Eton College has been the scene of a disastrous fire,
by which two boys lost their lives. At about 4 o'clock on Monday morning flames broke out in " Baldwin's End," the house of Mr. R. S. Kindersley, who had some thirty boys under his charge. The alarm was soon given, the inmates mostly jumping from the windows or climbing down a wistaria creeper; but a boy named Horne perished in a room with a barred window, all efforts to break an entry having failed, and another boy named Lawson also lost his life. What makes the calamity more painful is the fact that the barred windows had been condemned, that it was only by an accident that the bars had not been removed, and that in the old part of the house the only barred window was that of the room in which Horne slept. No evidence was forthcoming at the inquest as to the cause of the fire, while it was evident that all that was humanly possible was done in attempting a rescue. On the other hand, it was only too clear that the antecedent conditions were most unsatisfactory, the house being very old and largely built of lath and plaster, and there being no electrical communication with the engine-house and no appliances for escape, though the Head-Master had in January last addressed a circular to all the house-masters impressing on them the need for such appliances and for instituting a fire-drill for the boys. All accounts show that the boys behaved extremely well,—but nothing else was to be expected.
Previous page
