3-008-571 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Illustration of the Great Fire at Enschede, by our special artist: general view of the town after the fire, sketched from the meadows, 1862. '...about four thousand individuals, possessing nothing but the clothes on their backs, many even shoeless and hatless - all supperless - bivouacked under the trees or the starry heaven, waiting, hungry and exhausted, till the intelligence of their calamity had aroused the inhabitants of the neighbouring districts to supply them with the necessaries of life. It is certainly remarkable that only three lives were lost...great distress prevails among the burned-out citizens; but those upon whom the brunt of suffering comes most severely - that is, the poor - bear their trials with admirable fortitude. Throughout the length and breadth of the country subscriptions are pouring in for their relief; the War Department has sent tents and clothing; every newspaper has its Enschedé Fund; every influential citizen is a member of some committee charged to receive subscriptions for them; and every lady is philanthropically occupied in preparing some specimen of her taste and handicraft for a lottery or bazaar whose proceeds are to be devoted to the alleviation of the hard fate of the poor operatives of Enschedé'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.