The Christ College Fire of 1867

On November 5th, 1867, Christ College in Christchurch, New Zealand, had a fire at the headmaster's house. It was a small fire, and fires were common back then, but the whole thing was a bit of a mess with false accusations and maybe even arson.

Christchurch was founded around the 1840s, and Christ College itself, which is like a secondary school or high school, was started in 1850 by Henry Jacobs. It was a private boys' boarding school that cost a lot of money to attend. At the time, Christchurch was pretty new, and a lot of its buildings, including the Headmaster's House, were made of wood. The Headmaster's House was about ten years old and was one of the oldest buildings in Christchurch. It wasn't just a house; it held the Headmaster's living quarters, servant's quarters, a dining hall, a school room, and some dorms, so it was a really important building for the college.

You know, a town needs a fire department, right? Well, the Christchurch Fire Brigade was founded in 1860, and it wasn't exactly top-notch. They had 30 volunteers and two fire appliances called the Dreadnought and the Extinguisher. The Extinguisher was big and heavy and really needed horses to move it, but they couldn't afford them, making it pretty useless. Their hoses were often too short and would kink. There was also a fire bell to alert people, but it was incredibly quiet – you could make more noise with cymbals. They eventually fixed the bell after public backlash, but the fire brigade was a bit of an embarrassment, and the entire brigade actually resigned in mid-1867.

So, when the fire happened, they had just hired a new leader, Captain G.H. Wilson. He was a ship's captain, a big guy with an incredible beard, but he was also known for giving electrical treatments and vapor baths at his house.