Queen Victoria saves the day

Museum archivist and part time magician Henri  Penn  is believed to be the perpetrator  of the Paris  incident.  Common consensus believes it to  have happened about half past five  on Friday the 27th of January, exact location unknown. The precise  details are lost but the psychic shock wave and terrible upheavals in the earth's crust are well known. 

The death toll that day was so vast few have tried to put a figure to it. The survivors then had to contend with the madness that afflicted so many,followed by disease, famine and a breakdown in law and order. Governments simply ceased to function. Many believed judgement day had arrived. 

It took six months for a working authority to coalesce in London. Based in the relatively undamaged Tower, Queen Victoria began to rebuild her nation. Remnants of the army,navy and police were gathered together, rationing was enforced and work parties conscripted. Within a year London was once again a functioning city.