First edition of Shaw’s account of the disastrous fire at the Theatre Royal, Exeter, in 1887.

Shaw (1828-1908), superintendent of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, was responsible for introducing numerous advances in fire safety in London, particularly to public venues. His treatise Fires in Theatres (1876, second edition in 1889), was followed by a ‘massive report’ on that subject in 1882 (Oxford DNB). His personal bravery in the role was matched by his easy mingling with the notables of the age, and he is now best remembered for a tribute in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe.

The theatre in Exeter was rebuilt in 1889 to new, more fire-conscious designs by Alfred Derbyshire (1839-1908), himself an amateur actor.

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[MACKENZIE, Lieutenant-Colonel George, and others, defendants.]

The Trial, before the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland, at the Instance of Daniel Ross, Woodsawer in Aberdeen; against Lieutenant-Colonel George Mackenzie, Captain Felix Bryan Macdonough, Serjeants Andrew Mackay & Alex. Sutherland, all of the late Regiment of Ross & Cromarty Rangers: for the Murder of John Ross, late Soldier in the Corps of Riflemen, in the Streets of Aberdeen, on Fourth of June, 1802.

Sole edition. This controversial trial was brought as a private prosecution after the Lord Advocate, Charles Hope, had decided not to prosecute any officers or soldiers for killing four peaceable inhabitants of Aberdeen after celebrations of the King’s birthday on 4 June 1802 had got out of control. Men and boys in Castle Street in high spirits were pelting each other with dirt, straw, and garbage, when Mackenzie and Mcdonough, who had been drinking with the magistrates and were rather intoxicated, walked back to their barracks and were pelted too. Soldiers from the Ross & Cromarty Rangers then joined in, apparently without orders. While soldiers and citizens jostled up and down Castle Street, Mcdonough attempted to calm the situation. Presently he ordered the soldiers to prime and load to intimidate the crowd, but then ordered them to withdraw to their barracks. Mackenzie meanwhile stayed in his quarters. Later the soldiers came out again, and on three occasions deliberately took aim and fired on the populace, although it was not clear whether any command to fire had been given. A serjeant was at the head of the group that shot John Ross, but he was not positively identified as one of the defendants.

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[PATCH, Richard, defendant.]

The Trial of Richard Patch, for the wilful Murder of Mr. Isaac Blight, on the 23d of Sept. 1805, at Rotherhithe, in the County of Surr[e]y ... taken in Shorthand by Blanchard and Ramsey ...

First edition of this report of a famous trial (there was a rival version from the shorthand of Joseph and W. B. Gurney). Richard Patch (1770?-1806) was an unsuccessful farmer near Exeter who mortgaged his farms in 1803 and departed to London, where he entered the service of Isaac Blight, a ship-breaker in Rotherhithe. When Blight’s financial circumstances became embarrassed he conveyed his property to Patch to protect himself from his creditors and they entered into a partnership agreement. Patch was to pay £1250 for his share of the partnership, £250 from the sale of his farms and a further £1000 by 23 September 1805, a sum that he knew he had no means to obtain.

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