London’s Great Fires

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31101, 2 July 1966, Page 5

London’s Great Fires

(Speciall written for “The Press” by OLIVER RIDDELL) r pHE theme for the City of London in 1966 is water, for 1966 is the tercentenary of the Great Fire, the centenary of the London Fire Brigade, and the 25th anniversary of the largest and most destructive bombing raid made by the Luftwaffe on London in the Second World War. To mark these three related landmarks in London’s history a spectacular pageant will be held on the Thames river on September 9 and it is fitting that the major item of this pageant on water should be a display of fireworks. Nine times in London’s past have major portions of it been destroyed by fire, but the fifth of these conflagrations has been the only one elevated by ’history to bear the adjective “great.” In the years 798, 982, 1086 and 1212, London was almost destroyed by fire, but the Fire of 1666, which caused less loss of life and considerably less destruction of property, was far more significant to the history of Britain, than the other four before it. The Plague It was not, as has so often been suggested, an almost heaven-sent opportunity for rebuilding the city on altogether new lines. The Great Plague of 1665 had made London a charnel house, a city shunned by all, with trade at a stand-still, and street traffic limited to the carts bearing the dead. Multitudes fled to the countryside or overseas to escape disease and death. Hardly had the Plague abated when four-fifths of the city itself was laid in ruins by fire. The city was deserted, almost uninhabited. Most of its citizens were homeless and suffered privation, the fear of the Plague which was still evident added to the distress, and the state had lost a large portion of its revenue. National Disaster The lapse of Income from the devastated properties in London affected every section of the community. Moreover, the country was at war with Holland. The Great Fire was not a local calamity, it was a national disaster. It all began in a wooden house in Pudding Lane, there is no evidence to support the popular assertion that it began in a bakery, and burnt from September 2 to September 6. A violent, east wind fanned the flames which

raged from 1 a.m. on Monday until Tuesday night. I On Tuesday night the wind fell somewhat and on Wednesday the fire slackened. By Thursday it had been extinguished but that evening the flames again burst forth in the Temple and not until some houses had been blown up with gunpowder to make a flre-break was the fire finally mastered. Pepy’s Opinion During the fire no-one took control of stopping it and, in effect, it blazed until the wind died and it had burnt itself out. The heroism of the Londoners during the fire has been praised since, but, Samuel Pepys observed, there was more panic than heroism. “The streets were full of nothing but people and horses and carts loaden with goods, ready to run over one another, and removing goods from one burned house to another,” he wrote. When the sun rose on smouldering London on Friday, September 6, and it was possible to survey the destruction, a frightening prospect lay before the city’s citizens. Only Six Died Destroyed by fire were 436 acres, involving 400 streets, 13,200 houses, St. Paul’s, 86 parish churches, six chapels, the Guild Hall, the Royal Exchange, the Custom House, an unknown number of hospitals and libraries, 52 companies’ halls, three of the city’s gates, four stone bridges, the prisons of Newgate, Fleet and the Poultry and Wood street Compters. The fire swept from the Tower of London to Temple church and from the North East gate to Holburn bridge. Remarkably, only six people died. At the time, it was estimated that the loss of property was worth £10,730,500. It is impossible to say what this would be in terms of current values. For a Britain at war, this was a colossal sum. Because of the circumstances, the King, Parliament, the Corporation of the City of London, and the town planners, could not consider any scheme for the replanning of the entire city. Christopher Wren, John Evelyn and Robert Hooke all drew plans as a basis for rebuilding, but none was chosen and the old city pattern was largely recreated. This is the source of the myth that the vested interests ignored a plan by Wren; so they did but there was no money to implement any plan. City Of Brick The complete support given the commission of six placed in charge of rebuilding do not support the myth of jealousies at the expense of Wren. On February 19, 1667, Pepys commented on an Act of Parliament in support of the commission—“ After dinner I fell to reading the

