The Great Fire at Tooley Street, 1861

This painting by an unknown British artist depicts the fire that broke out at Tooley Street on Saturday 22 June 1861. The fire that began when a bale of jute caught fire in Cotton's wharf raged for two weeks destroying 20 warehouses, shops, houses and even vessels on the river. Fuelled by cargoes of cotton, spice and oil stored in the warehouses the fire also took the life of the Chief Fireman James Braidwood, who was killed three hours after the fire began by a falling warehouse wall. This depiction was probably painted on the second day of the fire that attracted huge crowds and was widely reported. The fire exposed the inadequacies of London's reliance on insurance companies to fight fires and resulted in the establishment of the publicly funded Metropolitan Fire Brigade in 1866.