
The generally accepted version of events which led to the start of the Great Fire is that in the very early hours of September 2nd the king's baker Thomas Farrinor did not properly extinguish the oven in his shop on Pudding Lane, inadvertently starting a fire which would first engulf his own property and ultimately a large part of the city over the next 4 days. The danger of fire was of course not uncommon in London, what with the frequent use of both open flames and combustible materials in everyday life, but a combination of hot weather drying out the timbres and thatch of the narrowly packed houses and a prevailing wind blowing sparks to East and West meant that a strong conflagration was practically inevitable. Though the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Thomas Bloodworth, was called to the scene, upon inspecting the burning bakery he famously remarked that 'A women could piss it out!' and refused to take measures to stop the fire from spreading. Whether he thought the fire too small or well under control is not clear, but it has been suggested that he



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Mob violence and lynchings sw


Even the King's firework maker, Balland, came under the mob's suspicion as a Frenchman more than capable of starting the fire. Earlier that same week he had gone into the city to buy pasteboard, but upon being told that it would be some time before the amount desired could be obtained he announced that he needed it for the weekend. When asked why he explained that he was planning a display so spectacular it would light up St Paul's cathedral. Of course, St Paul's was lit up on the weekend, but not by fireworks. The cathedral was destroyed in the fire, and left Belland a prime suspect. Charles took the firework maker and his son into the protection of the royal court, much to the displeasure and mistrust of the Londoners baying for the man's blood.

And then there were the obvious national targets for the mob's rage: Papists. Indeed, right up until the Roman Catholic Relief Act in 1829 and the emancipation of Catholics in the UK, the inscription written upon the east side of The Monument to the Great Fire of London included the words: Here by permission of heaven, hell broke loose upon this Protestant city.....the most dreadful Burning of this City; begun and carried on by the treachery and malice of the Popish faction...Popish frenzy which wrought such horrors, is not yet quenched...
It was not until the capture of one Robert Hubert that the crazed Londoners found any relief or justification for their malice. He was a French watchmaker who had been arrested in Essex under suspicion of trying to escape from his crimes in London. Under closer examination he readily confessed to having started the fire in Pudding Lane and other subsequent fires throughout the city with the help of numerous accomplices, though his story changed frequently. Ill-at-ease with his prisoner's testimony, the examining magistrate took him back to the scene of the crime and asked him to point out exactly where he had started the fire and how he had done it. No amount of placation or misdirection on the part of the magistrate would induce him to change his story, and Robert Hubert was tried at the Old Bailey and sentenced to death. It would of course be remiss not to mention that many aspects of his confession were extremely shaky and that the trial was naturally bias, with conflicting evidence and testimonies. It was not until after his death that it emerged that he had not even been in London until 2 days after the fire had started, proving him innocent. Though his motives for confessing to something he clearly did not do will never be fully understood, his role of scapegoat was of great satisfaction to the people of London. After his hanging at Tyburn his body was viciously ripped limb-from-limb by a crowd of angry Londoners as is was being handed over to the Company of Barber Surgeons.
The fire finally abated on Wednesday 5th and the 100,000 people who had been left homeless came from their places of refuge to examine the damage. Though some small fires still burned in separate parts of the city into the following day, the Great Fire was over. Those foreigners of a mind to return found their homes and businesses mostly destroyed, sometimes not by the ravages of the fire but by the rage of their neighbours, their property and goods pillaged. Some stories circulated of immigrants who had become local heroes in their communities for returning during the fire and pulling their houses down in an attempt to form fire-breaks, despite the hostility they suffered. In the main, however, they remained untrusted even in the aftermath of Robert Hubert's capture and demise.
In 1667, the fire was officially attributed to '...the hand of God, a great wind and a very dry season...'. Whether London's inhabitants truly believed this to be the case, remains to be seen.

And then there were the obvious national targets for the mob's rage: Papists. Indeed, right up until the Roman Catholic Relief Act in 1829 and the emancipation of Catholics in the UK, the inscription written upon the east side of The Monument to the Great Fire of London included the words: Here by permission of heaven, hell broke loose upon this Protestant city.....the most dreadful Burning of this City; begun and carried on by the treachery and malice of the Popish faction...Popish frenzy which wrought such horrors, is not yet quenched...
It was not until the capture of one Robert Hubert that the crazed Londoners found any relief or justification for their malice. He was a French watchmaker who had been arrested in Essex under suspicion of trying to escape from his crimes in London. Under closer examination he readily confessed to having started the fire in Pudding Lane and other subsequent fires throughout the city with the help of numerous accomplices, though his story changed frequently. Ill-at-ease with his prisoner's testimony, the examining magistrate took him back to the scene of the crime and asked him to point out exactly where he had started the fire and how he had done it. No amount of placation or misdirection on the part of the magistrate would induce him to change his story, and Robert Hubert was tried at the Old Bailey and sentenced to death. It would of course be remiss not to mention that many aspects of his confession were extremely shaky and that the trial was naturally bias, with conflicting evidence and testimonies. It was not until after his death that it emerged that he had not even been in London until 2 days after the fire had started, proving him innocent. Though his motives for confessing to something he clearly did not do will never be fully understood, his role of scapegoat was of great satisfaction to the people of London. After his hanging at Tyburn his body was viciously ripped limb-from-limb by a crowd of angry Londoners as is was being handed over to the Company of Barber Surgeons.
The fire finally abated on Wednesday 5th and the 100,000 people who had been left homeless came from their places of refuge to examine the damage. Though some small fires still burned in separate parts of the city into the following day, the Great Fire was over. Those foreigners of a mind to return found their homes and businesses mostly destroyed, sometimes not by the ravages of the fire but by the rage of their neighbours, their property and goods pillaged. Some stories circulated of immigrants who had become local heroes in their communities for returning during the fire and pulling their houses down in an attempt to form fire-breaks, despite the hostility they suffered. In the main, however, they remained untrusted even in the aftermath of Robert Hubert's capture and demise.
In 1667, the fire was officially attributed to '...the hand of God, a great wind and a very dry season...'. Whether London's inhabitants truly believed this to be the case, remains to be seen.
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See: 'By Permission of Heaven: The Story of the Great Fire of London' by Adrian Tinniswood