Boys are more likely to start fires than girls. In 1863 two young boys playing with matches burnt down two cottages, one of which belonged to them, a clover stack and two strawstacks. Despite two families losing their homes the writer of this article believed that “the damage will not be very considerable”.
On Tuesday afternoon last a fire broke out in a stack-yard belonging to Mr.Waterfield, near the Empingham-road, which ended in the destruction of two straw-stacks, two small thatched cottages, and a portion of a clover stack in an adjoining yard, the property of Mr. W. Scholes. The fire originated, like many others of late, in children playing with matches incautiously left in their way. A little boy, about six years of age, named Hough, whose parents resided in one of the tenements burnt down, during the temporary absence of the person who had charge of the children, took some matches and went with another little fellow into the stack-yard to play : he struck one of the matches, and the flame caught the stacks, which in a very short time were all in a blaze. The conflagration rapidly spread, and communicated with the thatched roof of the cottages and the stack in the adjoining yard. The moment the fire was discovered, the fire-engines were sent for, but when they arrived there was some delay in procuring water. The consequence was that the stacks were consumed and the cottages almost gutted before the engines could be got to work, and all that could be done was to prevent some adjoining houses taking fire from the excessive heat. Had the wind blown from the opposite quarter, a great destruction of property must have been the consequence ; fortunately, as it is, the damage will not be very considerable.’
Stamford Mercury, 27 March, 1863.