Emsworth Fire Brigade

The Museum occupies the offices and council chamber of the Warblington Urban District Council, built in 1900 before the council merged with Havant and Waterlooville. At the time, the council was responsible for the fire brigade which was manned by volunteers drawn from the local community. The fire station was included on the ground floor of the building. It has operated from there ever since.

This exhibition, originally held in the David Rudkin room, traces the history of the fire brigade from these early beginnings up to the present day.

Emsworth fire station has been in continuous use for more than 120 years and must now be one of the oldest in the country.

On 31^st August 2024, the opening day of the exhibition , the Emsworth fire station had an open day and displayed fire engines in the carpark behind the Museum.

Before the establishment of a nation Fire and Rescue Service, fire fighting and the provision of fire fighting equipment was patchy:

Parish and Local Councils (such as Warblington Urban District Council) often had their own fire fighting equipment. This was funded by the local taxes and manned by local volunteers.

Emsworth Fire Brigade in their uniforms, complete with brass helmets - 1885 — This photograph taken in about 1885 shows the Emsworth Fire Brigade in their uniforms, complete with brass helmets. Firemen could not be contacted by telephone so the bugler, on the right of the picture would run to four points in the town and use the bugle to summon the firemen.

In larger towns, insurance companies made their own fire fighting provision for the houses they insured. These houses were distinguished by plaques such as this one issued by Sun Insurance.

Larger houses – such as Stansted House – had their own fire fighting equipment. Employees from the surrounding estate were trained to use it.

Warblington Urban District Council (comprising Emsworth and Warblington Parishes) held its first meeting on 1^st January 1895. The organisation and equipment of the fire brigade was clearly a high priority. By 1898 a plan to build new Council offices incorporating a new fire station, the new fire engine and associated accommodation was proposed.

Offices of the then Warblington Urban District Council as they are today — This picture shows the offices of the then Warblington Urban District Council as they are today. The grand frontage onto North street with its decorative stonework and brickwork detailing is virtually unchanged from 1900. The fire engine is kept behind the distinctive arch. The car park behind used to be the council yard. Belcher Addison Offices used to be the stables.

This exhibition examines:

The early development of the Warblington Urban District Council fire brigade
The emergence of the Fire and Rescue Service in Hampshire
Some of the major fires attended by the Emsworth fire brigade

The Emsworth fire brigade in the late 1890s with the typical horse-drawn, hand pumped fire engine of the era.

Note:

Leather fire buckets and canvas hose with brass couplings.
The Firemen’s uniform based on wool tunic and trousers because wool was the least combustible material then known.
Wool was not replaced until Nomex was invented in the 1980s as a spin off of the US space programme.

1/1/1895	Warblington Urban District Council formed. Concern was expressed about the adequacy of the fire fighting equipment.
14/1/1895	Resolved that the Council Chairman should write a paper on fire brigade matters enquiring into the relative efficiency of volunteer and paid brigades. Chairman undertook to keep the present brigade and fire engine efficient until the formation of a new brigade by the Council. Discussion about rent for housing the fire engine – it is considered that the present state and position of the engine house was unsatisfactory.
11/1/1898	Letter from the Captain of the Fire Brigade asking Council to consider the purchase of a Steam Fire Engine and Life Saving Apparatus is laid before the Council.
29/8/1898	Purchase of new fire engine from Shand Mason approved (see next section).
10/8/1900	Fire at Stansted House was fought with hand pumps which were completely inadequate. The fire destroys the main house and triggers a complete rebuild.
29/1/1901	Delivery of new fire engine to Emsworth is imminent.

The Havant horse-drawn, hand pumped fire engine at the Stansted House fire on 10^th August 1900.

Both Emsworth and Havant fire brigades attended the fire, but their performance was inadequate for the challenge the fire crews faced.

The Emsworth fire engine (pictured above) appears to be of a similar design.

On 29^th August 1898 a special meeting of the Council was held to consider tenders for a steam fire engine and escape. 11 Councillors attended. The tender under consideration was from Shand Mason – £435 for a steam fire engine and London Brigade escape (i.e. a light lattice escape ladder that stands by itself). Payment on delivery.

There was clearly some controversy.

• Amendment that a steam fire engine be not obtained and that tenders for a 120-gallon manual engine be obtained from Shand Mason and Merryweather was defeated 8 votes to 3.

Amendment to postpone the decision until the next meeting was defeated 6 votes to 3.
Further amendment that a tender for a smaller engine be accepted defeated 6 votes to 2.

The substantive motion was carried 5 votes for to 3 against

Resolved that when the plans, specifications and estimates for new offices and buildings are passed and approved by the Council, an additional loan of £435 be included for the Shand Mason steam powered water pump – pictured below.

The new fire engine was delivered in 1901.

The Shand Mason fire engine pumping at full pressure at Lumley Mill. These fire engines were very efficient pumps. Their pumping capability was not matched by internal combustion engine-driven pumps until the 1930s.

1917 Isobel Silver driving the fire engine with two horses harnessed to it. This picture was taken in front of the WUDC store and stables – now the offices of Belcher Addison.

Mr. Roy Silver owned the farm on opposite side of North Street from the Fire Station. — Mr. Roy Silver (Isobel’s father, in the suit and trilby hat) owned the farm on opposite side of North Street from the Fire Station. He had the contract to supply horses for the fire brigade when required. When the alarm sounded, the horses were brought across the road. Clearly, the speed at which they arrived at the Fire Station depended where they where on the farm.

