World War Two - The London Blitz. [Air raid siren warning sound]
German planes drop bombs on ports and British cities. London is a main target.
And at the heart of London, the Houses of Parliament. Hit during the bombing raids 14
times. The worst destruction happens on the final
night of the Blitz, the 10th May 1941. German bomber planes, over 500 of them, drop
700 tons of high explosive bombs and 86,000 incendiary bombs on the city.
The Houses of Parliament are hit several times, and three people lose their lives while on
duty. The famous Clock Tower is struck by a small
bomb or anti-aircraft missile. Ornamental ironwork is destroyed, stonework
damaged and all the glass in the south clock face is smashed.
But Big Ben-the great bell-and the main clock miraculously survive with only minor damage.
Other parts of Parliament are not so lucky. Bombs hit the House of Commons.
The Chamber is heavily hit and is soon alight. Incendiary bombs designed to cause fires also
threaten the vulnerable 900-year-old Westminster Hall and the precious wooden Medieval hammer-beam
roof. More than 50 fire service pumps and their
crews struggle to contain the huge blazes. Fire fighters realise that they don’t have
enough people or pumps to save both the Commons Chamber and Westminster Hall.
Which should they try to save? Rushing from his home nearby, former Cabinet
minister Walter Elliot makes the difficult decision. Save the Hall.
Using an axe, he smashes the doors of the ancient Hall so that crews can enter with
their fire hoses. Fire fighters work through the night, pumping
water from the River Thames up into the rafters. 11 May, 5.50am. The final night of the Blitz
comes to an end. As the sun rises, the scale of the devastation
to the ‘Mother of Parliaments’ is revealed. Through the smoke and dust, the House of Commons
Chamber is a smouldering ruin. Nothing is left of the famous 19th century
interior. A pile of rubble is all that’s left of the
Speaker’s Chair. The press and public galleries are gone.
The green leather benches for MPs are burnt, scarred, and drenched in water from the pumps.
Artists captured the scene. William Washington’s drawing is a vivid and poignant portrait.
Where once stood the lively chamber lies torn tangled metal and chunks of collapsed masonry.
There is some good news. Londoners awake to find that Big Ben is still
standing and the clock is still ticking. An important symbol of the nation and of democracy
has not fallen. And Parliament is able to continue its essential
role at the height of the war, despite the loss of the Chamber.
From June 1941, the Commons moves to the Lords Chamber, which had escaped the worst of the
bombing. The Lords moves to the Robing Room to continue
their work. All this was kept secret, including the times
when MPs and Peers would be sitting in Parliament. After six years in the dark, in 1945, the
famous clocks become illuminated again. The Ayrton Light atop the tower is also lit
again, a reassuring sign to Londoners and the world that the war was soon to be over.
It takes many years to rebuild the Chamber. An enormous amount of iron has to be cleared,
380 tons. Questions arise about the design. Should it
be different to the old one? Prime Minister Winston Churchill argues that
Parliament should keep the benches as they were before, with the two main parties facing
each other in an adversarial style. It is, he says, the essence of British parliamentary
democracy. He added: “we shape our buildings and afterwards
our buildings shape us”.
October 1950. The Chamber finally opens, 9 years after the terrible bombing raids.
One lasting memorial is known as the Churchill Arch.
The entranceway to the Commons Chamber was rebuilt from the scarred stones of the old
one. It acts as a reminder to future generations
of what took place during World War 2. 51 Commonwealth countries give gifts to the
new House of Commons to help rebuild and furnish the new Chamber.
Each gift is inscribed with the name of the country that gave it.
Jamaica donates wood for the Commons benches. Bronze brackets that hold the historic Mace
in place at the front of the Clerks' Table are gifted by Zambia.
The Speaker’s Chair is an exact replica of the one designed by Pugin for the original
Chamber 100 years before. Made of black bean wood from North Queensland,
the elaborate carving includes the words ‘The gift of Australia’ in Gothic lettering.
Silver gilt letter racks which sit on either side of the table in the Commons Chamber are
given by the government of what is now Zimbabwe. The despatch boxes are made of puriri wood
from New Zealand. The London Blitz during World War 2 was a
tragedy for Parliament, lives were lost, precious art and artefacts ruined, buildings catastrophically
damaged. But the ancient Westminster Hall, the oldest
building in Parliament, was saved. Big Ben and the tower survived.
The destruction and rebuilding of the Commons Chamber tells us a fascinating story about
the role of Parliament during wartime, and the importance of the Palace of Westminster
and its interiors to the essential functions of Parliament.