The Fenian Attempt to blow up the White Tower on the 24th of January 1885
Three explosions took place in London on Saturday, the 24th of January 1885, during what the Irish Fenians called the “Dynamite War.” Two of these occurred in the Houses of Parliament, the third in the White Tower.
The mine, or rather, infernal machine, was laid in the Armoury, and was placed between the stands of arms in the Banqueting Room, both that chamber and the Council Room being injured by the explosion.
Saturday being one of the days upon which the Tower is free to visitors, the old building was full of people, the Banqueting Room being well filled with women and children when the explosion took place, at two o’clock—the same time as that at which the explosion at the House of Parliament occurred. The cries of the people in the room were most distressing, and immediately the charge exploded, the Banqueting Room was ablaze, the flames communicating themselves to the floor above. Since the fire in the Tower in 1841, a fire brigade had been stationed in the building, and numerous fire extinguishers, such as small manuals and hydrants, were kept in readiness, and although two of the London fire brigades were telephoned for, the military, with the aid of hoses and hydrants, had already checked the spreading of the flames. The actual amount of damage done, happily, fell far short of what might have been expected, considering the force of the explosion, and the great age of the building attacked. The windows and casements were nearly all blown out, the flagstaff at the top of the White Tower was blown away, the floor was burnt, and the face of the clock was damaged; and this was the extent of the hurt caused by the dastardly attempt to wreck the White Tower. The report of the explosion is described as being like the firing of a heavy piece of artillery, being followed by a flame of fire that rose up through the open well that communicates between the second and third floors in the centre of the two halls. This flame was immediately succeeded by a shivering of all the glass in the windows, the crashing of the woodwork, and the falling of hundreds of rifles from the armoury racks, while a dense cloud of dust darkened the interior of the building, and made it impossible for the visitors or officials to discover where the explosion had occurred. A wild panic ensued, and as the dust gradually cleared away, the people rushed in a wild helter-skelter down the staircase, and poured out of the Tower. Meanwhile, the warders and police arrived to the succour of the injured, whom they had to draw out from beneath the wreckage. Directly after the explosion the bugles sounded the assembly, and the Grenadiers, who formed the garrison, turned out. Lord Chelmsford, the Lieutenant of the Tower, and General Milman, its Major, caused flying sentries to be posted at every avenue and point of egress admitting to the Tower. Orders were given to close the gates, and no one was to be allowed to leave the fortress under any pretext. The perpetrator of the outrage was a scoundrel, who, two years before, had been concerned in the outrage of a similar nature on the Underground Railway, when bombs had been placed at Charing Cross and Praed Street stations. He was sentenced to fourteen years’ penal servitude with hard labour, and was released in the month of March 1899. That the White Tower escaped, and the people in it, with so little injury, was a miracle, for the charge of dynamite was a strong one.
George Cruikshanke
Breaking into the Strong room in the “Jewel Tower” and Removal of the Regalia, on the night of the Fire, Octr 30 1841
Crime, like history, repeats itself. Amongst the manuscripts kept at Hatfield House is the following declaration:—
“1593–4 Feb. 6. John Danyell, Irishman, came to me, Richard Young, the 6th day of February 1593, and gave me to understand of a plot that is pretended for the firing of the Tower—viz. that there is a vault wherein brimstone doth lie, and there is gunpowder under it. And he says that there is a trap door that doth stand much open, and is purposed that two men like labourers shall come in as though they were workmen in the Tower, and shall cast certain balls into the vault where the brimstone lieth, and in a short time it will take fire and consume all.”