Great Fire of London: Man who first raised alarm identified

The idiosyncratic who is thought to person archetypal raised the alarm astir a blaze astatine a bakery that became the Great Fire of London has been identified.

The fire, which began successful Thomas Farriner's spot successful Pudding Lane connected 2 September 1666, lasted for 4 days and destroyed overmuch of the capital.

New probe has recovered it was Farriner's "man" Thomas Dagger who is believed to person initially spotted it.

Prof Kate Loveman said Dagger's relation had "gone unrecognised" until now.

Starting successful the aboriginal hours of the greeting erstwhile determination was a beardown wind, the bakery blaze rapidly dispersed betwixt tightly-packed houses, which had been built from wood and thatch and had dried retired implicit a lukewarm summer.

By the clip it was extinguished, an country astir a mile-and-a-half (2.4km) wide on the River Thames was devastated, with 13,200 houses, 87 churches and the aged St Paul's Cathedral destroyed.

The immense occurrence near immoderate 100,000 radical stateless but led to wide changes successful the city, galore of which still person an interaction today.

While Thomas Farriner's bakery is well-known for its portion successful the event, it is not known what caused the archetypal blaze, portion small had antecedently been recovered retired astir who archetypal witnessed it.

Prof Loveman, from the University of Leicester, utilized letters, pamphlets and ineligible and guild records to observe Thomas Dagger's identity.

One enactment from MP Sir Edward Harley stated that Farriner's "man" (meaning his servant oregon journeyman) had woken aft 01:00 "with the choke of the smoke", and that Farriner, his girl and Dagger had past escaped retired of an precocious window. Other sources besides suggested Farriner's lad was present.

The names of those members of the household - including Farriner's big children Hanna and Thomas - were past recovered successful different records with journeyman baker Dagger being among those. Documents besides reported him to beryllium the idiosyncratic who raised the alarm.

Prof Loveman said that portion the Farriners were well-known by historians, "Thomas Dagger's relation has gone unrecognised", and his sanction "didn't go associated with the occurrence astatine the time".

"Soon aft the disaster, helium merges backmost into the accustomed records of Restoration life, having children and mounting up his ain bakery," she added.

The probe was carried retired for the Museum of London arsenic portion of a reimagined Great Fire display, which volition spell connected amusement erstwhile the venue's caller Smithfield tract opens successful 2026.

Meriel Jeater, pb curator for the displays, said the find would "feed into the breathtaking caller ways successful which we'll beryllium telling the communicative of the Great Fire of London".

The probe was funded by the museum's Reimagining the Restoration project, which has developed caller teaching resources astir the Great Fire that are disposable connected the museum's website.