1861 Tooley Street fire

1861 fire in London January 2016 March 2020 1861 Tooley Street fire The Tooley Street fire of 1861.JPG Burning buildings on the River Thames The Tooley Street fire of 1861 Two weeks 1861 6 22 y Tooley Street, London Great Fire of Tooley Street Fire Spontaneous combustion 2+ £2 million The 1861 Tooley Street fire, also called the Great Fire of Tooley Street, started in Cotton's Wharf on Tooley Street, London, England, on 22 June 1861. The fire lasted for two weeks, and caused £2million worth of damage. During the fire, James Braidwood, superintendent of the London Fire Engine Establishment, was killed. House of Commons reports cited multiple failures in fire prevention, and the fire led to the 1865 Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act, which established the London Fire Brigade. Blaze thumb|left|200px|Tooley Street on 23 June 1861|alt=Burning buildings on the River Thames. The fire started on 22 June 1861, at Cotton's Wharf on Tooley Street, near to St Olave's Church, Southwark, and was first noticed around 4p.m. Cotton's Wharf was around 100 x 50 ft m, and contained around 5,000 tons of rice, 10,000 barrels of tallow, 1,000 tons of hemp, 1,100 tons of jute, 3,000 tons of sugar and 18,000 bales of cotton at the time of the fire.https://www.newspapers.com/clip/67312675/cotton-wharf-fire/ The Great Fire The Times 25 June 1861 17 January 2017 Newspapers.com https://web.archive.org/web/20170118055943/https://www.newspapers.com/image/32928729/?terms=tooley%2Bstreet%2Bfire 18 January 2017 live Unsafe jute and hemp storage in Cotton's Wharf and nearby wharves helped spread the fire. The cause of the fire is believed to have been spontaneous combustion, http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/the-tooley-street-fire.asp The Tooley Street fire London Fire Brigade 17 January 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20161112202531/http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/the-tooley-street-fire.asp 12 November 2016 livehttp://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol6/pp100-117 Old and New London 6 Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co 100–117 1878 17 January 2017 British History Online https://web.archive.org/web/20161217130029/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol6/pp100-117 17 December 2016 live although it has also been suggested that someone smoking in the wharves may have started the fire.93–94 Whilst Cotton's Wharf was classed as good for fire protection, the surrounding buildings were less well protected, which enabled the fire to spread quickly. https://archive.org/details/insurancecyclop05walfgoog The Insurance Cyclopeadia Walford Cornelius C. and E. Layton 1876 93 The London Fire Engine Establishment (later the London Fire Brigade) were alerted by 5p.m.94 A local distiller acted as temporary fire marshal until the London Fire Engine Establishment arrived, as his distillery had two private fire engines. https://books.google.com/books?id=47x4g7IqQlgC The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London Flanders Judith Atlantic Books 2012 9780857898814 A number of other private fire engines were also used. By 6p.m., 14 fire engines, including one steam engine, from the London Fire Engine Establishment were at the scene.http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Tooley-Street-Fire/ Tooley Street Fire Appleby Rita Historic UK 17 January 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170118054821/http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Tooley-Street-Fire/ 18 January 2017 livehttps://books.google.com/books?id=kEwdDAAAQBAJ&q=Tooley+Street+fire British Steam Fire Engines Henderson Ronald Amberley Publishing March 2016 9781445657806 17 January 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170118135528/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kEwdDAAAQBAJ&dq=Tooley+Street+fire&source=gbs_navlinks_s 18 January 2017 live The Fire Establishment's river fire engine was unable to draw water from the River Thames as it was low tide and so the river was too shallow. The fire was so great that the river fire engine was forced to retreat. The firefighters were also inhibited when the spice warehouses caught fire, which distributed spices into the air. The Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire (which was later merged into the London Fire Brigade) also assisted with controlling the fire. thumb|right|200px|Statue of James Braidwood, who died during the fire.|alt=See caption Around 730 p.m., a section of a warehouse collapsed on top of James Braidwood, the superintendent of the London Fire Engine Establishment, killing him.http://londonist.com/2016/08/london-s-other-great-fires London's Other Great Fires Londonist 8 August 2016 17 January 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170118053642/http://londonist.com/2016/08/london-s-other-great-fires 18 January 2017 live Another firefighter was killed in the same incident. Braidwood had been giving his firefighters their brandy rations at the time of the collapse. Around 10 hours after the fire started, it was stabilised and confined to a single area. The fire took two weeks to put out, during which time around 20 police officers remained present at the scene. Over 30,000 people watched the fire burn. The fire caused damage to buildings up to 0.25 mi km away from Cotton's Wharf, and destroyed 11 acre m2 of land.