Silvertown explosion
Encyclopedia
The Silvertown explosion occurred in Silvertown
in West Ham
, Essex
(now part of the London Borough of Newham
, in Greater London
) on Friday, 19 January 1917 at 6.52 pm. The blast occurred at a munitions factory that was manufacturing explosives for Britain
's World War I
military effort. Approximately 50 ton
s of trinitrotoluene (TNT) exploded, killing 73 people and injuring over 400, and also causing substantial damage to buildings and property in the local area. This was not the first, last, largest, or the most deadly explosion at a munitions facility in Britain of the war: an explosion at Faversham involving 200 tons of TNT killed 105 in 1916, and the National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell exploded in 1918, killing 137.
side) of North Woolwich Road (now the A1020, nearly opposite Mill Road) by Brunner Mond
, a forerunner of ICI
, to produce soda crystal
s and caustic soda. Production of caustic soda ceased in 1912, which left part of the factory idle. Two years into the War, the Army was facing a crippling shell shortage. The War Office
decided to use the surplus manufacturing capacity of the factory to purify TNT, more dangerous than manufacture itself, although the factory was in a highly populated area. Despite opposition from Brunner Mond, production of TNT began in September 1915. The method used was invented by Brunner Mond chief scientist F. A. Freeth, who believed the process to be "manifestly very dangerous". The plant continued to manufacture TNT at a rate of approximately 9 ton
s per day until it was destroyed by the explosion.
Another plant, at Gadbrook, was built in 1916 and was producing TNT at a higher rate than the Silvertown factory, away from populated areas, with more stringent safety standards. The volume of explosives produced at this factory effectively subsumed the Silvertown plant's output, but both were in full production, despite this.
broke out in the melt-pot room, and efforts to put it out were under way when approximately 50 long tons (50.8 t) of TNT ignited at 6:52PM. The TNT plant was destroyed instantly, as were many nearby buildings, including the Silvertown Fire Station. Much of the TNT was in railway goods wagon
s awaiting transport. Debris was strewn for miles around, with red-hot chunks of rubble causing fires. A gasometer
was destroyed on Greenwich Peninsula
, creating a fireball from 200000 cubic metres (7,062,933.2 cu ft) of gas. Several thousand pounds' worth of goods were also destroyed in nearby warehouse
s, estimated by the Port of London Authority
to span 7 hectares (17.3 acre).
Seventy-three people were killed (sixty-nine immediately, and four later from their injuries), and over 400 injured. Up to 70,000 properties were damaged, 900 nearby ones destroyed or unsalvageably damaged; the cost was put at either £250,000 or £2.5m. The comparatively low death toll for such a large blast was due to the time of day. The factories were largely empty of workers (there were fewer than forty in the TNT factory itself), but it was too early for the upper floors of houses (which sustained the worst of the flying debris damage) to be heavily populated. Also, it occurred on a Friday, when fewer people were around the factory. However, several professional firemen
and volunteers fighting the earlier fire were killed or seriously injured in the explosion. For comparison, 8 tons of TNT exploded at the National Shell Filling Factory, and killed 137 people; an explosion at Split Rock, New York
in 1918 killed 50-52 people with 1-3 tons of TNT.
Reportedly, the explosion also blew the glass out of windows in the Savoy Hotel
and almost overturned a taxi in Pall Mall, London
, the fires could be seen in Maidstone
and Guildford
, and the blast was heard up to 100 miles (160.9 km) away, including Sandringham
in Norfolk and along the Sussex
coast. Although the blast was heard at a great distance, it was not heard uniformly across the whole intermediate distance, due to atmospheric effects caused by refraction of the sound waves.
rescue team was sent into the area under Catherine Bramwell-Booth
, and the YMCA
also rendered aid, including food and hot drinks. Thousands were left homeless, requiring temporary accommodation in schools, churches, and other similar places. 1,700 men were employed in the reconstruction task by February. ₤3m in aid was paid to those affected by the blast, equivalent to approximately ₤40m in 2007, of which £1m was paid to local businesses and factories, including £185,000 to Brunner-Mond.
