No . 131
The Trusty Servant
College on Fire
Douglas Page ( Coll , 19- ) surveys the damage :
Winchester College , in its 600-odd years , has not dodged the bullet of fire . All the well-documented ones occurred in the latter half of the extensive history of the College and are unique in many ways . Having begun my errands into the history of this series of unfortunate events by contacting the Archivist , Suzanne Foster , to look at some of the documents concerning the fires , I produced some in-depth videos on each specific fire which you can watch through this link : bit . ly / wincollfire .
On 24 th March , 1735 , a fire broke out in IIIrd Chamber . Little damage was caused , but the locals who helped to extinguish it were rewarded justly . The origin of the fire is unknown . The damage caused was minor , but it warned the College of the considerable risk which fire posed . Two of the consequences are prominent . First , the College was insured through the Sun Fire Office , whose plaque issued to show that the College had paid can still be seen attached above Middle Gate . The other major consequence of the fire was that the College purchased an engine , at the expense of the Headmaster , Dr John Burton , for £ 40 . The fire engine was kept for a substantial period and was probably used to extinguish the subsequent fire .
That fire occurred over Ist and IInd Chambers on 10 th November , 1815 . ‘ College was burnt ,’ reads the Prefect of Hall ’ s book . The fire broke out in the early morning whilst the College was asleep . In the archives is a copy of a letter that describes the fire and its circumstances in extensive detail . It mentions that no one was hurt and describes the commotion caused in getting a fire engine to fight the fire . As with the fire in 1735 , many locals helped to extinguish the blaze . A small book that records all the people to whom the College gave money after the fire mentions no fewer than 257 people . The difficulty in working out who was rightfully owed money , maintaining a reason for the locals to help in future fires , was also mentioned .
Some fires occurred outside the medieval heart . On 7 th February , 1909 , Beloe ’ s went up in flames . The fire originated behind the paneling above the fireplace in Grubbing Hall , although most of the damage caused was upstairs in Revd RD Beloe ’ s drawing room . The pupils helped to salvage everything that they could . The objects destroyed by the fire were valuable and irreplaceable . The College possesses photographs , as pictured , of the drawing-room after the fire . However , most of the information comes from newspaper cuttings , which , although riddled with inaccuracies , provide a thorough description . The annotated copy maintained by the Archives helps to iron out the mistakes — the newspaper articles were unsure of the cause of the fire , but the annotator included it .
Flint Court suffered a destructive fire in 1947 . The block between Flint and Moberly Courts was gutted , although the fire was prevented from spreading to the then Headmaster ’ s and Second Master ’ s houses . The cause of the fire was a poorly-wired electric heater too close to an armchair . The story of the ignition featured in previous Trusty Servants ( 103 & 104 ). An exciting document from the time is the Commoner VI Hot Roll of 1947 , pictured . It depicts the fire . The Titanic-esque violinist on the roof of Hall is fictional , somewhat obviously — the roof was used by firemen to suppress the fire .
Drawing comparisons , at least three of the four fires occurred in the middle of the night , and no one was seriously injured in any of them . Because of the tremendous efforts of townsfolk , firefighters , pupils and staff , the College has never witnessed a catastrophic fire , and Chamber Court is similar to how William of Wykeham would have left it . The College now has rigorous fire-safety measures including regular firealarm tests and fire-evacuation drills , meaning that a repeat occurrence is very unlikely .
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