1810 engraving of Panshanger
In January 1855 there was a major fire at Panshanger which was reported In the Saturday, 3rd February 1855 edition of the Hertfordshire Mercury.
About 12 o’clock on the night of Tuesday, 30th January 1855 a fire broke out in one of the servants’ apartments and it extended with great rapidity to the kitchen and laundry, and the entire suite of offices as well as the private apartments of Earl1 and Lady2 Cowper and Lord Fordwich3 in the western wing of the building where the progress of the fire was arrested.
The fire was discovered around 12 o’clock shortly after the servants had retired to bed when a housemaid was awoken by a sense of suffocation and found her room full of smoke. She discovered dresses in the ‘sort of wardrobe‘ were on fire and so aroused the other two servants who shared her room. Having hastily dressed they aroused Mrs M’Cullum4, the housekeeper, and M. Sue the cook who slept in the next room, followed by the remaining servants.
The watchman who had also discovered the fire proceeded to rouse the inmates and the servants who were not residing in the house.
The housekeeper dispatched messengers to the house-steward who resided at Tewin and to the Hertford fire-engine and then proceeded with the assistance of M. Sue and the other servants to arrest the progress of the fire. The female servants dressed mainly in their night attire worked vigorously at a pump and supplied water to M. Sue who poured the water onto the burning timbers and the parts of the apartments which the fire had already reached. Not surprisingly these exertions were ineffectual especially as by this time the fire had reached the roof out of reach of the servants’ efforts.
By now Mr Dawson5, the head gardener along with his men and the gamekeepers and watchers on the estate had arrived. The fire engine from Marden Hill also arrived. Captain Robertson6, Chief Constable, with Superintendent Dunn7 and several policemen arrived early. Mr Harvey, the house steward, arrived on the horse the messenger had used to summon him. Around half past one, the Hertford engine arrived with a brigade of men under Mr. Superintendent Knight8, and fifty of the Herts Militia along with five or six officers soon joined in the efforts to subdue the fire. The great difficulty with which they all had to contend was the intermittent water supply which had at first been supplied only by a pump. The Mercury reporter was convinced that, had there been a ‘considerable body of water‘ near to the premises, the fire would have been entirely subdued in ten minutes!
The flames continued to extend towards the main body of the building but luckily the wind was from the north-east; had it been blowing from any other quarter then the whole building including the art gallery and all its paintings would have been destroyed. The conflagration continued to spread steadily with the fitful jets of water from the ill-supplied engine having scarcely any effect.
By this time the whole of the offices including the laundry, kitchen and range of servants’ apartments were ‘enveloped in a sheet of flame‘ which lit up the country for many miles around and ‘cast a strange glare over lawn and park covered in snow.’
Red hot slates now began to fall from the roof, putting those who were operating the engine in danger and burning a hole in the hose.
The fire having reached Lord and Lady Cowper’s apartments, Captain Robertson suggested cutting the fire off from the rest of the building, so the men of the Hertford fire brigade along with the Captain, Superintendent Knight, and some of the servants began to pull down the timber-built passageway between the kitchen and the rest of the house and mounted the roof to cut away the tiles and rafters of the roof along with the flooring of the rooms beneath.
In the meantime, the Hertford engine was brought round to the fountain. The hose was passed through the building and up to the roof from where a continuous, if not very strong, stream of water was directed at the space created by the hatchets of the firemen. By this time, water carts were supplying the engine with water from the river. The judicious application through broken windowpanes of streams of water from pipes from Mr Thornton’s engine stopped the fire from spreading from beam to beam.
The people were fighting a losing battle and so around 3 o’clock a messenger was sent for the second Hertford engine, the Ware engine and the Unity engine. The constant stream of water being played from the roof upon the burning walls and floors was by now having some effect. Although the boudoir, dressing room and bedroom of Lady Cowper and the room of Lord Fordwich were alight, the progress of the fire in that direct was arrested.
The newly arrived Ware Unity engine, under the direction of its Superintendent, Mr Ree, was placed on the banks of the river and transmitted a continuous stream of water to the second Hertford engine and thence to the Ware engine (Mr N Cobham9 and Wells commanding a well drilled brigade) which being paced near the offices was able to ply a continuous stream of water on the burning embers. This along with the water from the roof allowed the fire to be brought under control by 5 o’clock.
Whilst all this was going on, some of the domestics and servants of the estate were removing the fixtures, furniture and valuables of the family. Under the direction of Mrs. M’Cullum, Lady Cowper’s wardrobe was broken open and the trays and drawers laid on the lawn where they were placed in the custody of Sergeant Dunn and a guard of militiamen. The papers of Lord Cowper were saved in the same way.
Some courageous residents of Hertford had arrived and they were removing the plate from the pantry and some of the bedding and other articles from the bedrooms over the offices even while the fire was raging in the roof until it became too dangerous to continue.
