3-028-443 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ruins of Broadclist, a village near Exeter, after the fire, 1870. 'The disaster which has befallen the Devonshire village of Broadclist...by a conflagration making dreadful havoc among its straw-thatched cottages, excites the compassion of those who know the place. The Right Hon. Robert Besley, Lord Mayor of London, who is a native of Exeter, and who has had his local affections refreshed by the late address of congratulation from Exonians and Devonians in this metropolis, will act as treasurer to a fund subscribed for the relief of the sufferers...Our Engraving of the ruins, from one of two photographs taken by Mr. J. F. Long, of High-street, Exeter, shows the scene of desolation now presented at Broadclist. Of seventy-eight houses forming this little village sixty were entirely destroyed; 250 persons were rendered homeless; and the loss of their clothing and furniture, and of the stock of their little shops, cannot easily be replaced without help from friends out of the district. Their immediate wants were provided for by their kind-hearted neighbour, Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bart., of Killerton, formerly M.P. for North Devon, and father of Mr. T. D. Acland, M.P., who now represents the same division of the county'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.