We all know about the Great Fire of London in 1666, but fires continued to be a pretty regular occurrence in London, even into the next century. Looking through Georgian records, there are reports of a fire in the city every few months, something that is unsurprising when we consider that despite the rebuilding of London after 1666, there was still a large quantity of wooden buildings huddled together in the capital during the eighteenth century. Post-fire building overseen by Charles II and his queen, Catherine of Braganza, was also concentrated most urgently on the areas directly affected, and so surrounding areas were still filled with medieval and Tudor buildings that could cause serious damage if accidentally set alight.
 |
| Joseph Highmore, 1692–1780, Figures in a Tavern or Coffee House, ca. 1725 or after 1750, Oil on panel, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B2001.2.86. Public Domain |
In Sweeting's Alley in central London in 1759 a fire broke out at around 5am one morning at Hamlin's Coffee House, near the Royal Exchange. Hamlin's, like other coffee houses of the time, would have been a fashionable place not only to sip a hot bowl of black coffee but to do business, chat with likeminded people and attend the odd auction of goods or property. Next door was another coffee house, The New York Coffee House, and in the immediate community, other shops such as one run by a fan maker named Mr Vaughan, a print-seller's by Mr Withy and a woollen draper's run by Mr Fleatham. There were others, too. Mr Hunt was a linen-draper, Mr Legg a woollen draper and Mr Bakewell a print seller, situated at the front of Cornhill. Nearby was a lawyer's office, another coffee house (The Virginia Coffee House), a barber and a broker.
All these businesses would suffer on the morning of the fire at Hamlin's, showing how quickly fire could take hold of a small community. The Annual Register noted that thirteen houses stood in smouldering ruins, and two small shops - a shoemaker's and a watch-maker's - had completely burned down. The following day, at 3pm, the fire was said to have broken out again, now consuming the Red Lion and Sun alehouse in Sweeting's Alley. The culprit of the fire was believed to have been a lodger at Hamlin's, a musician who 'played music upon glasses' and who sadly died in the flames. Others died, too, unable to escape the smoke-filled buildings or tragically buried in the ashen rubble as the upper floors and walls crumbled around them.
The devastating fire at Hamlin's tells us so much about Georgian London. First, the report in The Annual Register details the many businesses that traded here, and although the area is known to have been the centre of London's trading community, barbers, shoemakers and woollen drapers had also set up businesses here. These, and the many coffee shops that emerged in the area were no doubt supported by fashionable merchants, bankers and lawyers who had offices near the Royal Exchange. The report not only describes the premises that were damaged but where they stood, what they offered and who ran them, giving us a fascinating glimpse into the Cornhill area of central London in the mid-1700s.
The report also underlines the severe fire risk that was still very real after 1666. We tend to focus on the Great Fire during the reign of Charles II and his rebuilding of London in stone and the city's reorganisation into wider public squares and other spaces. But there were still frequent fires all over London during the eighteenth century. Closely-huddled buildings, flammable materials and a reliance on flame for light, cooking and warmth all combined to make London's narrow streets a potential hazard to live or do business in. It's worth adding that it wasn't just London that suffered with fires - Portsmouth Dockyard was damaged by fire in 1770 and 1776, and there are other mentions of devastating blazes in other towns around the country during the period.
Liked this? You might also like What Was it Like During the Great Fire of London and The Old White Hart Inn, Southwark.
Source: The Annual Register, 1759, via archive.org
0 Comments