3-003-986 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Destruction by fire of the Queen Railway Hotel at Chester, [Cheshire], 1861. 'On Monday week the Queen Railway Hotel, a magnificent building, opened last summer, at Chester, was to a great extent destroyed by fire. The catastrophe originated about five o'clock from an overheated flue in the kitchen. The Mayor, the magistrates, and the militia were all quickly on the spot, with the Chester fire-engines. The Birkenhead and Crewe engines were telegraphed for and soon arrived. The Saltney engines were also present in good time. Captain Humberston, M.P., heading a small body of volunteers, supported the police, and every effort was made to protect the property. There was just time to save the plate and a large part of the furniture. At one period the railway station itself, which cost above a quarter of a million, was deemed in danger. The interior of the original part of the hotel is destroyed, but the large new wing is safe, so that the establishment may be soon reopened. The building is partially insured in the London and Liverpool Fire Office'. From "Illustrated London News", 1861.