The Day They Robbed the Bank of England 1960

In London, 1901, amid Ireland’s struggle for independence, Charles Norgate — an Irish American with a shadowy past — is recruited by Irish revolutionaries to rob the Bank of England. Iris Muldoon, the widow of a martyr for Irish freedom, volunteers to bring Norgate into the inner circle and help steer the plan. Led by O’Shea, the group intends to seize one million pounds in gold bullion as a bold political statement. At first, Norgate’s background raises suspicion, but he gradually earns their trust by openly acknowledging his Irish roots and proving his resolve.

Norgate forges an uneasy alliance with Lieutenant Monte Fitch of the Guards and, through a daring break-in to the bank’s museum, gains access to the building’s architectural blueprints. Inside this evolving web of loyalties, Walsh, another revolutionary who shares Muldoon’s admiration, remains watchful yet hopeful that the enterprise might succeed. Norgate’s research uncovers an underground sewer that runs beneath the bank vaults, a discovery that could turn a rambling fantasy into a possible route for escape. To translate theory into practice, he adopts the guise of an archaeologist and persuades a professional tosher — Albert Tosher Sparrow — to assist in locating the sealed sewer entrance. With this new route, the revolutionaries begin digging toward the vaults, carefully plotting a heist that would unfold over a long August weekend when the bank would be closed.

As the plan tightens, Lt. Fitch grows increasingly suspicious and starts to investigate. The dig itself proves perilous: the crew punctures a gas pipe, and the bank’s gas lights dim, raising alarm potential at any moment. Yet a keyholder being away on holiday buys them precious time, delaying an immediate inspection of the vaults. In a parallel turn of events, O’Shea publicly reintroduces the Irish Home Rule Bill in Parliament, a development the conspirators weigh against the risk of derailing the broader political cause. Muldoon urges Walsh to warn Norgate, but when he discovers that Norgate has already breached the vault, Walsh chooses silence and sides with the others.

The breakthrough comes as the tunneling steadily penetrates toward the vaults, and the revolutionaries eventually move a million pounds’ worth of gold through the connecting tunnel. Muldoon has already dispatched their escape boat, yet, despite her pleas, [Norgate] and [Walsh] press on and load the treasure onto a horse-drawn cart. As the plan barrels forward, the tosher outside the sewers remains unseen, and Norgate must decide whether to wait or push ahead. Realizing the tosher has not emerged, he revisits the shaft only to find the man exhausted by gas, who climbs the ladder into the bank vault by a fortunate misstep. Norgate follows, and the two men shoulder the heavy loot into the street where fate tightens its grip.

The city’s attention is drawn when the overloaded cart collapses, and a passing policeman closes in. In the end, Norgate and Walsh are arrested and led away in handcuffs, while Muldoon can only watch with tears in her eyes. The tosher, bearing a fragment of a statue from the tunnel that appears to be a Roman relic, disappears into the crowd, leaving a puzzle about what else might survive beneath the surface.

This tale weaves together loyalty and deception, personal histories, and a high-stakes gamble that tests not only courage but the broader political aims of a world on the edge of change. It remains a layered portrait of a daring scheme, where every choice could alter the course of many lives and the view of a nation’s struggles.