Lowerhouse went from joy to sorrow almost overnight – Tuesday 21st June 1887 had been a universal holiday to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, but Thursday evening brought horror and tragedy, reported at length and in detail in the Burnley Express of 25th June 1887, this is just a very brief summary of what happened.
The mill building (with the bell tower and clock) before the fire.
At about 5 o’clock, fire broke out in the attic of the original 4 storey mill building at Dugdales’.
This area was a tinder box of heavily oiled spinning mules and cotton, with cotton fluff everywhere, so the fire spread with frightening speed, “consuming the fluff, the cotton, and the spun fibre, and then the wooden framework, the flooring, and the ceiling… until the attic became a solid mass of flame.”
The workers fled for their lives, many using the iron fire escape ladders fixed to the outside walls. Some were hurt in the process, some, overcome by the smoke and heat, had to be helped down by their fellows. Meanwhile 600 people who were working in the rest of the building were also quickly evacuated.
The mill was equipped with hose reels at frequent intervals, attached to pipes linked to a powerful donkey engine located on the banks of a lodge, and the mill’s mechanics were well trained in fire fighting but help was also requested by telephone from the Padiham and Burnley fire brigades, who soon arrived, alongside the Police. Burnley’s steam and manual engines worked from the rear, taking water from the brook, whilst the Padiham manual engine at the front of the building took water from the lodge at the Printworks.
The fire continued to burn intensely, and soon the roof was consumed, the bell tower gave way, and a damaged dial was all that was left of the clock.
Eventually at about half past seven, the blaze was under control. The top floor and the attic were gutted and roofless but due to the way the building was constructed, fire had not penetrated lower floors. The Express praised the heroism and skill of all the firefighters including many men from the workforce who the Express said worked as though they were saving their own property, explaining that working relations at Dugdale’s were so happy that many had worked nowhere else.
The roofless mill after the fire.
The damage was estimated at £12,000, (about £1,200,000 now) including the loss of 17,000 spindles, six beaming engines, and four winding frames, but the company was well insured; about 50 workers were put out of work, although some men were set back on to start the massive task of cleaning up. Worst of all, though, it cost one man his life.
Henry Whalley, the spinning master, was missing, last seen supervising the escape of his workers. A man who had been with him ran for his life and told Henry to get out before it was too late. Early the next day, Friday, the Police supervised a party of volunteers, including members of his extended family, to look for his remains but they found nothing. It wasn’t until the following Wednesday that a worker clearing debris found human remains under fallen stones. The Express reported this in grisly detail, but suffice it to say that only the torso was ever found. Henry’s watch and keys were found nearby and an inquest later that day agreed that the remains were Henry’s, and that he had been overcome by smoke and perished. His funeral took place on the Friday, with the pitiful remains being enclosed in a small container inside a full size coffin. About 30 spinners who had worked for him, walked before the hearse from his home at 3 Mill Street (now Lowerhouse Lane) to All Saints Habergham and workers from the mill sent a beautiful floral tribute.
Henry was 58. He had spent all his working life at the mill, starting as a boy of, probably, 11, and worked his way up to spinning master, a sort of foreman/manager. Reports of his death say he was well liked by the men working for him. 1881 census lists Henry, wife Grace and sons James, John William, Alf and Frank, although they may have had more children. John William Whalley, 18 in 1887, played a bit of second eleven cricket, and there was a steward called Jas (James) Whalley at the Sports Day, who was probably his older brother, 22 at the time. Both of them were clerks at Drew’s Calico Print Works. Whilst John William later moved to be a book-keeper elsewhere, when James retired, also a book-keeper, aged 69, he had worked at Drew’s for 59 years, just a stone’s throw from the mill where his father had met such a dreadful end.
In his excellent brief history “Lowerhouse and the Dugdales”, from which these images are taken, courtesy of Burnley Civic Trust Heritage Image Collection, the late Brian Hall wrote:
“The weaving shed continued work after breakfast on Friday the day after the fire and other hands began to clean up the other machines on the Saturday. It was not however until some time later that the mill was completely restored. The roof was rebuilt but that of the largest block was made flat and the attic storey discarded,…the new flat roof was often flooded in winter and allowed to freeze so that it could be used for ice-skating.”
ac November 2026