Episode 4 of 4

Rescue Efforts

When: 16 October 1834
Where: Palace of Westminster
Part of: The Palace of Westminster is destroyed by fire

MPs and peers, including Lord Palmerston, helped rescue books and treasures, while the Deputy Serjeant-at-Arms saved the mace.

Many MPs and peers present, including Lord Palmerston, helped break down doors to rescue books and other treasures, aided by passers-by. The Deputy Serjeant-at-Arms had to break into a burning room to save the parliamentary mace. Sir John Hobhouse noted the crowd behaved well, with only one man taken up for huzzaing.

Sources

Burning of Parliament Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-18

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.