The Great Fire of London started on 2nd September 1666 and raged for nearly five days. It’s one of the most famous events in the city’s history, and many tales have been told over the centuries, but how much of it is true? Today, I try to separate fact from fiction and provide some lesser-known facts about the fire.
The Story of the Great Fire
First, I’ll do a quick run-through of the commonly told story of The Great Fire of London.
On 2nd September 1666, Thomas Farriner went to bed after failing to extinguish the ovens properly in his bakery in Pudding Lane. A couple of hours later, he was woken by a fire and had to escape through his bedroom window to watch the destruction of his business and home.
The Lord Mayor of London thought the fire was insignificant and went back to bed after ordering people to let it burn out. The fire destroyed four-fifths of London, including the medieval St. Paul’s Cathedral, killed 6 people and ended the latest epidemic of the Black Plague.
What Actually Happened?
- Thomas Farriner’s bakery was actually in Fish Yard, just off Pudding Lane. Is this a little pedantic? Yes.
- The Lord Mayor of London did hamper action that could have prevented the spread of the blaze. When he went to inspect the early progress of the fire, he is reported to have said, “A woman could piss it out”. Nice!
- The official death count is believed to be highly underestimated. More people are recorded to have died after falling from the monument to the fire over the years. There is no official record of the death toll. Witnesses recounted horrific scenes and a catastrophic loss of life. The fire is likely to have killed much higher numbers of the poor and working classes, and the lack of records about their lives makes it difficult to trace them.
- The fire did not bring an end to the latest plague. Fresh cases and deaths from the bubonic plague in London had already fallen by the time the fire struck.
- Firefighting methods of the time proved useless. Those who dared to stay to fight the fire were limited to leather buckers, water squirts and axes. In the end, The Royal Navy contained the inferno using gunpowder to demolish buildings in the fire’s path, and prevented the spread of the blaze.
Lesser-known Facts
Here are some things you may not know about the Great Fire:
- It was damn hot! Analysis of melted pottery fragments revealed that the temperature of the blaze reached 1,700°C.
- In the aftermath, people looked for scapegoats. The populace blamed acts of terrorism by the French and Dutch, the continuing protestant and catholic animosity rose again and a French watchmaker from Rouen was accused and executed after giving a false statement that he threw a fireball in Thomas Farriner’s window. It was later discovered the man wasn’t even in England at the time of the fire! What was he thinking?
- The fire led to the creation of the insurance market. Following the destruction of tens of thousands of homes and public buildings, the financial implications of fire damage were clear. Insurance companies offering financial protection against such circumstances emerged.
- These new insurance companies also insisted on introducing proper fire-fighting methods to prevent widespread devastation again. Let’s not forget they wouldn’t want to pay out every five minutes. So, the insurance companies established teams of firefighters who, perhaps, were the first London fire brigade.
The 1660s were not great London, but despite the devastation, some argue that London came out better off. The city was re-built using new regulations to minimise the threat of fire and the medieval wooden buildings were replaced with stone and brick. Legal reforms also heralded a golden age of trade which made London the financial capital of the world over the following century.
Have I missed anything? Let me know in the comments.
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