The barracks, a fine Victorian Gothic building in the heart of the Tower of London, is grand enough to house 1,000 men and was built in the 1840s by the Duke of Wellington while he was Constable of the Tower. With revolution in the air in Europe and the Chartists rampaging for political reform in Britain, the Conservative government of Sir Robert Peel had feared a working-class uprising and a significant strengthening of London’s military barracks was seen as a wise precaution. In the midst of a similarly febrile atmosphere, Maurice and Harry’s C Company of Fusiliers, 180 men under Major George Ashburner, has been sent to London to provide an experienced military presence and to be on standby should trouble break out. Particular shivers of alarm have been felt in the corridors of power in recent weeks after it was discovered that hundreds of police officers have been joining a fledgling union in secret; a chastening fact for the government. Strikes have been endemic for three or four years and working-class discontent is growing.
