Ainger and Co

of Upper Ground Street, Blackfriars, London

1847 'Dreadful Accident and Fire at an Iron Foundry in London.— On Friday night, shortly before ten o'clock, a frightful occurrence took place in the iron-foundry belonging to Messrs. Ainger and Co., in Upper Ground-street, Blackfriars. A number of men were engaged at the time in casting, and had succeeded in shifting a large quantity of hot metal to about the middle of the space between the furnace and mould, when the ladle toppled over, and the whole of the liquid iron was scattered over the floor of the foundry, running amongst the men, and firing sundry portions of the building, and then rushed through the windows and door like the discharge of rockets. In the course of a few minutes the engines arrived, and with the aid of buckets of water the firemen succeeded in getting the fire out, and the hot metal on the floors cooled, when a roost dreadful sight presented itself. One of the workmen, named George Richardson, was found in a corner of the foundry burnt in a most shocking manner. He was placed in a cab, and removed to the Hospital. Two other persons, named Thomas Hobby and Martin Ryan, were also extensively burned about their bodies, and were likewise removed to the hospital. At eleven o'clock the fire was safely extinguished, but it was expected that one person, if not more, would die during the night.'

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