Book Review by Valerie Bonham
© WLHG
November 20th 1992 seemed like an ordinary day until news broke of the fire at Windsor Castle. Few people failed to experience a profound sense of loss and deep shock at the spectacle which was unfolding minute by minute. There are a number of publications about the fire on the market. Sheila Rooney’s book differs from the rest in that it attempts to chronicle not only the fire of 1992, but previous ones also. For yes indeed, there have been fires at Windsor before: at the Castle in 1295, in the town in the reign of James 1, and a serious fire at the castle in 1853, not to mention the besieging of the Castle from the Eton side of the river during the Civil War, which could easliy have led to a fire. These earlier fires are dealt with in as much detail as material permits, thus inevitably there is more about the Victorian episode. On that occasion the Royal Family had just arrived for their Easter Holiday when fire broke out. The Queen seemed remarkabley unperturbed and confided to her journal that she was quite calm and collected, — thankful to be on the spot and to be able to see and know everything.” The book includes an interesting contemporary account from the Illustrated London News.
The events of November 20th 1992 are recorded in detail and there is a useful timetable of the day’s events. Sheila Rooney has made use of national and local newspaper articles and Sir Alan Bailey’s official report and the report by the Royal Berkshire Ambulance Service.
As well as recording the devastation caused by fire, this book also contains a good deal about fire prevention, and this is one of its strengths particularly in the earlier chapters. Thus on page 3 we learn that the origin of the word “curfew” lies in the Old French “cuevrefeu” or “cover fire” and that William 1 required all domestic fires to be extinguished by nightfall, the signal being the sounding of a bell. Fire protection or the lack of it, the growth of fire insurance companies and their fire brigades are dealt with in chapter 2, and there is an interesting appendix to chapter 3 which deals with the Windsor Volunteer Fire Brigade. This body provided a vital service in the town from 1867 to 1941 and deserves the space afforded here.
This slender volume is attractively produced and well illustrated with photographs, maps, plans and line drawings. One frustration lies in the list of sources at the end of each chapter — in some cases, insufficient bibliographical details are given so that it would be very difficult to follow them up. However, this publication is worthy of the WLHPG. imprint, and the author (who is a member of the group) is to be congratulated on her work.
Windsor Local History Publications Group 1993 ISBN 0 9505567 3 4 Paperback £4.95 70pp
Valerie Bonham
Windsor Local History Group 