After the fire much of London needed to be rebuilt. King Charles II declared there would be collections at churches across the country for the Lord Mayor of London to distribute amongst homeless and destitute Londoners. This receipt shows that the village of Cowfold donated 53 shillings and 9 pence (around £400 today), on 26th November 1666. We know the total raised throughout the country was over £16,400 – covering a whopping 0.13% of the damage.

It seems that the country was suffering 'donation fatigue' as only the year before it had been asked for money to help London recover from the Great Plague. People were also poor after the recent plague and civil war. Matters were not helped by the Lord Mayor, Sir William Bolton, allegedly embezzling £1800 from the fund.

Landlords and order



