Newspaper Article
The Times Newspaper – 24th April, 1862
The beautiful theatre, which was one of the ornaments of the city of Bath, and which since its erection in 1805 has contributed so much to the reputation of the city as a place of amusement by the excellence of the dramatic representations constantly presented, was on Good Friday totally destroyed by fire. It was built at a cost of about £25,000 and was regared as one of the, if not the most compact and elegant of provincial theatres.
The present lessee is Mr. Chute, who is also the lessee of Bristol theatre, and the last performance was on Wednesday last, when the sensation drama, Peep O’Day, was splendidly presented. No business had been subsequently transacted, but on Thursday the chimneys were all swept, and a charwoman was in the theatre cleaning up. When she left all appeared safe, and it was not until shortly before eleven ‘o’ clock yesterday morning that smoke was seen by a woman living in the vicinity issuing through one of the windows, which turned out to be the window of one of the dressing rooms.
An alarm was given, and the police with the city hose, and the firemen of the West of England Insurance Office, were speedily on the spot. Five hoses were attached to the city water plugs and a copious supply of water obtained, but so rapidly had the flames spread throughout the building that in a few minutes the whole theatre was a cauldron of fire. The flames burst through the windows with terrific fury, and it seemed for a time certain that a large amount of property surrounding it must be destroyed. The contents of the house were removed, and the greatest consideration prevailed among the inhabitants, but by strenuous exertions the flames were confined to the theatre itself, the strong walls of which resisted their further progress. So rapid were the flames and intense the heat that everything within the theatre, even to the iron pillars that supported the tiers of boxes and gallery, were consumed and melted in less than two hours, and the place was a bare ruin – a well of burning embers which continued to blaze and fizz under the copious streams of water poured upon them.
Had the fire occured at night the conflagration must have been terrible, as the police and firemen could not have cut off the communications with other buildings. The building was insured in the West of England Insurance Office for about £600, but this is wholly inadequate to its value. Besides, the magnificent wardrobe and valuable library are utterly consumed. Mr. Chute, the lessee, who is not insured, loses about £500, and members of the company and the orchestra are also sufferers by the fire. The origin of the fire is a mystery.