Fig. 4. Left and centre. Two flat chamfered planes marked I. Griffiths with, right, a later rounded chamfered plane. (Author's collection.)
Not long after this move disaster struck. On 25th October 1818 fire destroyed the workshop and equipment belonging to the firm and its employees. However the parishioners of St. Gregory rallied round and the following week a notice appeared in the Norfolk Chronicle newspaper which read as follows:
A Distressing Case of Fire.
William Griffiths Pottergate Street in the parish of St. Gregory, Plane and Toolmaker, with his journey-men and apprentices, having sustained a heavy loss by fire: the Minister, Churchwardens and principal inhabitants of the said parish, beg to lay the circumstances of this distressing case before the charitable and humane.
The fire has consumed the manufactury of the said William Griffiths worth £200, most of his stock of dry wood, all the work benches, mother planes, utensils in trade, together with the chests and tools of his journeymen and apprentices, worth full £753 more. The said poor sufferers are not insured for more than £250 so that an honest and industrious tradesman with a large family is by a sudden calamity, reduced to very distressing circumstances, as are also his journeymen and apprentices who when they lose their tools, lose their all.
The Minister, Churchwardens and principal inhabitants of the parish of St. Gregory, having fully investigated the above case are firmly persuaded that the fire did not arise from any carelessness on the part of the said Wm. Griffiths, his journey men or apprentices. They most anxiously, therefore, recommend the case of the said poor sufferers, and trust, that some assistance will be rendered them, to go on with their trade.
Subscriptions will be thankfully received by the printers of this Paper, by the Rev. C. D. Brereton, and by Messrs. Titter & Co, 32 Pottergate Street, [they were upholsterers and cabinet makers] who have accommodated Mr Griffiths and his men with shops etc., till they can be able to build new ones.
It is interesting that the notice is headed "William" and not "John" Griffiths. One explanation might be that John Griffiths was at that time one of the five Churchwardens of St. Gregory's and therefore it was felt wise to insert his son as the owner of the business.
In the event, subscriptions were subsequently received totalling £205 11s 6d, some monies coming from as far afield as Sheffield, as indicated by donations from Messrs. Wade & Co. and Messrs. Eyne & Co.
Together with the insurance monies, this subscription was sufficient for the firm to continue.
Fig. 4. Left and centre. Two flat chamfered planes marked I. Griffiths with, right, a later rounded chamfered plane. (Author's collection.)