Printed Ephemera — 1834
Dreadful Fire! And total destruction of both houses of Parliament, 1834
This broadsheet entitled 'Dreadful Fire! and total destruction of both Houses of Parliament' gives an illustrated and written account of the devastating fire that broke out at the Palace of Westminster on 16 October 1834. The fire was caused by over-loading the Palace furnaces with unwanted wooden 'tallies', notched sticks of wood formerly used as receipts by the Exchequer. By the time the alarm was raised, fire had spread through the chimney to the whole building. Twelve fire engines, 64 firefighters and troops from the Brigade of Guards all attempted to put out the fire but they were unable to save the Houses of Parliament and only Westminster Hall escaped destruction. News of the fire would have been spread throughout the country by such broadsheets issued by the Office of Works that were quickly printed in large quantities and pasted in public places.
- Category:
- Printed Ephemera
- Object ID:
- 35.183/6
- Object name:
- Dreadful Fire! And total destruction of both houses of Parliament, 1834
- Object type:
- Artist/Maker:
- Drake, G.
- Related people:
- Related events:
- Production date:
- 1834
- Material:
paper
- Measurements/duration:
- H 564 mm, L 445 mm
- Part of:
- —
- On display:
- —
- Record quality:
- 100%
- Part of this object:
- —
- Owner Status & Credit:
Permanent collection
- Copyright holder:
digital image © London Museum
- Image credit:
- —
- Creative commons usage:
- —
- License this image:
To license this image for commercial use, please contact the London Museum Picture Library.