The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-08-02 00:00:00

AWFUL THUNDER STORM IN LONDON.

(From the Shipping Gazette.)
At a very early hour on Thursday morning the metropolis
was visited by a tremendous storm of thunder and lightning,
accompanied by torrents of rain and hail, which continued
with scarcely any intermission till six o'clock. The flashes
of lightning were exceedingly vivid, and several of them were
followed by terrific peals of thunder resembling the report of
a volley of artillery. One of the loudest was at the com-
mencement, between twelve and one o'clock, which came
from S.S.E., and did considerable damage at Vauxhall and
Newington. The electric fluid struck a chimney stack on a
small house situate at the corner of Clarence-place and Nor-
folk-street, Vauxhall ; it penetrated through the roof, carry-
ing with it a great portion of brick-work, destroying the
frame-work of a closet in the room beneath, breaking away
a great portion of the ceiling, cracking the walls of the
chimney, smashing every square of glass in the window,
destroying the frame, shivering part of the wood-work of the
bedstead, wherein lay three young children, but who were
providentially uninjured. After doing this damage the
lightning found its way between the joints of the hearth-
stone into the lower room, where Mr. and Mrs. Moss, the
father and mother, were lying in bed with two other
children, who also as miraculously escaped injury, notwith-
standing the mantlepiece was shivered to atoms, portions of
which were tossed on to bed, the fire-irons and other
articles driven across the room with great violence, as though
propelled by fire-arms, the whole of the crockery and glass
destroyed, the frames partly torn off some pictures and a
looking-glass, and in fact almost every article of furniture
broken or damaged, while the room was strewed with soot
and pieces of brick, mortar, and plaster. The fluid, after
making a complete circuit of the apartment, is supposed to
have passed out by the window, as all the squares of glass
were broken, the sash much damaged, and the window shutter
blown from its hinges into the street. As soon as the poor
creatures had partly recovered from their alarm, having
ascertained they were all unhurt, Mrs. Moss ran out and
called some of the neighbours, several of whom came, but
fortunately were only require'd to console and assist in re-
moving the children from the mass of rubbish with which
they were surrounded. Police constable L 22, who was on
duty near the house at the time, describes the appearance as
awful, adding that the roofs of the above and several adjoin-
ing houses appeared on fire, and that the shock drove him
violently against the wall, and singed his right hand. The
above family are wholly supported by the father, a hawker of
vegetables, and the loss by this calamity will be severely felt.
The house is so much shattered that it appears unsafe for the
inmates to remain in it.
In addition to the above, and about the same time, a thun-
derbolt, probably the_ same, penetrated the clock turret of
the chapel at the Fishmongers Almshouses, near the Ele-
phant and Castle, Newington, and after melting and rending
the greater part of the works
is
the clock, so as wholly to
suspend the movement, which_is fully indicated by the hands
having remained stationary since twenty-five minutes past
twelve ; thence the electric fluid broke through and damaged
the roof, causing the northern wall of the tower to bulge, and
present a very dangerous appearance, and passing out of the
upper part of the tine old Gothic window, at the east end of
the chapel, smashed several panes of glass, and damaged the
stone frame-work ; it then proceeded along the lead which
covers the cornice of the adjoining low buildings occupied by
some of the inmates, and descended through the interior of
a leaden rain water pipe, perforating an orifice near the lower
part of about three inches in diameter, whence it proceeded
into a cask used to catch the rain water which descends from
the roof, and, after splintering several of the staves, drove
out the metal tap at the bottom, tearing away a large piece of
stave with it ; and, finally, appearing to have buried itself
beneath a quantity of garden pots, seval of which, with the
plants therein, are broken and damaged.
The buildings, which are the property of the Hon. F.
Thynne, are insured in the Union ; the contents in the West-
minster.
The houses of Mr. Howell, 1, Vincent-square, and of Mr.
Cooper, No. 2, next door, were set on fire by lightning at
six o'clock on Thursday morning, but which was extinguished
through the joint exertions of the firemen connected with
the Fire Brigade and West of England, and the parties at-
tending with the parish engine. The only damage done to
the buildings was a partial destruction of a chimney stack
and the scorching of the paint and paper. A great portion
of the furniture was much injured by the fire and removal.