Author: TOWER OF LONDON
Title: Awful Fire, Tower of London. Attended with Loss of Life, and Property to the Amount of £800,000, and 250,000 Stand of Arms. (From official information.)
Description: Whitechapel: F. Edwards, [1841] Broadside, 375 x 250 mm. The Tower of London experienced the worst fire in its long history on the night of 30th October 1841. It commenced in the Bowyer Tower, where a flue had overheated and was first noticed at around half-past ten. The Tower fire engines attended but the supply of water for them all could not be found. Engines from the city could not gain admittance past the guards at the Tower gates, the blaze spread quickly and began to engulf the Bowyer Tower. The flames lapped at the armouries and the storehouse by the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula. Although by this time further fire engines had been deployed, they were unable to get the now ferocious fire under control. The rapidly spreading flames began to engulf the Martin Tower, where the crown jewels were then stored. Alarmed efforts were made to save the priceless regalia from destruction. In the midst of the general panic, it was realized that the Keeper of the Jewel House had only the key to the outer room in his possession. The other key, to the barred cabinets themselves, was kept by the Lord Chamberlain. As the heat became increasingly intense, in attempt was made to bend the bars protecting the jewels with crowbars. One policeman bravely passed out the crown jewels, bearing heat so intense that his uniform was actually charred. The fire was not brought under control until 3 o'clock in the morning. By then it had destroyed the Bowyer and Brick Towers and the White Tower and the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula had both been damaged. This early broadside shows only the first reports of the fire, assuming fatalities when there were none, but omitting the exciting rescue of the Crown Jewels. No locations are traced for this broadside

Keywords: Ephemera


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