The Baltic Exchange bombing was an attack by the

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

on the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, Britain's financial centre, on 10 April 1992, the day after the General Election which re-elected John Major from the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

as Prime Minister. The one-ton bomb – concealed in a large white truck and consisting of a fertilizer device wrapped with a detonation cord made from of

semtex Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive containing RDX and PETN. It is used in commercial blasting, demolition, and in certain military applications. Semtex was developed and manufactured in Czechoslovakia, originally under the name B 1 ...

– was the biggest bomb detonated on mainland Britain since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The bombing killed three people, injured 91 others, and severely damaged the

Baltic Exchange The Baltic Exchange (incorporated as The Baltic Exchange Limited) is a membership organisation for the maritime industry, and freight market information provider for the trading and settlement of physical and derivative contracts. It was locate ...

and its surroundings.

Background

Since the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...

's campaign in the early 1970s, many commercial targets were attacked in England which would cause economic damage and severe disruption. Since 1988,

Gerry Adams Gerard Adams ( ga, Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020. ...

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

and

John Hume John Hume (18 January 19373 August 2020) was an Irish nationalist politician from Northern Ireland, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the recent political history of Ireland, as one of the architects of the Northern Ire ...

of the

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...

had been engaged in private dialogue to create a broad

Irish nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of c ...

coalition. British Prime Minister John Major had refused to openly enter into talks with Sinn Féin until the IRA declared a ceasefire. The risk of an IRA attack on the

had increased due to the lack of progress with political talks, resulting in a warning being circulated to all police forces in Britain highlighting intelligence reports of a possible attack, as it was felt the IRA had enough personnel, equipment and funds to launch a sustained campaign in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Major won the General Election on 9 April 1992. The next day, the bombing occurred.

Bombing

Stained glass window from Baltic Exchange

On 10 April 1992 at 9:20 pm, a huge bomb was detonated in front of the Baltic Exchange building at 24–28 St Mary Axe. The

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...

of the offices was partially destroyed, and the rest of the building was extensively damaged. The bomb also caused heavy damage to surrounding buildings. It caused £800 million worth of damage (the equivalent of £ million in ), £200 million more than the total damage caused by the 10,000 explosions that had occurred during

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

up to that point. The IRA gave a telephone warning twenty minutes before the explosion, saying there was a bomb inside a van outside the Stock Exchange. This is half a mile away from the actual location by the Baltic Exchange. The homemade explosive was inside a white Ford Transit van parked in St Mary Axe. The components were developed in South Armagh, shipped from Ireland, and assembled in England. The attack was planned for months and marked an advance to the British of the IRA's explosives manufacture. The bomb was described as the most powerful to hit London since the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

raids of World War II. A few hours later another similarly large bomb went off in Staples Corner in north London, also causing major damage.

Victims

The bomb attack killed three people: Paul Butt, aged 29, who was passing in the street; Thomas Casey, 49, a Baltic Exchange attendant; and 15-year-old Danielle Carter, who was waiting in a car in St Mary Axe (the London street). Another 91 people were injured.

Aftermath

The next day, the IRA claimed responsibility in a statement from

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

. It is believed the IRA were trying to send a message to the

who won the election, which also saw

leader

lose his unused seat in the

Westminster Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...

. On 14 July 1992 anti-terrorist detectives believed they might have identified the bombers. Many of the damaged buildings were once again badly damaged by the

1993 Bishopsgate bombing The Bishopsgate bombing occurred on 24 April 1993, when the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated a powerful car bomb, truck bomb on Bishopsgate, a major thoroughfare in London's financial district, the City of London. Telephone ...

the following year – both incidents contributed to the formation of the Traffic and Environmental Zone, the "Ring of Steel", in the City to protect it from further terrorism. The Exchange sold its badly damaged historic building to be redeveloped under the auspices of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

as a

Grade II* In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

site. However, the City and English Heritage later allowed it to be demolished, seeking instead a new landmark tall building. The site, together with that of the Chamber of Shipping at 30–32 St Mary Axe, is now home to the skyscraper commissioned by

Swiss Re Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd,
Swiss Re. Retrieved on 18 January 2011. "Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd ("Swiss Re") ...

commonly referred to as

The Gherkin 30 St Mary Axe (previously known as the Swiss Re Building and informally known as the Gherkin) is a commercial skyscraper in London's primary financial district, the City of London. It was completed in December 2003 and opened in April 2004. W ...

. The stained glass windows of

First World war World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

memorial in the

suffered damage in the bomb blast; they have been restored and are housed in the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...

References

{{Coord, 51, 30, 53, N, 00, 04, 51, W, type:event, display=title 1992 crimes in the United Kingdom 1992 in London 1992 murders in the United Kingdom 1990s murders in London Explosions in 1992 Attacks on buildings and structures in 1992 Attacks on buildings and structures in London Provisional IRA bombings in London April 1992 events in the United Kingdom April 1992 crimes Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 1992 Terrorist incidents in London in the 1990s Building bombings in London Car and truck bombings in London

Background

Bombing

Victims

Aftermath

See also

References