Susanna Calkins, Author
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The "miracle" of the Great Fire of London...

9/6/2012

9 Comments

 
Picture
The backdrop of my second novel, From the Charred Remains, begins where The Murder at Rosamund's Gate left off...at one of the most traumatic moments in London's history: The Great Fire of 1666.

Yet as I researched the extent of the devastation, looking at a wide range of sources, I became increasingly perplexed by how few people were alleged to have perished during the conflagration.  Over and over, I'd see repeated the same impossibly low numbers--nine, ten, a dozen people. 

How could that be?

You see, the Fire--which started in early September 1666 when a baker failed to bank his coals properly--raged out of control for several days before the winds mercifully shifted.  In that time, the Fire destroyed thousands and thousands of homes and businesses, and a hundred thousand people were left homeless. 

Just imagine--as I've tried to do--the mayhem, the panic, the crush of humanity. Could the elderly, the infirm, the drunk have fled so easily? And what about the inmates of Newgate prison? It's unlikely the wardens of that dreadful place would have thought through a systematic evacuation plan.

And yet, historians have long pointed out (very reasonably, I might add) that the death toll could not have been very high.  Someone would have noticed. Surely, someone would have written about death on a massive scale.   


But, such written accounts don't exist. 

Contemporaries (such as Pepys or other chroniclers from this time period) only noted a handful of deaths. Two elderly women found huddled by St. Paul's. A young serving girl afraid to jump from the third story of a building in flames.  Such tales are scattered about, but they are notable in their rarity. More significantly, the Bills of Mortality, which carefully documented all deaths from the plague and other misfortunes in the 1660s, did not describe any great numbers after the Fire. 

Cover up? hmmmm....

As it turns out, I'm not the only one who has pondered this very question.  Neil Hanson, author of The Dreadful Judgment,  has made a compelling argument that thousands may have perished in this blaze--in direct opposition to the commonly accepted view.

Hanson raised two important questions: Why were these deaths not recorded, and what happened to their bodies?  (You can read his fascinating address to the Museum of London here).

Sadly, Hanson's conclusion is deeply troubling but may well be accurate--the bodies of the missing had simply disappeared into the flame. Everyone had missing neighbors who never returned....numbering in the thousands. 

So, this is one of those odd cases where the silence of evidence could be evidence in itself.

But what do you think?




9 Comments
Matt
9/6/2012 06:01:02 am

Great post! Thanks for sharing the link to Hanson's talk. Really interesting!

So, to answer your question, there just HAVE to have been more deaths. I completely buy Hanson's argument.

Reply
Susie link
9/6/2012 12:41:33 pm

Matt--there's just so many of these interesting stories; its been fun to rethink the "facts" as a novelist...

Reply
Vas
9/6/2012 10:11:04 pm

Very interesting. By way of comparison what was the death toll of Great Chicago Fire? Really fascinating to still walk in certain neighborhoods in Chicago today and see brownstone buildings charred black from the GCF. Thanks for such a thought provoking post!

Reply
Susie link
9/7/2012 11:45:35 pm

Vas--I beleive several hundred people were killed in the Chicago Fire, and they even had a "modern" fire company. Did you know that the worst fire that happened in the country that day occurred in Peshtigo Wisconsin? The Peshtigo Fire cost 1200 lives, but who ever has heard of this fire? I just learned about it recently, when we visited the Milwaukee History museum!

Reply
Matt
9/8/2012 12:53:22 pm

As a young lad growing up in Wisconsin, we all learned about Peshtigo. And, as good Wisconsinites, we said, "Take that Chicago...yet another thing we do better than you."

About 10 years ago, I was in Oshkosh, WI talking to some profs. They said that locals suspected that a local lumber magnate was behind the blaze and other smaller blazes in the area...drumming up business.

bekerys
9/7/2012 07:47:12 pm

I guess when I thought about it at all, I figured that if no one official knew the people existed, how would they know when the people no longer did?

Reply
Susie link
9/7/2012 11:52:26 pm

Bekerys--a good point! People weren't documented in the same way they sort of are today, although census were taken every few years by government officials. However, when the plague ravaged London 1664-1665 (backdrop of my first book :-) ) the Bills of Mortality were posted and distributed each week. They would list--8000 dead by plague, 217 dead by influenza, 5 dead by cooking accidents or whatever. the level of detail was fascinating! I'll have to post something on these!

Reply
Susie link
9/7/2012 11:54:13 pm

So that's one of the reasons historians have long concluded that such deaths on a massive scale had not occurred, since the Bills did not describe such numbers in the weeks following the Fire.

hot water and tankless heater problems link
8/13/2013 08:56:32 pm

I wonder where you getting all this history tales from. Or is it some sort of history-fiction mix. Anyway it was a gripping tale and thoroughly enjoyed reading all along. I can’ believe this take o fire that erupted. Great share!

Reply



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    Susanna Calkins

    Historian. Mystery writer. Researcher. Teacher.  Occasional blogger.

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  • Home
  • Lucy Campion Mysteries
    • A Murder at Rosamund's Gate
    • From the Charred Remains
    • The Masque of a Murderer
    • A Death Along the River Fleet
    • The Sign of the Gallows
    • The Cry of the Hangman
    • Death Among the Ruins
  • The Speakeasy Murders
    • Murder Knocks Twice
    • The Fate of a Flapper
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