3-011-394 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Scene of the explosion of gunpowder magazines near Erith, 1864. '...a general view, taken from the embankment looking down the river,...[after] the destructive explosion at the Belvedere powder-magazines, near Erith, on Saturday morning, the 1st October...[An] inquest has been held at Guy's Hospital, by Mr. Serjeant Payne, Coroner for the city of London, upon the bodies of two persons who died in the hospital of the injuries which they received at Belvedere...it appeared that two barges, which had brought gunpowder from the mills at Faversham, were lying at the jetty belonging to their magazine at Belvedere when the explosion took place; and it is supposed that one of them was unloading at that moment...The jury found a verdict declaring that the two persons who died at the hospital were killed by the explosion of gunpowder, but how that explosion had originated there was no evidence to show. The jury, however, were of opinion "that the practice of allowing stoves or lights of any description on board the gunpowder barges should be discontinued".' From "Illustrated London News", 1864.