Because nearly all the literature referring to the Great Fire was written by men, we get a very sketchy picture of how the fire affected women and children. Samuel Pepys, Thomas Vincent and Samuel Rolle describe women being rescued from houses, even while giving birth.
Most references to women are found in the petitions for aid that were submitted to the Mayor and the King after the fire. Women, especially if they were widows, had very few means to support themselves if their businesses or homes had been destroyed. They may have been dependent on rents from properties left to them by their husbands and once these were gone they had nothing.
About children there is even less information. We know schoolboys from Westminster School helped fight the fire, that 200 children from Christ’s Hospital were evacuated to Islington and that Merchant Taylors’ School burnt down and didn’t reopen for 18 months. What did children feel about this? Unfortunately their thoughts are not recorded.