Extracts from the WUDC minutes show that after 25 years of service, the Shand Mason steam pump at the Emsworth fire station was in need of replacement.

Emsworth’s new Merryweather fire engine practicing drills. The location is thought to be Green Pond – on the Havant Road near One Stop and the traffic lights

12/7/1926	Expenditure of £1000 on a new fire engine approved. Method of fighting fires to be improved.
9/8/1926	Decision made to buy new fire engine. Shand Mason fire engine to be sold.
11/10/1926	Demonstrations of Merryweather and Morris Gwynne fire engines arranged for 18/19^th October
19/10/1926	Purchase of Merryweather fire engine agreed. Decision to investigate servicing rates.

… the Merryweather fire engine remained in service until the start of WW2…

Emsworth fire brigade photographed outside Emsworth Fire Station just before WW2.

This formal photograph was taken in front of the distinctive Emsworth Fire Station doorway in 1939. It is believed that those firemen in boiler suits have been recruited into the newly founded Auxiliary Fire Service – but their uniforms were not yet available. The plaque records the Emsworth AFS team’s competition success.

Shortly, both the fire engine and these men were to help quenching the flames in Portsmouth.

In the late 1930’s, it was recognised that changes had to be made in the way the existing fire brigades were organised.

It also became obvious that war with Germany was likely and that towns and cities across the United Kingdom would be the target of attack from aircraft as was demonstrated in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War.

Together, these factors caused the introduction of two new acts to reorganise the fire service:

The Air Raid Precautions Act 1937. This measure created the Auxiliary Fire Service ‘AFS’, funded by HM Government but attached to existing regular fire brigades.
The Fire Brigades Act 1938. This measure removed the authority for Parish Councils to operated fire brigades and saw massive organisation changes and mergers of many small fire brigades.

Barely had these laws been enacted when war was declared on 3 September 1939 changing the face of the fire service across the United Kingdom for ever.

In the beginning, it was the newly merged of formed fire brigades support by the members of the AFS which fought the fires caused by the extensive air raids which began in 1940.

August 1941. Following a review of how the nation was coping with the effect of air raids, the fire service was nationalised and all of the then existing separate fire brigades and the AFS units were merged into the National Fire Service ‘NFS’.

Members of Emsworth fire station, throughout these organisational changes saw action in other areas such as Portsmouth fighting fires on a scale never before experienced.

Merryweather Car Replacement c1941 — During WW2, Emsworth’s Merryweather fire engine was dispatched to higher fire risk areas such as Portsmouth. It was replaced with a large car (probably requisitioned) with ladders on its roof rack towing a trailer pump. This photograph was taken in the Council yard behind the fire station (now the carpark), probably before the nationalisation of the fire service in 1941.

April 1948. Control of the fire serves was passed back to local authority level. This time, Emsworth became part of the Hampshire Fire Service under the governance of the Hampshire County Council. Although the fire service was no longer a national body, it was completely different from pre-WW2. Building on the lessons learned from being a national organisation, the fire service operated to national standards, under the watchful eye of an inspectorate.

April 1974. Merger took place between the Hampshire Fire Service and the independent fire brigades in Southampton and in Portsmouth to become the Hampshire Fire Brigade. This was all part of major local authority reorganisation and boundary changes across the United Kingdom, when many independent fire brigades lost their identity and new larger organisations were formed.

September 1992. Title ‘Fire and Rescue Service’ was adopted to reflect the wider role of taken on by ‘Firefighters’ since the early days of ‘Fire Brigades’ and ‘Firemen’.

20 Year Service Medals — Strenuous efforts were made to integrate all the Local Authority fire brigades into a cohesive unit that would support each other fighting fires throughout their jurisdiction. One initiative was to bring fire crews from across Hampshire together for the presentation of long service medals. This photograph shows the presentation of 20 years of service medals to a group of Emsworth firemen at North Hill House, Winchester in 1954.

When Warblington Urban District Council ran the fire brigade there was great local pride in the brigade which was repaid by participation in local celebrations.

In part, this pride was fuelled by success in the Fire Brigade competitions (see next board).

Emsworth fire brigade leading a procession through Emsworth High Street. Merryweather Fire Engine. Crew are wearing Merryweather brass helmets. The officer commanding wore a distinctive nickel plated helmet.

John Bull leading the Emsworth Merryweather fire engine during a procession in the 1930s.

Funeral procession in honour of Harry Louch former Captain of the Fire Brigade and Emsworth builder and decorator in 1912.

Ray Baker’s party to celebrate his retirement from the fire brigade. — Ray Baker’s party to celebrate his retirement from the fire brigade was held in what is now the main room of the Museum. Note the distinctive fireplace. At this time, it was a public hall which could be hired for events such as these.

Improved skills of firemen – particularly retained firemen.
Built trust and camaraderie within the fie station team.
But competitions also inspired gamesmanship
- Lightweight fireman to climb the ladders while they were still being manoeuvred into place.
- Hose couplings machined to remove some threads for a quicker connection.

Competition success required corners to be cut. They were not compatible with Health and Safety legislation. For this reason, the competitions eventually ceased. Last competition held in May 1973.