The clear-up was under the direction of Sir Frank Baines
, and a report in the Manchester Guardian of 12 February 1917 stated 750 to 1000 men were on site. 600 houses had been demolished by the explosion and 400 new ones were being built. 300 had been repaired and many more re-slated.
Henry Cavendish-Bentinck and Alfred Mond, son of the eponymous Ludwig
of Brunner-Mond, debated in Parliament the living conditions of residents during the reconstruction; conditions were said to be "gravely prejudicial to the public health" and "not fit for human habitation". It was mooted that the residents should be relocated to a newly built garden city
, rather than spending £1.3m rebuilding the present, dilapidated, area. John Joseph Jones, MP for Silvertown
also maintained an interest in the disaster.
The Ministry of Munitions
announced the explosion in the following day's newspaper, and ordered an investigation led by Sir Ernley Blackwell
, published on 24 February 1917. A definite single cause of the explosion was not found, invalidating early theories such as German sabotage
or an air-raid
, but did find that the factory's site was inappropriate for the manufacture of TNT. Management and safety practices at the plant were also criticised: TNT was stored in unsafe containers, close to the plant and the risky production process. The report was not disclosed to the public until the 1950s. Other newspapers, including the New York Times, also reported the explosion.
On 20 June 1917, Andreas Angel, the plant's chief chemist who was attending to the initial fire, was posthumously awarded the Edward Medal
(First Class) as was George Wenbourne. Police Constable Edward George Brown Greenoff was posthumously awarded the King's Police Medal, and is commemorated with a plaque on the Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice in Postman's Park
, in central London.
The Silvertown explosion was not the final British munitions plant disaster of World War I: The National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell, in Nottingham
, exploded on 1 July 1918, killing 137 and injuring 250.
The former TNT factory's grounds are, as of 2010, empty, not having been built upon since the explosion. The other part of the factory remained open after being repaired, until finally closing in 1961. This is also idle, as of 2007. A memorial was commissioned by Brunner Mond in the 1920s inside the entrance to the factory location; it also serves as a memorial to World War I
and World War II
.
(Series 4, Episode 9, "Another Year"). Scullery maid
Ruby Finch had left her employer, the Bellamy family at 165 Eaton Place, to work in a munitions factory for the war-effort. The explosion is not only heard at the home of her former employer in southwest London, but it literally rocks the house. The residents can see a great fire in the distance, "down the river somewhere." Ruby makes her way back to the house and relates her account of being in the factory when the explosion occurred. She is in tremendous shock, and her face is covered in a sulfurous yellow residue.
In Pat Mills
's comic-strip Charley's War
the hero, Charley Bourne, is wounded on the Somme and returns home to Silvertown to be confronted by the aftermath of the explosion. Several subsequent strips depict a Zeppelin raid on the munitions factories in the area, and deal with the residents' fears of a repeat of the disaster.
Silvertown
Silvertown is an industrialised district on the north bank of the Thames in the London Borough of Newham. It was named after Samuel Winkworth Silver's former rubber factory which opened in 1852, and is now dominated by the Tate & Lyle sugar refinery and the John Knight ABP animal rendering...
in West Ham
County Borough of West Ham
West Ham was a local government district in the extreme south west of Essex from 1886 to 1965, forming part of the built-up area of London, although outside the County of London...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
(now part of the London Borough of Newham
London Borough of Newham
The London Borough of Newham is a London borough formed from the towns of West Ham and East Ham, within East London.It is situated east of the City of London, and is north of the River Thames. According to 2006 estimates, Newham has one of the highest ethnic minority populations of all the...
