This film is part of the George Trafford Drayton collection. Drayton was a popular figure in York in the 1930s; he owned and ran the Tower Picture House on New Street and was an enthusiastic amateur filmmaker, often showing his own films in his cinema.  He would film events in or around York, although he did make one fiction film, Dick Turpin and his Famous Ride to York (1933), in collaboration with the York Movie Makers. The Tower Picture House first opened its doors in 1908 and was the...

This film is part of the George Trafford Drayton collection. Drayton was a popular figure in York in the 1930s; he owned and ran the Tower Picture House on New Street and was an enthusiastic amateur filmmaker, often showing his own films in his cinema.  He would film events in or around York, although he did make one fiction film, Dick Turpin and his Famous Ride to York (1933), in collaboration with the York Movie Makers.

The Tower Picture House first opened its doors in 1908 and was the first permanent cinema operating in York. It served as a hostel for troops during the First World War, before being taken over on 10th May 1920 and renamed the Tower Picture House.  The introduction of “talking films” in the 1930s saw an influx of cinemas in York; the Regent in Acomb in 1934, The Rialto on Fishergate, the Clifton in 1937, the Odeon on Blossom Street, the Regal (where Marks and Spencer’s now is), The Grand on Gillygate, the Picture house on Coney street, and St George’s Hall on Coppergate. York was truly a haven for cinemagoers in the 1930s!

Cinemas would provide a welcome distraction from the economic, social and political problems that had taken Britain by hold in the 1930s. Unemployment was quickly on the rise and the future looked pretty grim for most working class people. The cinema, with its affordable ticket prices and entertainment for all ages, proved to be an extremely popular pastime during the Depression of the interwar years.

The first recording of organised fire fighting originates in the UK during the Roman invasion, where slaves would be used to put out fires with buckets of water or syringes that squirted water. The Romans also gave us the first primitive fire engine, supposedly invented by Ctesbius of Alexandria in around 400 B.C. Sometime later in A.D.; a more organised fire fighting agency was formed by the Roman military, known as “Corps of Vigiles”. (This can be roughly translated as “Group of Watchmen”).  Unfortunately, once the Romans left our shores Britain was left literally in the Dark Ages, taking a few steps backwards in terms of technology and therefore the ability to fight fire effectively.

Fast forward a few centuries to 1666 and, as any schoolchild can tell you, London falls victim to one of the most famously devastating fires in human history. Luckily, this disaster led to new laws, rules, and technology to ensure a fire on that scale would never happen again. Fire insurance was first introduced following the Great Fire of London, by a property developer named Nicholas Barbon. Shortly after the formation of this insurance company, he also formed his own fire brigade, the first one in Britain since the Corps of Vigiles. Anyone who had a policy with the fire insurance would be issued a “fire mark” to stick on the outside of their building, so the brigade could identify which buildings where eligible to have their fires put out! A lot of these “fire marks” still exist outside many buildings in York; most of these are down Goodramgate, Bootham and Low Petergate.

The first fire engines were used during this period; horse-drawn and with the ability to pump water through hoses installed on the back of the carriages – much quicker and more effective than men throwing buckets of water! In the mid-1850s, these were replaced with steam powered engines, and these allowed for a much greater amount of water to be directed onto the fire. World War I saw many changes to the fire brigade and how it was operated, with many smaller or more rural brigades being disbanded as all fit available men were conscripted into the army. Even the City of London’s brigade was reduced, until devastating aerial attacks on the capital in 1917 forced the government to re-enlist former firemen back into the brigade.  The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw many new acts introduced by the British Government in order to make the public even safer from fire. These include legal regulations for staircase and exit width, the placing of fireplaces, the use of proper materials in buildings etc., and this forms the basis of Fire Safety regulations that we are familiar with today.

To see more footage of the York Fire Brigade of the ‘30s in action, see the film titled Fire Brigade York.

References:

Jain, V.K., Fire Safety in Buildings, New Age International, 2010.

Brandon, Ed and David, Curiosities of York, Amberley Publishing, 2011.

http://www.fireservice.co.uk/history

Wallington, Neil, In Case of Fire: The Illustrated History and Modern Role of the London Fire Brigade, Jeremy Mills Publishing, 2005.

Schafer, Stephen, ‘Cinemas and their Managers in Depression England: a Social Function’, in Michael H. Shirley and Todd E.A. Larson (Editors), Splendidly Victorian: Essays in Nineteenth- and Twentieth- Century British History in Honour of Walter L. Arnstein, Routledge, 2016