16 October 1834: Houses of Parliament burn down

An attempt to modernise Parliament's system of accounting for debt led to both Houses being destroyed by fire on this day in 1834.

Fire consumes the medieval Palace of Westminster in London © Hulton Archive/Getty Images
(Image credit: © Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The current chancellor would probably like nothing more than to see records on government borrowing go up in smoke. And that is exactly what happened 180 years ago along with most of the medieval Palace of Westminster.

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

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