London Labour and the London Poor, Vol. 2

by Henry Mayhew

“The proportion per cent. of the uninsured to the insured, would be—

		Insured.	Uninsured.	Total.
		Per Cent.	Per Cent.
Houses	1111	82·3	17·7	100
Contents	1013	60·1	39·9	100
	2124	71·7	28·3	100

The following table gives the total number of fires in the metropolis during a series of years:

ABSTRACT OF CAUSES OF FIRE IN THE METROPOLIS, from 1833 to 1849, inclusive.

Compiled by W. Baddeley.

	1833	1834	1835	1836	1837	1838	1839
Accidents of various kinds, for the most part unavoidable	83	40	14	13	17	36	25
Apparel ignited on the person	..	..	..	7	7	5	3
Candles, various accidents with	56	146	110	157	125	132	128
Carelessness, palpable instances of	28	..	19	18	7	17	14
Children playing with fire or candles	..	..	5	6	18	5	12
Drunkenness	..	2	3	..	2	4	6
Fire-heat, application of, to various hazardous manufacturing processes	31	24	39	34	22	40	26
Fire-sparks	..	..	..	7	10	12	9
Fire-works	..	..	3	..	5	3	5
Fires kindled on hearths and other improper places	7	..	9	5	5	15	8
Flues, foul, defective, &c.	71	65	69	72	53	58	58
Fumigation, incautious	..	3	7	5	2	1	5
Furnaces, kilns, &c., defective or over-heated	..	11	2	9	12	15	20
Gas	20	25	39	38	31	42	72
Gunpowder	3	3	..	1	3	1	2
Hearths, defective, &c.	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
Hot cinders put away	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
Lamps	..	..	..	2	3	9	4
Lime, slaking of	..	3	4	3	..	4	2
Linen, drying, airing, &c.	..	..	22	31	48	32	26
Lucifer-matches	..	..	..	..	8	9	17
Ovens	6	..	..	6	3	11	4
Reading, working, or smoking in bed	..	3	..	..	..	1	2
Shavings, loose, ignited	..	6	9	13	8	17	8
Spontaneous combustion	7	2	5	4	4	5	13
Stoves, defective, over-heated, &c.	18	20	11	28	36	31	24
Tobacco smoking	..	6	4	1	3	4	11
Suspicious	..	..	..	..	7	8	6
Wilful	3	9	6	8	5	6	7
Unknown	125	114	91	96	57	45	67

	1840	1841	1842	1843	1844	1845	1846
Accidents of various kinds, for the most part unavoidable	26	26	44	19	11	17	29
Apparel ignited on the person	12	5	9	5	4	3	3
Candles, various accidents with	169	184	189	166	205	165	229
Carelessness, palpable instances of	24	25	19	27	15	14	15
Children playing with fire or candles	21	18	16	20	23	19	25
Drunkenness	5	5	11	6	9	7	9
Fire-heat, application of, to various hazardous manufacturing processes	29	16	36	14	21	22	25
Fire-sparks	17	13	23	17	27	24	32
Fire-works	1	4	7	5	3	10	9
Fires kindled on hearths and other improper places	7	8	9	9	8	12	7
Flues, foul, defective, &c.	89	83	90	105	84	78	86
Fumigation, incautious	3	2	2	1	1	3	4
Furnaces, kilns, &c., defective or over-heated	15	12	23	19	17	29	28
Gas	48	48	52	40	33	54	53
Gunpowder	..	..	3	1	..	1	..
Hearths, defective, &c.	..	..	3	5	2	..	4
Hot cinders put away	..	..	3	3	7	10	8
Lamps	3	5	2	2	6	11	7
Lime, slaking of	2	5	4	2	3	9	7
Linen, drying, airing, &c.	25	27	41	33	45	30	39
Lucifer-matches	18	16	17	14	19	12	14
Ovens	13	13	13	10	10	8	8
Reading, working, or smoking in bed	..	5	2	3	..	..	3
Shavings, loose, ignited	27	35	22	31	18	25	35
Spontaneous combustion	11	22	20	23	34	19	18
Stoves, defective, over-heated, &c.	48	54	32	58	44	51	43
Tobacco smoking	9	22	17	14	21	19	29
Suspicious	11	7	9	16	7	9	7
Wilful	9	13	19	21	11	14	19
Unknown	39	23	32	60	74	32	39

	1847	1848	1849	Total.	Average
Accidents of various kinds, for the most part unavoidable	20	19	13	452	27
Apparel ignited on the person	3	1	2	69	4
Candles, various accidents with	237	237	241	2876	169
Carelessness, palpable instances of	20	23	24	309	18
Children playing with fire or candles	16	19	15	238	14
Drunkenness	5	3	7	84	5
Fire-heat, application of, to various hazardous manufacturing processes	16	22	23	440	26
Fire-sparks	65	63	40	359	21
Fire-works	6	1	8	70	4
Fires kindled on hearths and other improper places	3	4	4	120	7
Flues, foul, defective, &c.	78	56	78	1273	75
Fumigation, incautious	4	4	2	49	3
Furnaces, kilns, &c., defective or over-heated	14	16	21	263	16
Gas	63	65	57	780	46
Gunpowder	2	..	2	22	1⅕
Hearths, defective, &c.	3	4	3	24	1½
Hot cinders put away	9	5	11	56	3
Lamps	2	3	17	76	5
Lime, slaking of	5	5	3	61	4
Linen, drying, airing, &c.	34	36	40	509	30
Lucifer-matches	9	23	12	188	11
Ovens	8	2	2	117	7
Reading, working, or smoking in bed	1	1	1	22	1⅓
Shavings, loose, ignited	37	27	21	339	20
Spontaneous combustion	15	7	19	228	13
Stoves, defective, over-heated, &c.	37	48	43	626	37
Tobacco smoking	18	37	24	239	14
Suspicious	17	11	10	125	7
Wilful	17	25	19	211	12
Unknown	72	38	76	1080	63

Here, then, we perceive that there are, upon an average of 17 years, no less than 770 “fires” per annum, that is to say, 29 houses in every 10,000 are discovered to be on fire every year; and about one-fourth of these are uninsured. In the year 1833 the total number of fires was only 458, or 20 in every 10,000 inhabited houses, whilst, in 1849, the number had gradually progressed to 838, or 28 in every 10,000 houses.