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Silvertown Explosion
The Silvertown explosion occurred in Silvertown in West Ham, Essex (now part of the London Borough of Newham, in Greater London) on Friday, 19 January 1917 at 6:52 pm. The blast occurred at a munitions factory that was manufacturing explosives for Britain's First World War military effort. Approximately of trinitrotoluene (TNT) exploded, killing 73 people and injuring 400 more, as well as causing substantial damage in the local area. This was not the first, last, largest, or the most deadly explosion at a munitions facility in Britain during the war; an explosion at Faversham involving of TNT killed 105 in 1916, and the National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell, exploded in 1918, killing 137. Operations The factory was built in 1893 on the south side (River Thames side) of North Woolwich Road (now the A1020, nearly opposite Mill Road) by Brunner Mond, a forerunner of Imperial Chemical Industries, to produce soda crystals and caustic soda. Production of caustic soda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Millennium Mills
The Millennium Mills is a derelict turn of the 20th century flour mill in West Silvertown on the south side of the Royal Victoria Dock, between the Thames Barrier and the ExCeL London exhibition centre alongside the newly built Britannia village, in Newham, London, England. The Mills are currently undergoing a major renovation as part of a £3.5billion redevelopment of Silvertown. Along with Millennium Mills, there remains a small section of the now destroyed Rank Hovis Premier Mill and a restored grade II listed grain silo, labelled the 'D’ silo. Described by the ''Evening Standard'' in 2009 as a "decaying industrial anachronism standing defiant and alone in the surrounding subtopia", the Millennium Mills has become a well-loved icon of post-industrial Britain and has made its way into many aspects of popular culture, being used as a backdrop in films and television shows such as ''Ashes to Ashes'', ''London's Burning'' and Derek Jarman's ''The Last of England''. Millenni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at Millbank in London. ICI was a constituent of the FT 30 and later the FTSE 100 indices. ICI made general chemicals, plastics, paints, pharmaceuticals and speciality products, including food ingredients, speciality polymers, electronic materials, fragrances and flavourings. In 2008, it was acquired by AkzoNobel, which immediately sold parts of ICI to Henkel and integrated ICI's remaining operations within its existing organisation. History Development of the business (1926–1944) The company was founded in December 1926 from the merger of four companies: Brunner Mond, Nobel Explosives, the United Alkali Company, and British Dyestuffs Corporation. It established its head office at Millbank in London in 1928. Competing with DuPont a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by Carte's family for over a century. The Savoy was the first luxury hotel in Britain, introducing electric lights throughout the building, electric lifts, bathrooms in most of the lavishly furnished rooms, constant hot and cold running water and many other innovations. Carte hired César Ritz as manager and Auguste Escoffier as ''chef de cuisine''; they established an unprecedented standard of quality in hotel service, entertainment and elegant dining, attracting royalty and other rich and powerful guests and diners. The hotel became Carte's most successful venture. Its bands, Savoy Orpheans and the Savoy Havana Band, became famous, and other entertainers (who were als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Split Rock, New York
Split Rock (also Splitrock) is a hamlet in the Town of Onondaga in Onondaga County, New York, United States. Today more a historic place than a community, Split Rock is a site of interest to industrial archeology. A limestone quarry was established in Split Rock by Gilbert Coons around 1834. In 1880, the Solvay Process Company expanded quarry operations, delivering limestone used for the Solvay process by an elevated conveyor about long to the industrial plant at Solvay, New York. This quarry was abandoned about 1912. In 1915, during World War I, Split Rock became the site of a munitions factory operated by the Semet-Solvay Company. The plant employed about 2500 people when it exploded on July 2, 1918, killing at least 50. The explosion allegedly occurred after a mixing motor in the main TNT building overheated. The fire rapidly spread through the wooden structure of the main factory. Firefighting efforts were hampered by a loss of water pressure, and the factory eventually expl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Firefighter
A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also animals from dangerous situations. Male firefighters are sometimes referred to as firemen (and, less commonly, a female firefighter as firewoman). The fire service, also known in some countries as the fire brigade or fire department, is one of the three main emergency services. From urban areas to aboard ships, firefighters have become ubiquitous around the world. The skills required for safe operations are regularly practised during training evaluations throughout a firefighter's career. Initial firefighting skills are normally taught through local, regional or state-approved fire academies or training courses. Depending on the requirements of a department, additional skills and certifications such as technical rescue and pre-hospital ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St Barnabas' Church, West Silvertown
