In the 1890’s after a spate of household accidental fires, authorities in Lanarkshire County asked householders to be more vigilant to the dangers of fire.
With insurance policies not always in place, people, including landlords were often left with nothing due to serious fires burning down property, or worse causing loss of life. One of the main causes of household fire was due to candles or oil lamps being knocked over, or sparks from the fire igniting hearths and rugs.
One such preventative measure was to ensure candles were on a non burning surface, plate or holder. To ensure candles didn’t burn whilst you were sleeping, it was quite common for folk to place pins or nails into the candle wax, so when the flame reached and burned that area, the pin or nail would drop to the metal below, with a clattering sound which could wake the householder. Such methods were used also as early ‘alarm clocks’ where you could position the pin so the noise was made hours later. Though popular in Victorian times, I’m sure this would have been done for hundreds of years earlier. It was the equivalent of our digital alarm clocks today.
Sadly, many people were injured or lost their lives due to open, unattended flames. Of course, the safest way dealing with candles was to make sure they were all out BEFORE you went to bed!
