Loss of Life and Injury
The scale of injury and loss of life was smaller than might be imagined from such an infernal night. Some 53 people were accounted as having died, including Alexander Dobson, the 26-year-old second son of the renowned Newcastle architect John Dobson; Charles Bertram, owner of the exploding warehouse; and William Davidson, scion of the mill-owning family. Figures for the injured are less reliable, but it is supposed that from 400-500 people were injured, some horribly, and many receiving treatment at the Gateshead Dispensary and the Newcastle Infirmary. At the latter hospital, the beds of the existing in-patients were given to the newly injured, and the existing in-patients—where able—tended the new charges in their beds, under the direction of the medical staff.
Two hundred families "of the poorer classes" were burned out of their houses; amongst which were several orphans and widows. Each was calculated to have lost, on average, £15 of property.
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