The Fire at Colney Hatch

The Colney Hatch Asylum fire of 1903 was one of the most devastating fires at that time in London's history, tragically claiming the lives of 51 female patients and exposing the conditions of mental health care at the time.

Poem

A framed poem about the fire is in the collection at TLA. It praises the hospital staff and was written by J. E. S., who was a patient at the hospital.

At the Fatal Fire at Colney Hatch

'Great heroism was shown by the members of the staff. The following is written in appreciation of such by an inmate of the above.'

Only Asylum Workers,
Put a truly noble band,
That cannot be dispensed with
Throughout this mighty land.

Those without rhyme or reason
Are placed within their charge.
It would be very dangerous
For such to be at large.

A very few words to you, friends,
About that terrible fire.
To say too much upon it,
I have really no desire.

'Twas in the early morning,
The Asylum staff were woke;
And what they had to encounter
Was volumes of flames and smoke.

They rushed to the wards of the helpless
And lifted them in their arms;
But the flames were fierce upon them
Before anyone could raise alarms.

Now think of it just for a moment—
Midst fire, water, and smoke—
That those they were trying to rescue
Were treating it all as a joke.

But the dead are free from suffering,
And will know no more sorrow or pain.
But the sight and sounds were so awful,
May it never occur again!

Doctors, attendants and nurses,
Were worked beyond their power;
But they stuck to duty like trojans,
Each moment fighting for breath.

A word of appreciation
Is surely due to such.
Just go up and see them; thank them!
England cannot help too much!

England has many brave hearts;
But none more brave than these;
For duty's sake, facing danger:
Protect them. Oh God, we pray.

— J.E.S.

The hospital

Colney Hatch Asylum opened at Friern Barnet in July 1851 as the second pauper lunatic (a term used at the time) asylum for the County of Middlesex. It was the largest and most modern institution of its kind in Europe designed in the Italianate style by S. W. Dawkes, with 1,250 beds. Within ten years it was enlarged to take 2,000 patients. It had its own cemetery (closed in 1873 after which patients were buried in the Great Northern Cemetery), a farm on which many patients were employed, its own water supply and sewage works built after local residents complained of untreated sewage from the asylum flowing into Pymmes Brook.

What happened?

Around 5:30 in the morning of 27 January 1903, the fire was believed to have started in a furnace room or attic, which was likely due to faulty heating equipment. A wing of the hospital went up in flames rapidly as a result of the Norwegian pine wood structure coupled with strong winds that morning which caused it to spread.

The wing that burned was a temporary structure built in 1896 to house chronic and infirm female patients. It had been noted as a fire risk years earlier.

Nurse Ada Woolford was credited with raising the alarm and attempting rescues during the blaze as the asylum's own fire brigade was quickly overwhelmed. Patients were trapped behind locked doors and barred windows.

The legacy

The disaster led to public outrage and eventually contributed to reforms in mental health care, including the Mental Deficiency Act of 1913 and the Mental Treatment Act of 1930.

The hospital closed in 1993 and is now residential apartments known as Princess Park Manor.

Records for the hospital (H12/CH)

You can get an overview of the records for the hospital on the TLA catalogue. Please note that records that relate to patients in the hospital are subject to a period of restricted access in order to protect the confidentiality of any living individuals. It will be indicated on the catalogue if a record is closed.

Staff are able to undertake research on your behalf in order to provide information from hospital records, but we do have to ensure that the information is only being released to either the individual concerned or in the case of a third party request that the patient concerned is deceased. We charge for undertaking such searches within our records and further details about this can be found on the Paid Document Research Service page.