Fire is one of the most cruel disasters that can fall on a person. The raging elements bring destruction and death. History knows many tragic stories when fires destroyed entire cities. One of them happened in the capital of England in 1666. What caused the great fire of London? There are several versions of the tragedy.
Fire description
A fire broke out on September 2 and raged on September 5, 1666. In three days, the flame destroyed almost the entire city. 70 thousand inhabitants remained homeless, this taking into account the fact that the then population of London was 80 thousand. 13,500 residential buildings, about 90 churches burned to the ground, including the main church of the city - St. Paul's Cathedral, almost all government buildings - the Royal Exchange, the main post office, Custom House, Bridewell Prison, Bainards Castle.
The great fire of London in 1966 threatened to spread to the aristocratic area of Westminster, and the Whitehall palace almost caught fire. Only a few suburban slums did not reach the fire.
What caused the great fire of London?
There are several assumptions about the disaster in the capital of England in 1666. According to the official version, the cause was a fire at night in the baker's house (Thomas Farringer) on Padding Lane, which caused a great fire in London.
The fire could not be localized, the baker's family had to escape. They climbed over the top floor to the house to the neighbors. Their maid died. The fire spread westward. The neighboring houses and the property of the unfortunate townspeople, who in a panic began to run out of the houses along with their belongings, became his “food”.
When the great fire of London began, the opinion was firmly established among the population that arsonists were foreigners. Suspicion fell on the French and the Dutch, with whom England fought. At the hands of the panicking crowd in the days of the fire, many foreign citizens were killed. To appease the crowd, a certain Robert Hubert, who pleaded for mercy, was blamed and executed by hanging. Later it turned out that at the time of the ignition of Hubert was not even in London.
Also, an opinion arose about the deliberate arson of the city in order to destroy the bubonic plague. However, this version can be traced in only a few private records and is not confirmed by the research of historians.
Why the fire could not be stopped at the very beginning?
The Great Fire of London in 1666 was the result of the reunification of certain objective factors with a chain of certain events.
First of all, almost all buildings in London were wooden, many roofs were thatched. In the construction of houses used flammable materials such as flax, hemp, tar and wood resin. In addition, the houses were built in such a way that each next floor protruded above the lower. Charles II in 1661 and in 1665 issued decrees prohibiting protruding floors. But local authorities and the population simply ignored them. The medieval streets were very narrow, littered with rags and other rubbish in the corners.
The summer of 1666 was marked by record heat. Wooden buildings dried out in the heat, which caused a great fire in London, or rather, its scale.
This fire hazard situation was complemented by the inept actions of the mayor, Lord Thomas Bloodworth, who did not give a timely order to destroy the houses adjacent to the flame to stop the spread of the fire. The day after the disaster began, the mayor and his family fled the city. The fire was extinguished by the guards of Charles II under the command of the king's brother - the Duke of York. Even Charles II himself was directly involved in extinguishing several government buildings.
Victims of the tragedy
Official data indicate that the great fire of London in 1666 claimed the lives of only a few people - from 1 to 8 (according to various sources). However, an analysis of events and destruction suggests that there were undoubtedly much more victims.
The fire spread very quickly, the “food” for it was wooden houses, thatched roofs, and garbage in the streets. Congestion, smoke, panic - in any case, this should have led to casualties on the streets. The London prison burned down completely, but it is known that the prisoners were not evacuated, information about them was no longer found in any documents. It remains to be assumed that all of them were burned in a fire.
It is well known that thousands of local residents, saving their lives and property, hid in the stone Cathedral of St. Paul. They were sure that the stone walls and the vast free area around the cathedral would protect them from flame. However, the church at the time of the fire was in the woods, because it was under reconstruction. The cathedral burned down completely, it is difficult to assume that many were saved.
The victims of the tragedy should include the victims. Left without a shelter and livelihood, many people did not survive the harsh winter of 1666-1667. Charles II, organizing assistance to the victims, placed the market on the field where those who had lost their shelter were accommodated. But in the market, products were sold for money, speculators inflated prices. Again, the poorest people, unable to buy bread, suffered brutally from hunger.
Historians studying the great fire of London in 1666 speak of several tens of thousands of dead.
After the fire
London was almost destroyed. The damage from the fire amounted to 10 million pounds (by today's standards, this is more than 1 billion pounds). Several recovery plans for London have been proposed. However, all new plans were expensive, there was no money in the treasury for this. Therefore, the city was restored to its old place. But useful changes were made: the streets became much wider, all houses were rebuilt from stone, the overhanging floors were finally prohibited, the passage to the Thames remained undeveloped. The restoration of the city was carried out by the architect Christopher Wren.