14 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814. 



wing of the building, adjoining 

 the apartments occupied by Miss 

 Kelly, the housekeeper. Upon 

 the first alarm, her brother (Col. 

 Kelly, late of the guards), who 

 occasionally slept there, hurried to 

 his sister, and found her in such a 

 senseless state from the fright, that 

 it was with extreme difficulty he 

 could drag her out almost naked. 

 As the flames were at this time 

 beginning to rage with great fury, 

 he was much scorched in this 

 effort, and was obliged to be con- 

 veyed in a blanket to the Rev. Mr. 

 White's, on Tower-hill, where 

 shelter and assistance had been 

 afforded to his sister. The engines 

 arrived soon after seven o'clock. 

 About eight the flames had ob- 

 tained so great an ascendancy, that 

 all attempt to save the Custom- 

 house were abandoned. The ex- 

 ertions of the firemen and others 

 employed were then directed to 

 the warehouses and other build- 

 ings on both sides of the street, 

 when a report was circulated that 

 many barrels of gunpowder were 

 deposited in the vaults, and that 

 consequently an explosion might 

 soon be expected. This report 

 bad nearly a magical effect. All 

 " withdrew to a distance, both fire- 

 men and spectators. At half-past 

 nine the report which had been 

 circulated was confirmed not to 

 have been an idle one. The ex- 

 plosion of about two barrels and 

 an half of gunpowder was tre- 

 mendous. The shock was dis- 

 tinctly felt on the Royal Exchange, 

 and by persons who came to Lon- 

 don by the Whitecha pel-road ; it 

 was felt four miles in that direc- 

 tion. Many of the buckets were 

 carried as far as Billingsgate; and 

 one man was hurt or killed by 



two bricks falling on his head. 

 The concussion spread devastation 

 around the neighbourhood, break- 

 ing many windows in Cannon- 

 street, Eastcheap, and the adjoin- 

 ing streets, and exciting in the 

 breasts of the inhabitants appre- 

 hensions of the complete destruc- 

 tion of that quarter of the city. 

 Merchants were seen in all direc- 

 tions giving orders for the removal 

 of stores from the different ware- 

 houses, and every individual who 

 happened to possess property, how- 

 ever trifling, near the scene of de- 

 struction, was most anxious in his 

 endeavours to remove it to a place 

 of comparative safetj'. 



The flames soon communicated 

 to the houses in Thames-street, 

 opposite the Custom-house, and 

 embraced, in a short time, ware- 

 houses in Globe-yard, and the 

 whole of the tenements extending 

 from Beer-street to Water-lane, 

 from which it required the utmost 

 activity of the inmates to escape, 

 not with their property, but with 

 their lives. Numbers of indivi- 

 duals were severely scorched ; 

 while others in a state almost of 

 nudity, were seen rnshingin search 

 of a place of shelter. Among the 

 more remarkable escapes, were 

 those of the Storekeeper and his 

 family, who, but for the assist- 

 ance of a fire-ladder, and the 

 prompt exertions of a fireman, 

 must have perished in the flames. 



At one o'clock the whole of the 

 Custom-house and the adjoining 

 warehouses were completely re- 

 duced to ashes ; and the food of the 

 flames having been at that side 

 exhausted, the attention of the 

 firemen and their assistants was 

 directed to other quarters, where 

 they were enabled tp render the 



