3-074-975 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Fire at Forest Gate, Stratford, the District School of the Whitechapel and Poplar Unions: dormitories where children were suffocated, 1890. 'New Year's Day at the East-End of London was saddened by a terrible disaster, appealing to all compassionate hearts. In the last night of the year, soon after midnight, one of the wings...was discovered to be on fire. Means were promptly taken to extinguish the flames, but two of the boys' dormitories were destroyed, and twenty-six of the unfortunate children perished. It is some consolation to feel that their sufferings were less than they might have been. In only a single case, as it appears, was death directly caused by burning. The rest of the children were suffocated by the smoke, which filled the whole building...The children who perished were all little boys, from seven to ten or twelve years of age. Fifty-eight were rescued alive, and not much hurt. The funeral of the children, in the West Ham Cemetery, on Jan. 6, was attended by the Board of Management of the School, and by a large concourse of people'. From "Illustrated London News", 1890.