EXPLORING THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON THROUGH GUILDHALL LIBRARY’S COLLECTIONS The Great Fire of London was a devastating event for the City of London, wiping out almost the whole city. It affected the entire population, whether young or old, man or woman, saint or sinner; it changed London forever. From books and broadsides to official reports and diaries, a mass of information lies hidden at Guildhall Library, waiting to reveal more secrets about this dramatic period of our history. Using the wide variety of resources at Guildhall Library, this exhibition explores what you can learn about The Great Fire of London in 1666. All material mentioned in this exhibition is available to consult at the library.
A glimpse of London before the Great Fire. Houses standing at the south corner of Hosier Lane, from Ancient Topography of London by John Thomas Smith, 1815.
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LONDON BEFORE THE FIRE Pre-1666 London was severely over-crowded, with narrow streets and buildings packed close together. John Stow wrote a description of the walled City of London in his 1598 Survay of London, and the street pattern and timber framed buildings had barely changed by the time of the Great Fire.
Seasonable Advice; for preventing the mischiefe of fire, 1643, by William Gosling, is a detailed account of how fires were dealt with. It gives us a very clear picture of 17th century fire prevention and firefighting. The first piece of advice is that “it be necessary to hang [this advice] in every man’s house, especially in these dangerous times.”
Advice and recommendations for preventing fire appeared, and John Evelyn, scientist and architect, reported to Parliament on the dangers of fire in 1661. Legislation was passed and in 1664 the King wrote to the Lord Mayor recommending a more diligent execution of the recent building regulations to prevent fire in the city.
London was thriving and there had been an influx of people from the surrounding countryside. In such a densely occupied city, fires were part of everyday life. Each parish had to take responsibility for fire-fighting. There were no fire brigades, equipment was basic and officials would stop fires by pulling down buildings.
A view of buildings in Sweating’s Passage, Milton Street, which were still standing in 1791, from Ancient Topography of London by John Thomas Smith, 1815. The Fire quickly destroyed these timber framed buildings, which would have been typical in 1666. Buildings were ‘jettied’, meaning upper floors overhung the lower ones. There was little space between them and fire spread quickly.
People were aware of the dangers. In 1632, there had been a considerable fire around the northern edge of London Bridge. Nehemiah Wallington, who witnessed this, wrote, “And this mircie of God I thought on, that there was but little wind… I think it would have indangered the most part of the Citie…” A view of houses on the corner of Fleet Street and Chancery Lane, which survived the fire, from Ancient Topography of London by John Thomas Smith, 1815. A typical London building would have consisted of a cellar, a ground floor containing a shop, workshop or store, a second storey with dining rooms and kitchens, and the sleeping accommodation above, with a garret over that.
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ACCOUNTS OF THE FIRE
From Sunday 2 September the fire raged for three days and consumed most of the City of London. News, rumours and stories spread rapidly around the country through letters and word of mouth. People demanded to know what had happened. The first major and official account of the fire was in the London Gazette, on 10 September, one of the government’s official journals. It was written within a few days of the fire to satisfy the “minds of so many… who must be concerned for the issue of so great an accident.” There was also international interest in the fire. In Spain, Relacion nueva, y verdadera, del formidable incendio que ha sucedido en 12 dias (New, and true relationship, the formidable fire that has happened in 12 days), was published soon after. The account was written from a Catholic viewpoint, claiming the fire was a judgement from God on London for its Protestantism and the murder of Catholic martyrs.
People recorded the fire through images as well as written accounts. This German chronicle by Johann Praetorius, Zodiacus mercurialis das ist: jahrige Europaeische welt-chronick, 1667, looked at events from around Europe and the world. As well as reporting on the fire, it included a dramatic fold-out illustration of the view overlooking London from the south with the fire raging in the city.
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As well as the official reports and chronicles, the Great Fire was immortalised through literature. John Dryden wrote an historical poem in 1667, Annus mirabilis: the year of wonders. His title “Year of Miracles”, suggested events could have been worse.
The London Gazette, No. 85 from Monday 3 September to 10 September 1666. It tells us more about the nature of the fire and its causes: in a London “so close built with wooden pitched houses, the fire, fanned by a violent easterly wind,” became uncontrollable. “Care was not taken for the timely preventing the further diffusion of it, by pulling down the houses, as ought to have been… this lamentable Fire in a short time became too big to be mastered by any Engines.”
IMPACT OF THE FIRE
The City of London was decimated and over 60,000 inhabitants lost their homes and livelihoods. People quickly moved into the surrounding fields, setting up makeshift camps, or found room in the remaining buildings, or nearby villages. The destruction of the City is evident in maps and images produced shortly after the fire. Wenceslaus Hollar was commissioned by the King to produce a map of the damage, which helped in the assessment and planning for the rebuilding. The Bills of Mortality also give us an insight into the impact. These bills recorded burials and births in the City every fortnight. In the entry for 2 to 9 October, there is a dramatic drop in the number of churches listed “within the walls”, from 97 to just 16. Samuel Rolle, who wrote about the fire, described the “church-yards as consisting of nothing… with waste ground about them.”
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Wenceslaus Hollar’s plan view of London shows the extent of the fire. The wind blew from the east fanning the flames and spreading the fire westwards from Pudding Lane into Westminster. As a result, the eastern parts of the city were left untouched, as can be seen in the map.
The Bills of Mortality clearly show the impact of the fire on the City. The bills for the month of September record only four people “burnt at several places” and one “found dead in the street”. The true number of deaths due to the fire is not known. At the time when there were no accurate records of the population, the authorities would not know exactly who was missing. Bodies may have been completely destroyed in the fire. The bill illustrated here is for 2 October to 9 October. It shows the number of churches within the walls to be just 16, down from 97.