Act about the building of city again, and indeed the laws seem to be very good, and I pray God I may live to see it built in that manner.” He did. Within 10 years, to the wonder of Europe, a new city had arisen. So far as the lay buildings were concerned, it was a city of rosy-red brick, the first of its kind in England. The standardised flatfronted houses were of three sizes—two, three and fourstoreys, and all with cellars and garrets. Of the 87 churches burnt, 50 were rebuilt, all by Wren. Wharf Fire Some years elapsed before full recovery, but the situation of the city was too advantageous for its growth to be retarded for long. Three other major fires blazed in London before 1866, and the wharf fire of 1861 cost Britain £2 million. In spite of the lessons of these fires, fire precautions and fire fighting were primitive, although slow progress was made down the years. But, in 1865, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act was passed by Parliament This laid the responsibility for the provision and maintenance of an efficient fire brigade on the Metropolitan Board of Works, and it began operations in 1866. It faced tremendous opposition and had few funds in its early years, but London was to have cause for gratitude for its existence. In 1940 came the Luftwaffe. The year saw battles in the air between Britain and Germany over London, the wailing of sirens, the creation of an efficient A.R.P., but London itself suffered little. However, the reports on the fate of Warsaw were available for Britain to see and by October the Battle of Britain was over. The Germans had lost the fighter war. London waited. Raid Ordered Throughout the winter of 1940-41 the Londoner lived in air-raid shelters. The Luftwaffe made bomber sorties over the city by day and night while the R.A.F. fought and London’s civil defence battled the fires. London survived, although many died, many were homeless, and much of the city was rubble. Luckily for London, Hitler had turned his attention toward Russia after the Battle of Britain and its cities were spared the fate of Belgrade and Leningrad. London’s defences were adequate to prevent complete destruction at the hands of the bomber amardas Germany could spare. But at midnight on May 9, a party held by Hitler at Berghof, his palace in the Bavarian Alps, was to alter this. The host was the target of an attack by his secretary, Martin Borman, and his personal pilot, Hans Baur, who demanded Britain be given a sharp lesson for the recent bombing of Bremen, Hamburg, Emden and Berlin. Hitler was convinced and 10 hours only after Hitler had

instructed General Hans Jeschonnek, Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe, that there must be a reprisal raid on London. At 11.2 p.m. on May 10, the first of 541 bombers appeared over London to lay the flares for the raid in which 1430 Ix>ndoners were killed and 1800 badly injured. It was later estimated by the London Fire Brigade that nearly 2200 fires were started. One estimate, a modest one, has placed the cost of the damage done at £2O million. But this night was not the most important raid of all on London merely because it was the largest. It brought London to its knees. Another raid the next night would have been disastrous for the city’s war effort. The fire brigades of Britain had not yet been nationalised and many of the provincial brigades ignored requests for assistance. Others did not arrive until the raid had been over for some hours. Still others had the wrong thread on their hoses and these could not be connected to the London mains. All the city’s water mains had been lain near the surface and were burst by bombs falling nearby while in some areas the gas supply had been left on and whe* these burst they became raging fireballs which could not be put out. Water Troubles The raid coincided with a record low tide and portable pumps had to be carried over mud to the receded river. Direct hits on two of the directing centres added to the confusion. By the end of the first raid London lay practically helpless to air attack. Hundreds of fires raged out of control while the number of wardens was hopelessly inadequate to cope with the rescue of those buried by rubble. There had been a number of false alarms on previous nights, so many persons took little heed of the sirens. This is evident in the death total. Of the 1436 who were killed, only 20 were in public shelters. Those who were In the streets that night noted the high wind, but few realised its implications. In the city of London that night, fire storms raged and these set up winds strong enough to suck men into the flames. Buildings not hit by bombs melted with the beat while men hundreds of yards from the flames lost their hair and bad their faces burnt black. But, despite all this, life resumed. People got married, went to work, discussed the rationing, and cleaned up the debris. Rudolph Hess, Hitler’s deputy, made his peace mission to Britain, and went to prison. Medals for bravery were handed out, London buried its dead and counted to 12,000 homeless. The picture of the Great Fire of 16M is taken from a painting by Thomas Wyck showing, in his words, “one entire arch of fire . . . above a mile long.”