The Burning of the New Gaol, Bristol
William James Müller British
Not on view
The Bristol Riots were the most destructive and bloodiest civil uprising that England experienced in the nineteenth-century. Muller, then at the start of his career, witnessed the mob in action between October 29 and 31, 1831, then created art works to record key moments. Here he depicts the burning of new jail on the second day, the scene framed by moored sailing ships and the hot tones of the flames reflected in the water below. Parliament’s failure to pass anticipated reform in 1831 had sparked this uprising which began when members of a disorderly crowd of protestors were bludgeoned and arrested. Parliament would pass the Great Reform Act in 1832, but it took Bristol eighty years to rebuild.
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