16th October 1834

On this day, 16th October 1834, Allan Cunningham was living at Strand on the Green ¹ when the Palace of Westminster, several miles away, burned.

The blaze, which started in two overheated chimney flues, spread rapidly throughout the medieval complex and developed into the biggest conflagration to occur in London since the Great Fire of 1666, attracting massive crowds. ²

1. Robert Heward’s Biographical Sketch of the Late Allan Cunningham p268[↩]
2. Wikipedia – Burning of the Parliament Building in London[↩]