Approximately 50 long tons (50 tonnes) of trinitrotoluene (TNT) exploded, killing 73 people and injuring 400 more, as well as causing substantial damage in the local area.

[3] Another plant, at Gadbrook, was built in 1916 and was producing TNT at a higher rate than the Silvertown factory, away from populated areas, with more stringent safety standards.

Several thousand pounds' worth of goods were also destroyed in nearby warehouses, estimated by the Port of London Authority to cover 7 hectares (17 acres).

[citation needed] Reportedly, the explosion also blew the glass out of windows in the Savoy Hotel and almost overturned a taxi in Pall Mall, London,[7] the fires could be seen in Maidstone and Guildford, and the blast was heard up to 100 miles (160 km) away, including at Sandringham in Norfolk and along the Sussex coast.

A Salvation Army rescue team was sent into the area under Catherine Bramwell-Booth, and the YMCA also rendered aid, including food and hot drinks.

The Ministry of Munitions announced the explosion in the following day's newspaper, and ordered an investigation led by Sir Ernley Blackwell, published on 24 February 1917.

A definite single cause of the explosion was not determined, invalidating early theories such as German sabotage or an air-raid, but it was found that the factory's site was inappropriate for the manufacture of TNT.

[7] On 20 June 1917, Andrea Angel, the plant's chief chemist, who was attending to the initial fire, was posthumously awarded the Edward Medal (First Class) as was George Wenbourne.

Scullery maid Ruby Finch had left her employer, the Bellamy family at 165 Eaton Place, to work in a munitions factory for the war effort.

Several subsequent strips depict a Zeppelin raid on the munitions factories in the area and deal with the residents' fears of a repeat of the disaster.

[citation needed] In the Charlie Higson Young Bond novel Double or Die, Brunner Mond is one of the cryptic clues and reference is made to the explosion.

[citation needed] In A Study in Murder by Robert Ryan, the explosion blows in the windows of a hotel where Mrs. Gregson is dining, despite being located miles away from the factory.

Vera Brittain reports a curious effect of the explosion in her WWI autobiography, Testament of Youth: "Years afterwards a journalist friend told me that on the evening of this disaster she was working in her room in Bayswater when the drawn blind suddenly lifted without a sound, remained horizontal in the air for a moment or two, and then slowly dropped.