each would be £2,000, and this
seems to be but a cold mockery of their pain and loss.
If the public bounty would double this, or increase it to
even a larger amount, the committee can only say, as
witnesses of this deep sorrow, that all that would thus be
done for the victims would be well deserved and well
bestowed.

" Not the least painful element in this catalogue of
suffering is that which has come under the care of the lady
visitor, whose detailed report shews the following results.
Speaking only of the district affected by the shock of the
explosion, Mrs. Bailey writes :—"rhe number of meter_
nity cases placed under my care from December 16 to
December 28 have been twenty-six. Of these three have
been delivered of still-born children, three have had very
serious miscarriages, three have given birth to living
children, one has been very ill, and still is, with a wound
in the breast caused by the explosion ; the remaining six-
teen cases, at different stages, the issue of which is very
doubtful.' "

The report appends some particulars of these cases,
which are extremely painful : .

" The results the committee have arrived at, as to the
estimate of liability and loss, as gathered from the above
details, from the reports of the subcommittees, and from
the claims sent in by the inhabitants, stand thus :
For furniture, tools, and working materials £3,085 12 10
For loss of time (inadequate return)
For claims for immediate relief attended to 1,042 7 9
For estimated expenditure since returns
made

111 personal injury cases not in hospital

280 0 0

40 personal injury cases in hospital,
maimed, blinded, or otherwise disfigured
or incapacitated, including annuities to
those permanently injured
" This estimate does not include the claims made for the
buildings, or the interest in the buildings that have been
injured or destroyed. For the present the committee are
contented if they are enabled by the exercise of public
sympathy to compensate, as far as money can compensate,
for sorrow, suffering, bereavement, maiming, disfigure-
ment, and losses that cannot be told up for their intensity
and severity.—By order of the committee,
" ROBERT MAGUIRE, M.A.,
• Incumbent of Clericenwell, Chairman.
" ROBERT PAGET,

Ve:4try Clerk, Hon. Scc.
" Office of the Committee, Vestry llall,
Clerkenwcll, Jan. 7, MS."

A GOOD STORY. —The Duke of Argyll tells a
good story. He was travelling with the Duke of Nort!i-
uraberland in a first-class carriage on the North-Eastern
Railway. At one of the stations a little commercial
traveller got in. The three chatted familiarly until the
train stopped at Alnwick Junction. Here the Duke of
Northumberland got out, and was met by a train of flun-
keys and servants. The commercial traveller said to his
remaining companion, " That must be some great swell."
" Yes," said the Duke of Argyll, "he is the Duke of
Northumberland." "Bless me," exclaimed the bagman,
" and to think that he should have been so affable to two
little mobs like us."--Northern Daily Express,