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Caroline Shenton

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Happy Anniversary, Great Fire of Westminster!

16 October 2013 By Caroline Shenton

Yes, it’s 179 years since the old Houses of Parliament burned down. Last year there was the very successful real-time tweet of the events of 16 October 1834 (you can still see the story as it unfolded on Twitter), and this year there are more treats to mark the anniversary.

Firstly, there’s a brand new page about the fire, launched today, on the History of Parliament website. This complements the other concise but very useful potted histories of key moments in the House of Commons and House of Lords there.

histparl

 

Then, at Westminster, there is an exhibition on the fire currently running in Portcullis House for Parliamentarians through the autumn. It was open to the public on Open House Weekend at the end of September. It was great fun curating it, and I’d like to thank the Curator’s office at Parliament for suggesting that I might like to do it. If you missed it, then don’t worry – you can find a free downloadable booklet and other resources relating to the paintings and drawings in our art collection which depict the 1834 fire on the Art in Parliament website.

exhibition

If you’re in London there’s still time to come to the Open Lecture today in Parliament at 2.30pm, where I’ll be giving a free public talk on the fire. Do come and say hello if you’re there.

And remember, the Houses of Parliament shop has signed copies of the book now out in paperback (they make great Christmas presents) and you can even order them on online if you wish – I signed 100 of them a couple of weeks ago in just 15 minutes…

book pile

 

Finally, here are a couple of my favourite blogposts from the last year. I hope you enjoy them:

A Tale of Two Birthdays

My Hot Date with Mr Turner

 

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Filed Under: Parliamentary History, Publicising the Book, The 1834 Fire

About Caroline Shenton

Dr Caroline Shenton is an archivist and historian. She was formerly Director of the Parliamentary Archives in London, and before that was a senior archivist at the National Archives. Her book The Day Parliament Burned Down won the Political Book of the Year Award in 2013 and Mary Beard called it 'microhistory at its absolute best' while Dan Jones considered it 'glorious'. Its acclaimed sequel, Mr Barryís War, about the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster, was a Book of the Year in 2016 for The Daily Telegraph and BBC History Magazine and was described by Lucy Worsley as 'a real jewel, finely wrought and beautiful'. During 2017 Caroline was Political Writer in Residence at Gladstone's Library.

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About Caroline

Dr Caroline Shenton is an archivist and historian. Her book The Day Parliament Burned Down won the Political Book of the Year Award in 2013. Read More…

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