St Barnabas' Church, West Silvertown was a Church of England church in Silvertown, east London. It was opened in 1882 on Eastwood Road as a mission church of St Mark's Church, Silvertown. In the 1917 Silvertown explosion its chancel and iron hall were destroyed, leaving the church to use temporary buildings until the completion of a new church and the formation of a separate parish for it, both in 1926. The new parish was mainly drawn from St Mark's, though it also took a small part of the parish of St Luke's Church, Canning Town. The vicar of St John's Church, North Woolwich administered it after 1945. The parishes of St John, St Mark and St Barnabas were merged in 1974 to form the parish of North Woolwich with Silvertown. References Barnabas Barnabas (; arc, ܒܪܢܒܐ; grc, Βαρνάβας), born Joseph () or Joses (), was according to tradition an early Christian, one of the prominent Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Of London Authority
The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its continuation (the Kent/Essex strait). It maintains and supervises navigation, and protects the river's environment. The PLA originally operated all enclosed dock systems on the river (except the Regent's Canal Dock), but these have long been closed to commercial traffic, with the exception of Port of Tilbury, which was privatised in 1992. It inherited the private police forces of the companies which had previously run the docks, reorganising them into a single Port of London Authority Police. Finance The PLA receives no funding from the government and is entirely self-financing. Revenues are raised from conservancy charges on vessels and cargo, pilotage charges, annual port dues, hydrographic services, river works licence fees and cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greenwich Peninsula
The Greenwich Peninsula is an area of Greenwich in South London, South East London, England. It is bounded on three sides by a loop of the River Thames, Thames, between the Isle of Dogs to the west and Silvertown to the east. To the south is the rest of Greenwich, to the south-east is Charlton, London, Charlton. Formerly known as Greenwich MarshesOS 1:2500 map of 1867, Republished as ''West India Docks 1867'', The Godfrey Edition, Alan Godfrey Maps, 1991, Gateshead, and as Bugsby's Marshes, it became known as East Greenwich as it developed in the 19th century, but more recently has been called North Greenwich due to the location of the North Greenwich tube station, North Greenwich Underground station. This should not be confused with North Greenwich, Isle of Dogs, North Greenwich on the Isle of Dogs, at the north side of a former ferry from Greenwich. The peninsula's northernmost point on the riverside is known as ''Blackwall Point'', and this may have led to the name ''Blackwall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gas Holder
A gas holder or gasholder, also known as a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas is stored near atmospheric pressure at ambient temperatures. The volume of the container follows the quantity of stored gas, with pressure coming from the weight of a movable cap. Typical volumes for large gas holders are about , with diameter structures. Gas holders now tend to be used for balancing purposes to ensure that gas pipes can be operated within a safe range of pressures, rather than for actually storing gas for later use. Etymology Antoine Lavoisier devised the first gas holder, which he called a ''gazomètre'', to assist his work in pneumatic chemistry. It enabled him to weigh the gas in a pneumatic trough with the precision he required. He published his ''Traité Élémentaire de Chimie'' in 1789. James Watt Junior collaborated with Thomas Beddoes in constructing the pneumatic apparatus, a shortlived piece of medical equipment that incorporated a ''gazo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goods Wagon
Goods wagons or freight wagons (North America: freight cars), also known as goods carriages, goods trucks, freight carriages or freight trucks, are unpowered railway vehicles that are used for the transportation of cargo. A variety of wagon types are in use to handle different types of goods, but all goods wagons in a regional network typically have standardized couplers and other fittings, such as hoses for air brakes, allowing different wagon types to be assembled into trains. For tracking and identification purposes, goods wagons are generally assigned a unique identifier, typically a UIC wagon number, or in North America, a company reporting mark plus a company specific serial number. Development At the beginning of the railway era, the vast majority of goods wagons were four- wheeled (two wheelset) vehicles of simple construction. These were almost exclusively small covered wagons, open wagons with side-boards, and flat wagons with or without stakes. Over the course of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from this source, which is available under th Open Government Licence v3.0 © Crown copyright It was equivalent to the Admiralty, responsible for the Royal Navy (RN), and (much later) the Air Ministry, which oversaw the Royal Air Force (RAF). The name 'War Office' is also given to the former home of the department, located at the junction of Horse Guards Avenue and Whitehall in central London. The landmark building was sold on 1 March 2016 by HM Government for more than £350 million, on a 250 year lease for conversion into a luxury hotel and residential apartments. Prior to 1855, 'War Office' signified the office of the Secretary at War. In the 17th and 18th centuries, a number of independent offices and individuals were re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
