On the afternoon of Wednesday 17th April 1901, a fire broke out in Hunthill Road, High Blantyre.
The roof of the dwelling house, belonging to Mr Malcolm was seen to have flames coming from it. A piece of burning paper from the ash pit behind the home had landed on his thatched roof and hadn’t been noticed until it had spread.
The rented house in question was the thatched house (brightly painted white in this photo just behind the lamppost).
A large number of neighbours and willing workers were quickly on the scene and started pouring water, removing bundles of thatch to try to salvage some of the roof. Most of the thatch remaining was removed and eventually the fire was put out after some considerable trouble.
The damage was confined to the roof although water had pretty much soaked the furniture inside too. The fire would have been much more serious had the workers not had the common sense to remove the thatch from near the gable, preventing it from spreading to the other homes in this row, most of which were also thatched.
Its unknown if Mr Malclom was insured.
