Ready for action!
Borough firemen on call 100 years ago
OUR front page photograph takes us back a little over a century to 1914 and the West Bromwich Fire Brigade, posing proudly with their motorised fire engine at the fire station in Paradise Street.
The precursor of this machine dates back to the early 19th century. By the start of Queen Victoria’s reign there was a manual fire engine in West Bromwich, owned by the Birmningham Fire Office Company.
This was at the time when householders could take out fire insurance on their property and in return the insurance company would dispatch firefighters in the event of a fire. A “fire mark” would be displayed on buildings to show that they were insured and which company they were insured with – if you were not in insured with them, the fire brigade would not put out your fire.
The Birmingham Fire Office Company’s fire engine in West Bromwich was manned by a volunteer crew and kept at premises in New Street.
Agent
In 1854 William Burch, a chemist, became the West Bromwich agent for the company and the engine was moved to Hudson’s Passage, at the rear of Burch’s shop in the High Street. The fire engine was still based there in the 1880s, by which time the Lancashire Insurance Company had taken over from the Birmingham Fire Office Company.
Theirs was not the only fire engine in the town; Chance’s works had their own fire engine and this was used to fight the fire at Holy Trinity Church in 1861.
Procession
In 1878 the procession for the opening of Dartmouth Park was led by the fire engines of the Chance works and the Lancashire Insurance Company.
In 1881 the Town Commissioners established a volunteer fire brigade and its steam fire engine was kept by the undertaker Benjamin Crowther at his premises in Paradise Street – he also supplied the horses.
A year later the brigade came under the control of the new town council and by 1884 there were branch stations at Hill Top, Great Bridge and Spon Lane.
A new fire station was built in Paradise Street in 1930 and in 1948 the West Bromwich and Smethwick brigades combined. Local government changes saw West Bromwich Borough expand its borders in 1966 and in 1974 West Bromwich Fire Brigade was absorbed into the new West Midlands Fire Service.
■ Have you a historic photo to share with readers? Please contact the Black Country Bugle, Dudley Archives Centre, Tipton Road, Dudley, DY1 4SQ, or email dshaw@blackcountrybugle.co.uk