, in Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
) on Friday, 19 January 1917 at 6.52 pm. The blast occurred at a munitions factory that was manufacturing explosives for Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
's World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
military effort. Approximately 50 ton
Ton
The ton is a unit of measure. It has a long history and has acquired a number of meanings and uses over the years. It is used principally as a unit of weight, and as a unit of volume. It can also be used as a measure of energy, for truck classification, or as a colloquial term.It is derived from...
s of trinitrotoluene (TNT) exploded, killing 73 people and injuring over 400, and also causing substantial damage to buildings and property in the local area. This was not the first, last, largest, or the most deadly explosion at a munitions facility in Britain of the war: an explosion at Faversham involving 200 tons of TNT killed 105 in 1916, and the National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell exploded in 1918, killing 137.
Operations
The factory was built in 1893 on the south side (River ThamesRiver Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
side) of North Woolwich Road (now the A1020, nearly opposite Mill Road) by Brunner Mond
Brunner Mond
Tata Chemicals Europe is a UK-based chemicals company that is a subsidiary of Tata Chemicals Limited, itself a part of the India-based Tata Group...
, a forerunner of ICI
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
, to produce soda crystal
Sodium carbonate
Sodium carbonate , Na2CO3 is a sodium salt of carbonic acid. It most commonly occurs as a crystalline heptahydrate, which readily effloresces to form a white powder, the monohydrate. Sodium carbonate is domestically well-known for its everyday use as a water softener. It can be extracted from the...
s and caustic soda. Production of caustic soda ceased in 1912, which left part of the factory idle. Two years into the War, the Army was facing a crippling shell shortage. The War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
decided to use the surplus manufacturing capacity of the factory to purify TNT, more dangerous than manufacture itself, although the factory was in a highly populated area. Despite opposition from Brunner Mond, production of TNT began in September 1915. The method used was invented by Brunner Mond chief scientist F. A. Freeth, who believed the process to be "manifestly very dangerous". The plant continued to manufacture TNT at a rate of approximately 9 ton
Ton
The ton is a unit of measure. It has a long history and has acquired a number of meanings and uses over the years. It is used principally as a unit of weight, and as a unit of volume. It can also be used as a measure of energy, for truck classification, or as a colloquial term.It is derived from...
s per day until it was destroyed by the explosion.
Another plant, at Gadbrook, was built in 1916 and was producing TNT at a higher rate than the Silvertown factory, away from populated areas, with more stringent safety standards. The volume of explosives produced at this factory effectively subsumed the Silvertown plant's output, but both were in full production, despite this.
Explosion
On 19 January a fireConflagration
A conflagration or a blaze is an uncontrolled burning that threatens human life, health, or property. A conflagration can be accidentally begun, naturally caused , or intentionally created . Arson can be accomplished for the purpose of sabotage or diversion, and also can be the consequence of...
broke out in the melt-pot room, and efforts to put it out were under way when approximately 50 long tons (50.8 t) of TNT ignited at 6:52PM. The TNT plant was destroyed instantly, as were many nearby buildings, including the Silvertown Fire Station. Much of the TNT was in railway goods wagon
Goods wagon
Goods wagons are railway wagons that are used for the transportation of goods .- Development :At the beginning of the railway era, the vast majority of goods wagons were four-wheeled vehicles of simple construction. These were almost exclusively small covered wagons, open wagons with side-boards,...
s awaiting transport. Debris was strewn for miles around, with red-hot chunks of rubble causing fires. A gasometer
Gasometer
A gas holder is a large container where natural gas or town gas is stored near atmospheric pressure at ambient temperatures. The volume of the container follows the quantity of stored gas, with pressure coming from the weight of a movable cap...
was destroyed on Greenwich Peninsula
Greenwich Peninsula
Greenwich Peninsula is an area of South London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.The peninsula is bounded on three sides by a loop of the Thames, between the Isle of Dogs and Silvertown. To the south is the rest of Greenwich, to the south-east is Charlton.The peninsula lies...
, creating a fireball from 200000 cubic metres (7,062,933.2 cu ft) of gas. Several thousand pounds' worth of goods were also destroyed in nearby warehouse
Warehouse
A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...
s, estimated by the Port of London Authority
Port of London Authority
The Port of London Authority is a self-funding public trust established in 1908 by the Port of London Act to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and the authority is responsible for the public right of navigation and for conservancy of the...
to span 7 hectares (17.3 acre).
