http://www.btinternet.com/~graeme.kirkwood/
Since I am currently trolling around the general area of Dundee in my family research, I thought I'd look up what the site had to say.
Here's a wee bit of it.
Firemasters
| 1835 to 1837 | Superintendent T. Matthew |
| 1837 to 1845 | Superintendent J. Coutts |
| 1845 to 1870 | Superintendent James Fyffe |
| 1870 to 1873 | Superintendent John W Fyffe |
| 1873 to 1898 | Captain Robert Ramsay |
| 1898 to 1903 | Captain John Ramsay |
| 1903 to 1937 | Captain James S Weir MIFireE |
| 1937 to 1941 | Firemaster William MacKay |
Equipment
1904 | |
2 | Steam Engines,350 gallons capacity |
1 | Manual Engine (obsolute, not used) |
1 | 70' Horsed Fire Escape |
1 | Horsed Hose Tender |
1 | General Service Waggon |
1 | Hand Hose Reel |
4 | Hand Pumps |
14 | Stand Pipes |
23 | Branch Pipes |
6 | Scaling Ladders |
2 | 15'Pompier Ladders and Belts |
4 | Horses belonging to the Department |
8,300 yds | Canvas Hose 2 1/2" |
1905
Received an additional Horse Hose Tender.
Received an additional Horse Hose Tender.
Calls to fires
1904 - 146
1905 - 137
1913 - 235
There's also information about where the fire brigade was located, some salaries, staff (some locations list the names).
Some other districts also have breakdowns on the kinds of fire trucks.
AD43 - the Romans invaded Britain and the first fire fighters were organized - basically buckets of water.
1666 - Great Fire of London. As a result Nicholas Barbon introduces fire insurance then sets up his own fire brigade. Insurances companies set up their own fire brigades but only attended those buildings insured by their clients.
1672 - fire hose invented by Jan Van der Heiden
1725 - fire engine developed by Richard Newsham
1810 - Napoleon Bonaparte creates the "Sapeurs-Pompiers"
1824 - First public fire brigade in Britain is established in Edinburgh by James Braidwood. He later took charge of the London Fire Engine Establishment which had been created in 1832. He developed the strategy of entering buildings to fight fires.
1938 - Fire Services Act
1947 - Fire Services Act 1947 returns fire brigades to local authority control
It would be difficult for me to sum up the operations of fire brigades (in Britain) in a few sentences because of all the changes that have occurred over the years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Fire_Brigades_of_the_United_Kingdom
The Scottish Fire Heritage Group http://www.ayeready.org/ has got a lot of resources in their LINKS section.
A wee hint - if you had male ancestors living in Edinburgh, in the early to mid 1800's, who were tradesmen e.g. slaters, carpenters, masons and plumbers, or sailors, they might have been volunteer firemen.
When I'm in London in a few weeks time I'll try and pay a visit to the Firefighters Memorial near St. Paul's Cathedral. Last time I was there it was pouring rain so I did not take time to stop. http://www.firefightersmemorial.co.uk/
History always connect us to our roots. But the Scottish Fire Heritage took my attention. It's so cute. :)
ReplyDelete