Bravery of Oxford chemist remembered on 100th anniversary of Silvertown explosion

Memorial service marks 100 years since the explosion at a London munitions factory killed 73 people, including Chemical Society Fellow, Andrea Angel.

The factory in London’s East End had been making munitions for the First World War, producing purified TNT at a rate of nine tons per day by 1917. On this day – 100 years ago – a fire broke out in the upper rooms and caused the ignition of 50 tons of TNT. The resulting blast killed 73 people, injured 500 more, and destroyed 900 homes in the area.

Descendants of those killed will today take part in a number of memorial events at the site.

Andrea Angel, an Oxford University chemistry lecturer and Fellow of our forerunner, the Chemical Society, had been brought in to manage the factory, using his teaching experience to assist the factory workers processing the explosive.

When the fire broke out, Andrea was outside the factory supervising the switch between day and night shift workers. Immediately recognising the danger presented, Andrea evacuated as many of his workers as he could, and re-entered the factory to help others escape. He was killed instantly in the explosion and was posthumously awarded the Albert Medal for Lifesaving, by King George V.