The Times, April 16 1863

EXPLOSION AT EWELL POWDER MILLS, SURREY.

About 6 o’clock yesterday morning a fearful explosion of gunpowder, by which three lives were lost, took place at the mills belonging to Messrs. Sharp and Adams, of Birchin lane, London.

The manufacture is carried on in five detached buildings, distant from 150 to 400 yards from each other. These are known as - 1, the mixing-house; 2, the mills, which are worked by steam; 3, the press-room; 4, the corning-house and glazing-room; and 5, the dust-houses. The corning-house and glazing-room formed one building of only one story; it was 40ft. square, and was divided into two apartments by a water wheel, which drove the machinery of the mill, and by a thin partition. It was in this building that the explosion took place. The noise was fearful, and alarmed the whole neighbourhood. The shock was like that produced by cannon and file firing. Within a quarter of a mile of the spot windows were broken in every house. In the High-street of Sutton, three miles, off, the shock was severely felt, and the noise caused alarm at a distance of from six to seven miles.

One of the workmen engaged at the time in the press-house, about 400 yards off, on hearing the explosion, said to his companion, “There’s a blow,” and made his way into the open air. On looking up he saw a cloud of smoke and black spots, which he knew to be charred timbers tossed high into the air by the explosion. The workmen, on repairing to the place after the accident, found the whole space within 100 yards of the mill covered with charred timbers from a few inches to many feet in length.

The mill itself was leveled with the ground, a beam not less than 12 feet long and 15 inches square standing almost upright in the ground at a distance of 30 yards from the place where it had been. It had evidently been blown over the tops of the young elms and ash trees intervening without touching them. Two large ash and elm trees were torn up by the roots, and the old press which stood outside the building was also pulled from its socket. Three men are usually employed in the rooms, and at 6 o’clock they had just gone to work. They were all three in the building, and were blown up with it. Their bodies (or portions of them) were picked up in the adjoining field, belonging to Mr. Gardener, Ruxley Farm. One body, that of Thomas Woolman, was found at a distance of 90 yards; the other two, those of James Baker and Henry Hookham, in different directions 60 or 70 yards from the mill.

The body of the former was the least mutilated of the three, one arm only being blown off. Of the others the heads and limbs were separated from the bodies, and scattered about the field. One of the heads has not been found.

Mr. Sharp’s private residence, at some distance from the scene of the accident, is much damaged. Scarcely a pane of glass remains whole, and the woodwork is much torn. The walls are shaken to the foundation.

Two of the deceased men left families - James Baker, a wife and six children, the eldest only 11 years of age, and Henry Hookham, two daughters, one a widow with children dependent on him. But either he or the other sufferer had just had secured to him through the kind exertions of Mr. Sharp a pension from Sir Henry Bridges, the former owner of the mills. No conjecture has been offered as to the cause of the accident, nor were the workmen able to state what quantity of powder was in the mill at the time of the explosion. A similar severe disaster occurred on the same spot 28 years ago.

Extract from the notebook of the Reverend George Glyn, Bart., Vicar of Ewell

20 April 1863

An awful catastrophe occurred last Wednesday morning, the 15th at 6.a.m. Three men, James Baker, Henry Hockham and a single man, Weverman, only lately come, had just begun work in the corning house at the powder mills when it blew up and instantly scattered their bodies in mangled pieces over the adjoining fields. Baker has left a widow and six young children, Hockham an elderly man has only left a widow and two daughters, grown up, one married the other a widow. Baker and Hockham were buried in the new churchyard on Saturday, a sum of £200 14s 6d was subscribed and invested in Ewell savings bank in the name of the Vicar and Churchwardens for the sole benefit of Widow Baker.

The Times, 22nd April 1863

EWELL POWDER-MILLS ACCIDENT

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir, - Will you kindly permit us to call the attention of a sympathizing public to the case of Widow Baker and her six fatherless children, the eldest not 11 years old, who were deprived of their earthly support by the sudden and awful explosion at the Ewell powder-mills on Wednesday, the 15th inst.? As Baker and his wife both bore excellent characters the case is the more deserving of attention.

It is proposed to place any funds which may be collected under the management of a committee consisting of ourselves and some gentlemen in the neighbourhood, who will be responsible for their due application.

We do not solicit special aid on behalf of Widow Stockham, as we understand that probably some provision will be kindly made for her. The other sufferer was a single man.

We annex a list of a few contributions which have

been spontaneously made. Any sums remitted to the “Ewell Accident Fund,” at Messrs. Glyn, Mills, and Co.’s, 67, Lombard-street; or at Messrs. Herries, Farquhar, and Co.’s, 16, St James’s-street; or to Mr. George Stone, Vestry Clerk, Ewell, Surrey, will be gratefully acknowledged.

We are, Sir, your obedient servants,

G.L.GLYN, Vicar of Ewell.

W. WILDERS,)

W. FORSTER,) Churchwardens Ewell, April 20.

The Earl of Onslow, £10.; the Rev. Sir George L. Glyn,

vicar of Ewell, £5.; Sir John R. Reid, £3.; Lady Reid, £2.; Mrs.

Gadesden, £10.; Messrs. Sharp and Adams, £1.; Mr. George

Torr, £5.; Mr. Thomas Stowers, £5.; Mr. J.E. Walters, £5.; A

Friend per ditto, £1.; Mrs. Lempriere, £3.;, Mr. Henry

Lempriere, £2.; Mr. Percy Lempriere, £2.; collected by Mr.

Henry Lempriere, £4. 4s; Mr. William Wilders, £5.; Colonel

Asketh, R.A., £1.; Mrs Robinson, Leamington, l0s.; Mr. Hugh

Jackson, £5.; Mr. H. Arnold, £1.; Mr. William Vizard, £3.; Mr.

William Forster, £3.3s; Mr. George Stone, £2.2s; Mr

Henderson, £2.