Remains of the building
The building suffered considerable damage, besides the extensive offices which were a heap of ruins, Lady Cowper’s apartments were completely destroyed from the basement to the roof. The passages connecting these rooms with the rest of the building were partially destroyed. Although Lord Cowper’s rooms were saved, they suffered significant water damage.
The private dining room is the first room to be unaffected although all the paintings, curtains, tables and ornaments had been piled ‘in most methodical confusion‘ ready to be removed if it were necessary.
The drawing room, library and picture gallery with all its paintings by great masters were undisturbed. It had been determined that nothing in these rooms should be touched until it became absolutely necessary to do so.
The article goes on to state that the servants lost most of their clothing and for the most part the laundry, kitchen and rooms above were destroyed but that scarcely any of the furniture of the house had been destroyed and no valuables were lost. Presumably this refers to the expensive furniture and the valuables of Lord and Lady Cowper since the servants are likely to have lost some of their valuables.
The fact that more damage was not done was
‘……..attributable to the energy and good will with which everybody worked under the judicious direction of Captains Robertson and Bailey. To the Hertford Brigade, the servants of the establishment, the mechanics on the estate, the inhabitants of Hertford who assisted, and the Militia, the greatest praise is due, for the zeal and intrepidity they displayed under circumstances of considerable difficulty and danger.’
The Cowper family was on a visit to Earl de Grey at Wrest Park when the fire occurred. After the events had been relayed by telegraph, the Earl returned on Wednesday and remained until Thursday.
‘He expressed his surprise that the fire had not extended further, and his gratitude for the great and successful exertions which had been made to save the building.
The house and furniture we understand is fully insured.
The Ware engine worked admirably but the effectiveness of the Hertford engine was entirely attributable to the efforts of the men who had to work with an imperfect engine!
The overheating of the laundry flu seems to have been the cause of the fire.
Panshanger brigade c1900 ref: D.EPE227.1
Back Row; B Chambers; A Dennis; B Holden; W Mason; ? ; ? ; Spicer
Front Row: AF Sumner; James (House Steward & Captain); W Dubbins (engineer); F Brooks; A Mason senior
Panshanger Fire Brigade
Presumably as a result of this fire, the 7th Earl (the sixth Earl died just over a year after the fire) decided to create his own fire brigade, buying an engine and training staff members. The photograph shows the brigade around 1900.
Notes:
- George Augustus Frederick, 6th Earl Cowper (26th June 1806 – 15th April 1856) was a British Whig politician. He served briefly as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under his uncle Lord Melbourne in November & December 1834.
- Lady Anne Florence de Grey (8th June 1806 – 25th July 1880)
- Francis Thomas de Grey Cowper, 7th Earl Cowper (11 June 1834 – 18 July 1905) known as Viscount Fordwich from 1837 to 1856, He was a Liberal politician and served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1880 – 1882.
- Likely to be Charlotte McCullum who in 1851 around the age of 20 was a lady’s maid in Welwyn.
- Likely to be John Dawson born around 1806 who in 1851 was a gardener whose family was living in Hertingfordbury Road, Hertford.
Captain, later Lt Col, Archibald Robertson, rtd. (1804 – 9th August 1880). In 1841 Archibald was living with Stephen Austin in Fore Street having been appointed Chief Constable of the newly formed Hertfordshire Police, a post he held until his death. By 31st March 1851, census day, he was living with Mary, his wife and two children in North Crescent. On Lady Day (25th March) that year Robertson had taken out a lease on Sele Farm to which he presumably moved later that year. He had the farm house extended and renamed it Sele Grange. He died there on 9th August 1880. Whilst in the Army, Archibald, at that time a Captain aged 36, had been given the task of organising a body of mounted police in Van Dieman’s Land, i.e. Australia, cf. The Story of Hertfordshire Police by Neil Osborn. After Lt-Colonel’s daughter, Mrs. Henry Daniell died in the late 1920s, the Grange was converted into the Mayflower Hotel. Subsequently, the land was sold for housing (Grange Close & Cedar Close) and the Mayflower name was transferred to a building in Hertingfordbury.- Captain Charles Bailey, Royal Engineers on half pay (1803 – ?). Land agent for Lord Cowper living on a farm at Cole Green with Catherine Elizabeth Sophia, his wife and their family.
- Superintendent Robert Dunn (1800 – 1885) lived in 1851 in North Road with Elizabeth, his wife, and six children. By 1861 he was a widower living in George Street, Bengeo.
- Superintendent Robert Knight (1808 – 1875) Head Constable of Hertford Borough Police from 1839 until 1862. In 1851 & 1861 he lived with his family in The Wash, presumably in the Police House. By 1871 he was a publican in Fore Street.
- Probably William R Cobham (c1835 – ?) who, since at least 1851, had been clerk in the fire office.
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