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Looking for info on Harborne Fire Brigade

W

warnerjb

Brummie babby
Hello, I am new here. I have a very nice Harborne 5 Fire Brigade whistle which was given to me in 1986 by a Mr. Robinson while I was visiting the Fire Training Centre at Morton in Marsh. I have found that the fire brigade was established in 1879 and taken over by Birmingham in 1891. The whistle is posted on www.whistlemuseum.com, at Victorian fire brigade, thanks to Mr. Avner Strauss. Wondering if anyone may have or know of any records about early days of Harborne Fire Brigade. Mr. Robinson had told me that he thought the whistle was used during WWII but research shows it made by the Hudson company while they were located at 84 Buckingham street in Birmingham, 1882-1884. Wondering if the 5 stamped on the whistle is the fifth in a series, since there appears to have been only one brigade in Harborne. Any info would be very much appreciated. I live in Kentucky, USA. and have visited the UK four times.
 
Carol, Thanks so much for the quick reply! I have just sent an inquiry to Acme about the whistle and will post their response. Glad I found this forum. Hoping to return to the UK sometime and visit Harborne. I passed through Birmingham in 1986 while on a tour of UK fire brigades. Happy New Year!
 
The West Midlands Fire Service have an active archives department, it used to be located in one of the flats at Central Fire Station.I do not know its current location but they do have a wealth of information on the fire service.Perhaps you could contact the WMFS the may be able to help
 
Further information for you,if you look at the shape of the engine house doors at Harborne, you will see that the top of them is rounded.This is because they were designed for the horse drawn fire engines.I used to work relief shifts there on the emergency ambulance.The first fire station built to take mechanical fire engines was Moseley Road.
 
Thanks again for the info about the firehouse. I found one website that said prior to the formation of the Brigade in 1879 that the community had a hand drawn pumper stored in a locked police shed and that only one person had the key to the shed, which proved inadequate and that person was not always easily located. The Brigade was formed after a terrible fire. Do you know if there was only the one station in Harborne?
 
There may have been an earlier station in Harborne but I have no knowledge of it.I believe that prior to the formation of the fire service proper,fire cover was provided by insurance companies and that these companies displayed a plaque on there property indicating that they were covered.Further to your enquiry about the number 5,all the stations had an identification number ie,Cental was station 1, 2 was Bordesley Green .3 was Sheldon 4 was Acocks Green 5 was Moseley Rd 6 was Harborne and so on.These numbers were in existence when I joined the BFAS in 1968.It is possible that sometime in the past the number 5 was related to Harborne,but that is a complete guess.
 
Still an ex fire station in Gordon Rd converted into flats did tap probs at no 8 before Christmas.
rob128
 
Rob I did not know there was a fire station in Harborne, ever, I say this as my Grandfather was the fire chief of Bartly Green and the engine was at his house and I do remember him saying that they covered Harborne in the 1920 tys, That could have had a number but what that was I do not know, referring to the number on the whistle the firemen from way back had whistles, I have photo's from 1913 and you can see the chrome chain going into the top pocket
 
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