Seventy-three people were killed (sixty-nine immediately, and four later from their injuries), and over 400 injured. Up to 70,000 properties were damaged, 900 nearby ones destroyed or unsalvageably damaged; the cost was put at either £250,000 or £2.5m. The comparatively low death toll for such a large blast was due to the time of day. The factories were largely empty of workers (there were fewer than forty in the TNT factory itself), but it was too early for the upper floors of houses (which sustained the worst of the flying debris damage) to be heavily populated. Also, it occurred on a Friday, when fewer people were around the factory. However, several professional firemen
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
and volunteers fighting the earlier fire were killed or seriously injured in the explosion. For comparison, 8 tons of TNT exploded at the National Shell Filling Factory, and killed 137 people; an explosion at Split Rock, New York
Split Rock, New York
Split Rock is a hamlet in the Town of Onondaga in Onondaga County, New York. Today more a historic place than a community, Split Rock is a site of great interest to industrial archeology. The Solvay Process Company developed quarry operations here, delivering limestone used for the Solvay process...
in 1918 killed 50-52 people with 1-3 tons of TNT.
Reportedly, the explosion also blew the glass out of windows in the Savoy Hotel
Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...
and almost overturned a taxi in Pall Mall, London
Pall Mall, London
Pall Mall is a street in the City of Westminster, London, and parallel to The Mall, from St. James's Street across Waterloo Place to the Haymarket; while Pall Mall East continues into Trafalgar Square. The street is a major thoroughfare in the St James's area of London, and a section of the...
, the fires could be seen in Maidstone
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
and Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
, and the blast was heard up to 100 miles (160.9 km) away, including Sandringham
Sandringham, Norfolk
Sandringham is a village and civil parish in the north of the English county of Norfolk. The village is situated some south of the village of Dersingham, north of the town of King's Lynn and north-west of the city of Norwich....
in Norfolk and along the Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
coast. Although the blast was heard at a great distance, it was not heard uniformly across the whole intermediate distance, due to atmospheric effects caused by refraction of the sound waves.
Response
The emergency services immediately became involved in putting out the fires caused by the explosion, treating the wounded, and beginning to repair the damage caused. First-aid stations were set up in the streets to treat minor injuries. A Salvation ArmySalvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
rescue team was sent into the area under Catherine Bramwell-Booth
Catherine Bramwell-Booth
Commissioner Catherine Bramwell-Booth CBE, OF, born Catherine Booth Booth , Salvation Army officer, was one of seven children born to General Bramwell Booth and Florence Eleanor Soper, and was the granddaughter of the Salvation Army's Founder, General William Booth and his wife Catherine Mumford,...
, and the YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
also rendered aid, including food and hot drinks. Thousands were left homeless, requiring temporary accommodation in schools, churches, and other similar places. 1,700 men were employed in the reconstruction task by February. ₤3m in aid was paid to those affected by the blast, equivalent to approximately ₤40m in 2007, of which £1m was paid to local businesses and factories, including £185,000 to Brunner-Mond.
The clear-up was under the direction of Sir Frank Baines
Frank Baines
Sir Frank Baines, KCVO, CBE, FRIBA was at one time the architect heading Her Majesty's Office of Works.His most famous work was Thames House and its neighbour Imperial Chemical House in London, England...
, and a report in the Manchester Guardian of 12 February 1917 stated 750 to 1000 men were on site. 600 houses had been demolished by the explosion and 400 new ones were being built. 300 had been repaired and many more re-slated.
Henry Cavendish-Bentinck and Alfred Mond, son of the eponymous Ludwig
Ludwig Mond
Dr Ludwig Mond , was a German-born chemist and industrialist who took British nationality.-Education and career:...
of Brunner-Mond, debated in Parliament the living conditions of residents during the reconstruction; conditions were said to be "gravely prejudicial to the public health" and "not fit for human habitation". It was mooted that the residents should be relocated to a newly built garden city
Garden city movement
The garden city movement is a method of urban planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom. Garden cities were intended to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by "greenbelts" , containing proportionate areas of residences, industry and...
