Hitchin Urban District Council’s Big Mistake

Derek Wheeler

Both the late Tony Foster and Dick Dolan when writing about fire brigade history told the story of the infamous Morris Guy motor fire engine which the Urban District Council bought in 1923 when it was apparent that the second Shand Mason steamer was due for retirement. The firemen wanted the council to purchase a Merryweather Hatfield motor pump, which was a three-cylinder reciprocating pump and a very powerful one too, (I know, since I used to own the old Kings Walden Estate Hatfield).

The Morris Guy, which looks no bigger than a contemporary
Model T Ford is shown in the photograph, which was taken
in front of the Fire Station in Paynes Park, now sadly demolished.

The U.D.C. was insistent on purchasing a Guy Motors fire engine fitted with a John Morris of Salford turbine pump, because it was cheaper. The Guy would only have delivered 160 gallons per minute, whilst the second Shand steamer was capable of 350 gallons per minute, and the old Shand, which many of the crew would have trained on in the 1890s, was capable of delivering 260 gallons per minute. The motor fire engine was a bit of an embarrassment to Hitchin Fire Brigade and often had to be got out of trouble by sending for the steamer to do its work. Can you imagine our present townsfolk submitting a petition to N.H.D.C. after a bit of rabble-rousing by serving firemen? I include the petition and also a picture of the infamous Morris Guy.

Letchworth had purchased a superb Dennis motor fire engine in 1912 which they called Progress. What a pity our councillors had not followed their colleagues’ decision up the hill thirteen years earlier!

A Petition
We the undersigned Ratepayers beg to protest to the members of the Hitchin Urban District Council against the contemplated purchase of a Motor Turbine Pump similar to the one tested at Hitchin on March 17th. Our reasons are as follows:-
The Motor is not powerful enough
The Pump will only deliver 160 gallons per minute when working at 25 h.p. (Nominal power 18 h.p.)
Will not carry sufficient Firemen to the majority of outbreaks that the Brigade is called to.
Will not carry sufficient equipment.
The central drive of motor is not well adapted for moving over soft ground.
A Turbine Pump is not best suited to a Town like Hitchin where a large portion of the Water Mains are of small diameter.
For Rural work experience proves that the Turbine Pump is not the best one.
Your Petitioners very much regret that Hitchin Urban District Council did not accept the offer of Messrs. Merryweather to send one of their Hatfield Pumps to be tested for purposes of comparison; they further hope this course will be pursued before any Motor Fire Engine is purchased.

I can understand the firemen’s attitude at this time. They were used to the reliability and power of steam. They had also witnessed the council’s purchase of new uniforms for the Town Band whilst denying them new uniforms, which were not ceremonial, but working dress and many of them had seen twenty years’ service. The Brigade had also experienced the indignity of not being able to turn out smartly in the early days of the Great War because most suitable horses had already been commandeered for military work and they had been forced to acquire a heavily converted private car to tow the steamer around.

Hitchin Journal, Autumn 2005

This page was last updated on 17 March 2007