Deadly drink fanned the flames of 1875

The Dublin fire of 1875 killed 13 people. However, not one person died from burns or smoke inhalation but instead from drinking contaminated whiskey writes Robert Hume

Started by a spark from a baker’s oven in September 1666 and fanned by a strong wind, London’s Great Fire raged for four days, sweeping through the city’s narrow streets with their overhanging timber houses. The roof of old St Paul’s Cathedral melted and lead flowed down Ludgate Hill; pigeons with singed wings plummeted to the ground.Thousands of people fled, their houses destroyed. Remarkably, only four Londoners are are believed to have died.

Fire is no stranger to cities. The lives of Dubliners have also been devastated by fire. And none more than that which started just after 8pm on Saturday, June 18, 1875. The location: Reid’s malt-house and Malone’s bonded warehouse in the inner city Liberties. As the Illustrated London News reported: “The former had above £2,000 of malt in it, and the latter, which immediately adjoins it, had 5,000 barrels of whiskey, worth £54,000” [modern equivalent €6.5m].