Robert Hubert

Robert Hubert (c. 1640 – 27 October 1666) was a watchmaker[2] from Rouen, France, who was executed following his false confession of starting the Great Fire of London.

[11] As The London Gazette suggests, some put the disaster down to chance: [...] notwithstanding which suspicion, the manner of the burning all along in a Train, and so blowen forwards in all its way by strong Winds, make us conclude the whole was an effect of an unhappy chance, or to speak better, the heavy hand of God upon us for our sins [...][12]Despite the many obvious flaws and impossibilities in Hubert's confession, a scapegoat was needed.

Even the king, Charles II, was suspected of having instigated it, in order to punish the people of London for the execution of his father.

[13] Hubert, a foreigner and Frenchman, was a chief suspect, as suggested by the London Gazette: [...] Strangers, Dutch and French were, during the fire, apprehended, upon suspicion that they contributed mischievously to it, who are all imprisoned, and Informations prepared to make a severe inquisition [...][12]Catholics were also chief suspects, and accusations were so formal as to be added to the Monument in 1668, which stayed (with brief interruptions) until 1830: [...] the most dreadful Burning of this City; begun and carried on by the treachery and malice of the Popish faction.

One contemporary account claims that Hubert was "only accused upon his own confession; yet neither the judges nor any present at the trial did believe him guilty, but that he was a poor distracted wretch, weary of his life, and chose to part with it in this way.

[13] In 1667, after the need for scapegoats had died down, the fire was officially attributed to 'the hand of God, a great wind and a very dry season...'.