The Fire Brigade
Some other fires attended
On 21st November 1901, the Englefield Brigade was called out when a building adjacent to the school caught fire. This was known as the “Soup Kitchen”, opened in 1888 to supply the children with halfpenny dinners and also used for cookery classes.
In 1905 the Chief Officer reported that five calls were received during the past year, two of which proved to be of a serious nature. One of these was a fire at Bozedown House, Whitchurch, in January. The fire originated in a maid’s bedroom but the cause was unknown. Despite the combined efforts of the Englefield, Pangbourne and Whitchurch firemen the roof had already fallen in by the time they arrived and the house was completely destroyed, although valuable furniture and paintings were saved. Only Mrs King, the wife of the owner, was at home at the time, Mr King and a large party of guests being out shooting.
Early on Tuesday morning, May 15th 1906, the Brigade was called to Theale. “The fire proved to be at the stables of Mr D M Davies, which were burnt out; we can only regret his loss, one horse being burnt, and five traps, also his sons’ bicycles, being destroyed.”
The Fire Brigade was also called out on the afternoon of August 4th 1918, the fourth anniversary of the declaration of war.
The fire at Tyle Mill
The Englefield Fire Brigade attended the fire at Tyle Mill on Saturday 11th July 1914 from 1030 in the evening until 3am the next morning, returning at 9am and working until 8pm.
The cause of the fire is unknown and at the time the mill was closed down with all the electricity switched off. It is believed that it started in one of the purifying rooms at the top of the mill where the grain is cleaned before milling. This process creates much dust that is highly flammable and it is possible that the hot sun shining on the roof and through a window all day long created sufficient heat to cause ignition.
The mill had been shut down at 5.15 that afternoon and the doors were locked by the foreman, Mr William Lock, at 5.35. At 9.20 the two maid servants, Margaret Rolfe and Ada Bradley, in the adjoining house of the mill owner, Mrs Langford-Smith, were preparing to go to bed when they heard the sound of breaking glass and from their window saw flames bursting through the roof of the mill. They raised the alarm and the co-owner of the mill, Mr Swain, telephoned to the fire brigades of Newbury and Englefield. The motor engine of the Newbury Brigade was on the scene within half an hour and the Englefield crew arrived at 10.30.
A large crowd of villagers quickly assembled and made efforts to save some of the furniture from the house. By the time the fire brigade arrived the mill itself was beyond saving and their efforts were concentrated on the house. They succeeded in saving this by midnight although the mill was a blazing inferno with flames shooting up to a tremendous height with “brilliant displays of fireworks” as the machinery, much of it new, crashed down through three floors. The Deputy Chief Constable, Mr Robotham, with Sergeants Goddard, Elsbury and Taylor and several local police officers maintained order among the large crowd.
In the morning only the lower portion of the walls of the mill remained with all the glass from the windows lying melted into shapeless masses and all the machinery twisted out of all shape and fit only for scrap. The roof and attic of the house were burnt and the rest of the building was badly damaged by water, with every room covered with cinders and debris, and much furniture destroyed. The damage was estimated at £15,000.
The Englefield crew was in attendance again on the following Thursday between 6.30pm and 11.30 when flames were seen in the debris of the mill, once more endangering the house.