, rather than spending £1.3m rebuilding the present, dilapidated, area. John Joseph Jones, MP for Silvertown
Silvertown (UK Parliament constituency)
Silvertown was a borough constituency returning a single Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom through the first-past-the-post voting system. The constituency was one of four divisions of the Parliamentary Borough of West Ham, which had at the time...
also maintained an interest in the disaster.
The Ministry of Munitions
Minister of Munitions
The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort...
announced the explosion in the following day's newspaper, and ordered an investigation led by Sir Ernley Blackwell
Ernley Blackwell
Sir Ernley Robertson Hay Blackwell KCB, was a British lawyer and career civil servant...
, published on 24 February 1917. A definite single cause of the explosion was not found, invalidating early theories such as German sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
or an air-raid
Airstrike
An air strike is an attack on a specific objective by military aircraft during an offensive mission. Air strikes are commonly delivered from aircraft such as fighters, bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters, and others...
, but did find that the factory's site was inappropriate for the manufacture of TNT. Management and safety practices at the plant were also criticised: TNT was stored in unsafe containers, close to the plant and the risky production process. The report was not disclosed to the public until the 1950s. Other newspapers, including the New York Times, also reported the explosion.
On 20 June 1917, Andreas Angel, the plant's chief chemist who was attending to the initial fire, was posthumously awarded the Edward Medal
Edward Medal
The Edward Medal is a British civilian decoration which was instituted by Royal Warrant on 13 July 1907 to recognise acts of bravery of miners and quarrymen in endangering their lives to rescue their fellow workers...
(First Class) as was George Wenbourne. Police Constable Edward George Brown Greenoff was posthumously awarded the King's Police Medal, and is commemorated with a plaque on the Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice in Postman's Park
Postman's Park
Postman's Park is a park in central London, a short distance north of St Paul's Cathedral. Bordered by Little Britain, Aldersgate Street, King Edward Street, and the site of the former head office of the General Post Office , it is one of the largest parks in the City of London, the walled city...
, in central London.
The Silvertown explosion was not the final British munitions plant disaster of World War I: The National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell, in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, exploded on 1 July 1918, killing 137 and injuring 250.
The former TNT factory's grounds are, as of 2010, empty, not having been built upon since the explosion. The other part of the factory remained open after being repaired, until finally closing in 1961. This is also idle, as of 2007. A memorial was commissioned by Brunner Mond in the 1920s inside the entrance to the factory location; it also serves as a memorial to World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Popular culture
The Silvertown Explosion is dramatised in the LWT series, Upstairs, DownstairsUpstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.Set in a...
(Series 4, Episode 9, "Another Year"). Scullery maid
Scullery maid
In great houses, scullery maids were the lowest-ranked and often the youngest of the female servants and acted as assistant to a kitchen maid. The scullery maid reported to the cook or chef...
Ruby Finch had left her employer, the Bellamy family at 165 Eaton Place, to work in a munitions factory for the war-effort. The explosion is not only heard at the home of her former employer in southwest London, but it literally rocks the house. The residents can see a great fire in the distance, "down the river somewhere." Ruby makes her way back to the house and relates her account of being in the factory when the explosion occurred. She is in tremendous shock, and her face is covered in a sulfurous yellow residue.
In Pat Mills
Pat Mills
Pat Mills, nicknamed 'the godfather of British comics', is a comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since....
's comic-strip Charley's War
Charley's War
Charley's War was British comic strip written by Pat Mills and drawn by Joe Colquhoun. It was originally published in Battle Picture Weekly from January 1979 to October 1985-Publishing history:...
the hero, Charley Bourne, is wounded on the Somme and returns home to Silvertown to be confronted by the aftermath of the explosion. Several subsequent strips depict a Zeppelin raid on the munitions factories in the area, and deal with the residents' fears of a repeat of the disaster.