'Fire at the Victoria Mills, July 27 1905' postcard, people and fire-engine towards mill ruins, Huddersfield Road, Brighouse, UK
The following is an extract from the West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale: 'Victoria Mills was built 1842 as a silk mill for the Revd Benjamin Firth. ... Samuel Baines bought the mill in 1849. In 1850 Baines rented the premises to Burrow and Monk for silk spinning. In 1855 the workers at the mills - the Victoria Mills Fire-Brigade - manned Neptune, the first fire-engine in the town. In 1860 J and H Stott processed cotton in part of the mills. In 1864 Richard Kershaw bought the silk business from Burrow and Monk and set up as a silk spinner here. The Brighouse Gas Works were on the site until the 1850s. The Brighouse Cotton Spinning Company operated at the Victoria Mills 1877-81.' In 1900 was a cotton manufacturer at the Victoria Mills. Cotton mills were huge fire risks. Cotton fibres in the air formed an explosive mix in the gas-lit interiors. Floors were also heavily greased by lubricant oils from the steam driven machinery. Mill fires, when they happened, were a local spectacle, as testified by the people standing at the roadside here. In the days before mass camera ownership, local photographers would shoot scenes such as this and then sell their work as postcards to the public. This shot is one of several taken of the fire by Brighouse photographer, The photographer's actions attract the attention of a young boy, right of shot. The fire-engine bears the name 'Brighouse Corporation'. It stands on the Huddersfield Road bridge over the Calder and Hebble Canal, from which it has very likely drawn its water.
Size: 1699px × 1049px
Location: 'Victoria Mills', Huddersfield Road, Brighouse, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Photo credit: © robert harrison / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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