Silvertown Explosion Print

The 1917 Silvertown Disaster. This painting was inspired by the fact that my family comes from the area in which this disaster took place. My grandfather would no doubt have experienced the explosion as he lived and worked just a couple of miles away in Hackney Wick, London E9. At 6:52pm on Friday 19th January 1917 in a Silvertown factory in East London, England, 50 tons of TNT ignited in a massive blast which completely destroyed the premises and caused widespread damage to the surrounding area. It was and still is the biggest explosion ever in the metropolis and destroyed a large part of Silvertown in East London. Silvertown was an industrial area fronting the River Thames directly to the south of the Royal Victoria Dock, and east of Bow Creek. It developed in the 1850s and was named after Samuel Winkworth Silver, who established a factory there. Silver's business prospered and became known as the India-Rubber, Gutta-Percha, and Telegraph Works Company Limited. The factory made some of the first Bell's patent telephones in the 1880s. The factory was built in 1893 on the south side (River Thames side) of North Woolwich Road (now the A1020, nearly opposite Mill Road) by Brunner Mond, a forerunner of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), to produce soda crystals 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 factory's surplus capacity to purify TNT, a process 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 purify TNT at a rate of approximately 9 tons per day until it was destroyed by the explosion. On 19 January a fire broke out in the melt-pot room, and efforts to put it out were under way when approximately 50 long tons (51 t) of TNT ignited at 6:52 pm. The TNT plant was destroyed instantly, as were many nearby buildings, including the Silvertown Fire Station. Much of the TNT was in railway goods wagons 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 200,000 cubic metres (7,100,000 cu ft) of gas. Several thousand pounds' worth of goods was also destroyed in nearby warehouses, estimated by the Port of London Authority to span 7 hectares (17 acres). Between the docks, railway lines and industrial premises, workers lived in rows of small densely packed terrace houses. Seventy-three people were killed (sixty-nine immediately, and four later from their injuries), and more than 400 injured. Up to 70,000 properties were damaged, 900 nearby ones destroyed or unsalvageably damaged. 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. 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 away, including Sandringham in Norfolk and along the Sussex coast. The day after the explosion, the local authorities set up the Explosion Emergency Committee to oversee rescue and rebuilding work. By mid-February 1917, more than 1,700 men were employed in repairing houses. By August most of the work was complete. The government eventually paid about three million pounds in compensation to the people affected by the disaster, an enormous sum at the time. An inquiry into the incident judged that Silvertown was a totally unsuitable place for a T.N.T. plant and castigated Brunner, Mond & Co for negligence in the running of their works. The report remained secret until the 1950s. This is a deep frame stretched canvas with a white border but can be painted black if requested.

Print:Giclee on Fine Art Paper

Size:12 W x 6 H x 0.1 D in

Size with Frame:17.25 W x 11.25 H x 1.2 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.