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-35979502 Nostalgic photos show 150 years of London Fire Brigade BBC News 8 April 2016 17 January 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20160703125142/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-35979502 3 July 2016 livehttps://books.google.com/books?id=0hIhiVfr74IC&q=Tooley+Street+fire London Broich John University of Pittsburgh Press 25 May 2013 9780822978664 17 January 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170118053508/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0hIhiVfr74IC&dq=Tooley+Street+fire&source=gbs_navlinks_s 18 January 2017 live The range of the fire spanned from St Olave's Church to Battle Bridge Stairs. During the fire, tallow and oil from the wharves spilled into the River Thames, destroying four sailing boats and numerous barges. London Bridge station also caught fire in the blaze, but the fire was put out by the station's private fire engines. https://books.google.com/books?id=J7ZbAAAAcAAJ Great Fire of 1861. Total destruction of Cotton's Wharf, etc Vickers H. 1861 4–7 The fire could be seen from up to 15 mi km away. In total, the damages from the fire were around £2 million. In his diary, Arthur Munby described the scene as: "For near a quarter of a mile, the south bank of the Thames was on fire: a long line of what had been warehouses, their roofs and fronts all gone; and the tall ghastly sidewalls, white with heat, standing, or rather tottering, side by side in the midst of a mountainous desert of red & black ruin, which smouldered & steamed here, & there, sent up sheets of savage intolerable flame a hundred feet high."http://www.victorianlondon.org/dates/tooleystreet.htm Dirty Old London Yale University Press 2014 17 January 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170921065534/http://www.victorianlondon.org/dates/tooleystreet.htm 21 September 2017 live At the time, the fire was described as the worst London fire since the Great Fire of London. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000047/18610625/009/0004 Dreadful Conflagration and Loss of Life in London Caledonian Mercury 4 25 June 1861 17 January 2017 British Newspaper Archive subscription https://books.google.com/books?id=plTnAAAAMAAJ The Insurance Record 69 Tudor Press 1931 Aftermath An 1862 House of Commons report into the fire noted the lack of availability of water when the fire started, as the area did not have a hydraulic pump as other areas such as West India Dock did, and the water company only supplied water to houses in Tooley Street for 90 minutes a day.https://books.google.com/books?id=rx9cAAAAQAAJ&q=Tooley+Street+fire Reports from Committees House of Commons of the United Kingdom 112, 258 1862 17 January 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170118053910/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rx9cAAAAQAAJ&dq=Tooley+Street+fire&source=gbs_navlinks_s 18 January 2017 live An 1867 House of Commons report also criticised the ineffectiveness of the allegedly fire proof floors,18, 193–195 and general fire protection in the South London District.5 It recommended that oil should not be stored in places where it could flow.124–125 According to the 1862 House of Commons report, insurance companies lost over £1 million from the fire. It is believed that one of the owners of Cotton's Wharf was insured for £400,000,https://www.newspapers.com/clip/67312728/tooley-street-fire-cost/ Tooley Street fire cost The Times 9 9 December 1882 17 January 2017 Newspapers.com https://web.archive.org/web/20170118055915/https://www.newspapers.com/image/33137542/?terms=tooley%2Bstreet%2Bfire 18 January 2017 live and the Royal Insurance Company lost £75,000. https://books.google.com/books?id=dkc5GNmpYI0C Royal Insurance Company The Gentleman's Magazine 211 Dodd A. Smith A 1861 It was the first time that most insurance companies had lost money since they had started having private fire engines. Following the fire, insurance companies changed the way they insured wharves, and their fire insurance policies, to encourage safer storage of goods. https://books.google.com/books?id=VjHbtzEKBtIC Handbook of International Insurance: Between Global Dynamics and Local Contingencies Cummins J. David Venard Bertrand Springer Science+Business Media 2007 9780387341637 4.1 https://books.google.com/books?id=gpdaBwAAQBAJ Insurance Theory and Practice Thoyts Rob Routledge 2010 9781136963452 7 They also raised their insurance premiums by between 50 and 100%. https://books.google.com/books?id=gEpjDwAAQBAJ Governing Future Emergencies: Lived Relations to Risk in the UK Fire and Rescue Service O'Grady Nathaniel Springer Publishing 2018 37–38 9783319719917 The fire and insurance premium rises led to the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865, which established the London Fire Brigade. The act also mandated that iron doors be used as these were less flammable, and recommended that they be shut at all times, which was not the case during the Tooley Street fire. https://books.google.com/books?id=GQ4TAAAAYAAJ Parliamentary Papers 10 House of Commons of the United Kingdom 1867258 The fire also contributed to the establishment of many new fire insurance firms. https://books.google.com/books?id=J7ZbAAAAcAAJ Market Services and the Productivity Race, 1850–2000: British Performance in International Perspective Broadberry Stephen Cambridge University Press 2006 207 These included the Commercial Union and Mercantile companies; and in 1867 the Reinsurance Company in London who specialised in insuring damaged buildings was also established. The wharves destroyed in the Tooley Street fire were rebuilt as separated buildings, to make them safer from fire in future.195 A plaque to commemorate the fire, and memorialise James Braidwood, is located on Battle Bridge Lane, on the corner of Tooley Street. http://www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk/page1734.html Tooley Street Fire Plaques of London 17 April 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20160811040228/http://plaquesoflondon.co.uk/page1734.html 11 August 2016 live Other fires on Tooley Street An 1836 fire destroyed Topping's Wharf on Tooley Street, and an 1843 fire on Tooley Street destroyed St. Olave's Church.https://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol6/pp89-100 Old and New London 6 Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co 89–100 1878 17 January 2017 British History Online https://web.archive.org/web/20170221211207/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol6/pp89-100 21 February 2017 live In 1891, there was another large fire which took 19 days to extinguish, and was described as the worst fire since the 1861 Tooley Street fire. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/67312825/the-buffalo-enquirer/ London's Tooley Street Fire Still Burning The Buffalo Enquirer Newspapers.com 23 October 1891 17 April 2020 http://newspapers.com/clip/67312859/1891-tooley-street-fire/ Tooley Street Fire St. Paul Globe Newspapers.com 24 October 1891 17 April 2020 References 51.506 -0.085 type:event_region:GB title Category:Fires in London Category:19th-century fires in the United Kingdom Category:1861 fires Category:June 1861 in the United Kingdom Category:1861 in London Category:1860s disasters in the United Kingdom