How Old Tally Sticks Burned Down Parliament in 1834 (Money Episode Short)

England kept its royal accounts on wooden tally sticks until 1826, with each stick split so both sides held a matching half of the debt. On October 16, 1834, workmen fed two cartloads of the retired sticks into a furnace under Parliament, and the fire spread through the Palace of Westminster. The cover photograph shows Tom Vaughan with his family's old store ledger in Texas, by Carol M. Highsmith, from the Library of Congress. The full story is the money episode of What Comes Next.