In England the Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead starts shortly after midnight, leading to 53 deaths and hundreds injured.

The great fire of Gateshead and Newcastle was a tragic and spectacular series of events starting on Friday 6 October 1854, in which a substantial amount of property in two North East England towns was destroyed in a series of fires and an explosion which killed 53 and injured hundreds. There is only one building still extant on the Newcastle Quayside which predated the fire.