The
Crystal Palace
Foundation

Compiled from contemporary accounts by Melvyn Harrison, Chairman, Crystal Palace Foundation with a foreword by the Chief Inspector of Construction at the Health and Safety Executive.

For further help about accidents at work visit Slips and trips campaigns - Slips and trips - HSE

The history of the Crystal Palace is usually one of fun, excitement and wonder but sadly there is a darker side. At 2pm on Monday 15th August 1853 a section of scaffolding on the centre transept collapsed killing twelve construction workers. The story of this tragic accident has never been fully told before.

All the articles from The Times newspaper (including the Coroners' reports) from 16th - 25th August have been meticulously transcribed together with articles from The Kentish Mercury & Home Counties Advertiser, St Bartholomew's Church Burial Register, Sydenham Society, Caught in the Machinery: The Cultural Meaning of Workplace Accidents in Victorian Britain and the United States by Jamie Bronstein (2000) and a recently discovered fund raising poem.

The book gives a detailed insight into some of the construction methods used on the Crystal Palace and reveals much detail about the nineteenth century coroners system.

Names of many construction workers are given together with names of dozens of contributors to the fund set up for the families of the deceased and injured workers.

36 pages paperback 5 illustrations