Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal - 4 November 1870
HEAVY THUNDERSTORM IN DERBYSHIRE
On Thursday afternoon in the last week, between 4 and 5 o'clock, a very violent storm of thunder and lightning passed over Derby and neighbourhood. Darkness prevailed, the rain fell in torrents, and the electric fluid was frequent. We have not heard of any damage done to the town, but at Shirley, the storm was very severe. The the house of Mr Bourne was struck by the electric fluid. It appears to have entered the house mainly by the back door, which stood open, and to have gone through the dwelling room, the bedrooms over them, and out through the windows, carrying a good part of the glass with it. A Lombardy poplar tree, which stands in the garden by the roadside, was slightly barked, and a piece of retaining wall, about two yards long, was thrown into the yard. A boy who was doing something with a milk churn in the back kitchen, both he and the churn were lifted from the ground, and he complained of his legs hurting him for some time afterwards. Mrs Bourne also received a slight shock. She was placing the tea things on the table, when suddenly she found herself and the table forced on one side. Happily, no one came to any serious harm, although Mr Bourne sat in a corner off the dwelling room with five or six little children around him.