The impact on people was chronicled in The burning of London in the year 1666, by Samuel Rolle, 1667. Rolle’s book reveals the effect of the fire on Londoners: how some nearly died of fright, the losses they suffered, how they got lost among the ruins and could not recognise their own streets. He voiced his disgust at opportunists profiting from the fire: landlords who raised their rents, carters who charged extortionate fees to carry belongings and thieves who looted people’s possessions. He wrote “To see a populous City so woefully depopulated in a few dayes time, and the late Inhabitants driven as stubble before the wind: Whose heart would it not cause to bleed?”
Many sermons were preached and printed in the years following the fire This title page from William Sancroft’s sermon, shows the medieval St. Paul’s Cathedral on fire. This image was reproduced in a number of pamphlets. The Fiery Jesuits Temper and Behaviour, 1667 was written by a ‘CatholickChristian’. The work blames the fire on Jesuits and has a frontispiece showing the Pope fanning the flames of the fire.
BLAME
Once the shock had worn off, people’s anger soon turned into blame. Many assumed that the fire was started deliberately. England had many enemies and their suspicions fell upon the French and the Dutch. People also suspected a Catholic plot. Samuel Rolle described London as the “great bulwark and fortress of protestant interest”, so Catholics were an easy target. After the Fire there was an outpouring of pamphlet literature, much of it looking for a conspiracy and culprit, but containing little factual evidence. Charges against Roman Catholics were especially vehement. Despite blaming these individual groups, it was widely accepted that the Fire was a divine judgement on the sins of the people. William Sancroft, Dean of St Paul’s, preached to the King and Court and presented the Fire as a heavy judgement, but also merciful as the destruction could have been much worse.
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The Government appointed a committee to look into the causes, which concluded nothing “had been found to argue it to have been other than the hand of God upon us, a great wind, and the season so very dry.” Even so, Robert Hubert, a Frenchman, was executed for starting the fire after he confessed to it, although no one truly believed in his guilt. The authorities needed a scapegoat. For the French, Dutch and Catholic communities, London had become a dangerous place to live. England was at war with the Dutch and in August 1666 had destroyed Dutch merchant ships and burnt the town of West-Terschelling. Many feared retribution. Jacques Benjamin chronicled the war in a French publication, Description exacte de tout ce qui s’est passé dans les guerres. The author sees the fire as the continuance of God’s vengeance, “in 1665 a plague from Heaven and now a fire to devastate London, just as the English had put to flames the poor boats and fishermen of Holland.”
THE IMMEDIATE RESPONSE There were two challenges facing the King and Government: dealing with the homeless and rebuilding the City. The Guildhall had been burnt and the bureaucracy to carry out this work did not exist. On 5 September the King published a declaration for the relief and distribution of food, “that as great proportions of bread and all other can possibly be furnished, shall be daily and constantly brought to the market.” Gresham College was designated the temporary trading and administration centre, substituting for the burnt Royal Exchange and Guildhall. People quickly set up sheds on the plots where they had lived and attempted to carry on with their lives. This was halted until it was decided what form the new city would take. A proclamation issued on 13 September prohibited immediate resettlement and rebuilding and set out guidelines for new buildings. Within days new designs were put forward for the entire re-planning of London, which included grid-systems, piazzas and boulevards. The most famous design was Christopher Wren’s. However, the authorities did not have the funds to implement these plans and moreover, the City needed its businesses to resume as quickly as possible.
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This is a proclamation for the keeping of markets to supply the city, and details the provision of markets and food supply. Some people turned to crime in the chaos after the fire. An anti-looting order was issued on 19 September, for restoring goods “imbezzell’d during the late Fire.” Anyone caught with such goods, “in all cases will extend to a fine and imprisonment” or even “to the loss of life.”
Stephen Primatt’s City & Country Purchaser & Builder, 1667, was one of the first works after the Great Fire to address the logistics of rebuilding houses and shops in London. It shows building plans, lists the materials needed and how much they would cost.
THE GREAT FIRE’S LEGACY The Great Fire had a huge impact on the City of London and has remained in the collective memory since 1666. It has been marked by sermons, plays and even children’s nursery rhymes. Annual sermons were preached on the anniversary of the fire to give thanks and to commemorate the disaster. In 1680, Gilbert Burnet, cleric and preacher, gave a Sermon at Bow Church, “Being the Anniversary Fast for the Burning of London.” This practice continued into the 18th century. Some also used the opportunity to produce more anti-Catholic propaganda, such as, The Burning of London by the Papists, by John Clark in 1714. In the 19th century the fire started to enter popular culture, being produced on the stage, in penny dreadfuls and in cheap historical pamphlets. The fire remained in the public’s memory throughout the 20th century. 1966 was the 300th anniversary of the Great Fire and it was marked with a major exhibition: 1666 and Other London Fires, at the Guildhall Art Gallery. The City of London Corporation continues to commemorate the Great Fire and its legacy.
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Penny dreadfuls were very popular in the 19th century. The Fire of London! or, The Doomed City, written by Thomas Peckett Prest, was never presented as an accurate account of the fire, but, as the inside cover states, “a tale of intense interest, founded on the popular drama of that name, performed at Astley’s Royal Amphitheatre”. Thomas Peckett Prest was a British hack writer, journalist and a prolific producer of penny dreadfuls.
The 1966 exhibition catalogue records over 100 paintings and items from the Art Gallery’s and Guildhall Library’s collections, including some books featured in this exhibition. It begins with a quote about London by James Howel, historian and writer, from 1657, “There’s no place also better armed against the fury of the fire; for besides the pitched buckets that hang in churches and halls, there are divers new engines... But it had been wished, that the proclamations of the last two kings for the building with brick bin observed…”
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