Thomas Bludworth

  Londoners who may have thought that they were fortunate enough to have survived the Great Plague of London in 1665 were most probably disappointed and stunned to experience the worse in 1666. On 2 September 1666, Londoners witnessed one of the most destructive disasters in London's history. The Great Fire of London was the most destructive fire in London's history, engulfing central London from Sunday 2 September 1666 to Thursday 6 September 1666. The fire destroyed the majority of the city and, left tens of thousands of people homeless. Many iconic buildings and places such as the St Paul's Cathedral, the Royal Stock Exchange, customs house and city prisons were severely damaged in the Great Fire (Green).

 As the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Thomas Bloodworth was the top executive of London during the calamitous fire. On the day the fire broke out, he did not know that what he was going to utter about the fire was going to be a derogatory phrase and he was going to remembered by the following generations with this phrase. When the fire started, he was woken up to be informed about the fire and he uttered "Pish! A woman might piss it out!" (Johnson). However, apparently no women took up the Mayor's challenge and the fired turned out to be one of the most devastating event in the history of London. 

 Later, he wrote to Joseph Williamson that it was "the severest year ever man had" upon the Plague and the Great Fire of London (Cruickshanks). It may also be observed from what Pepsy wrote about him when he met the Mayor in Cannon Street: At last met my lord mayor in Cannon Street, like a man spent, with a handkerchief about his neck. To the King’s message, he cried, like a fainting woman, "Lord, what can I do? I am spent: people will not obey me. I have been pulling down houses, but the fire overtakes us faster than we can do it" (Cruickshanks).

 The blame was put on Thomas Bloodworth as the fire caused extensive destruction in London and the Mayor was believed to understimate the fire. On the other hand, there is also the other side of the coin. There is also the perspective that "the Mayor was bound by protocol" and he needed the permission of Charles II to demolish the buidings (Hayle). He may be considered to be the villain of the catastrophic incident now, but if he had taken initiative to break the rules of the political procedure he may be regarded as the hero today (Hayle).
   
  

Works Cited

   Cruickshanks, Eveline. "Bludworth, Thomas (1620-82), of Gracechurch Street, London and Thorncroft, Leatherhead, Surr." The History of Parliament: The House of Commons1660 -1690, edited by B.D.Henning, Boydell and Brewer, 1983, https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/bludworth-thomas-1620-82. Accessed 07 Jan 2023. 

  Green, Matheww. "Lost in the Great Fire: which London buildings disappeared in the 1666 blaze?" The Guardian, 30 Aug 2016,  https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/aug/30/great-fire-of-london-1666-350th-anniversary-which-buildings-disappeared. Accessed 07 January 2023.

  Hayle, Joanne. "Sir Thomas Bloodworth and the Great Fire of London: Villain or Scapegoat?" Owlcation, 15 June 2022, https://owlcation.com/humanities/Sir-Thomas-Bloodworth-and-the-Great-Fire-of-London-Villain-or-Scapegoat. Accessed 07 Jan 2023. 

 Johnson, Ben. " The Great Fire of London." Historic UK, https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Great-Fire-of-London/. Accessed 06 January 2023.