A fire broke out around ten o’clock on the night of 22 July at the house of Mr Kennersley, a cork-cutter, destroying his home and damaging several nearby houses. A female servant later died in St Bartholomew’s hospital from injuries sustained in jumping from the blaze. Godwin no doubt recorded the fire because of its proximity to his house and bookshop: Cow Lane went north from Skinner Street and Snow Hill to Smithfield Market.

See reports in the Caledonian Mercury, 26 July 1819 and Ipswich Journal, 31 July 1819.