Egham's Fire Brigade - Egham Museum

Insurance plaque high up on the walls of some of the cottages in the former Hythe Port. Image Credit: Claire Dawson

The fire service in the 19th century didn’t function as it does today. Instead, fire protection was provided by private insurance companies, signified by a plaque on the protected house. Each insurer had a private fire brigade to put out the fires of their customers, with some rumours of brigades refusing to put out fires for those protected by other companies unless they paid. Eventually, there was a shift to having more publicly available fire brigades for local areas.

The first dedicated fire in brigade in Egham, housed on Egham Hill, was created in 1827, funded by paid subscriptions from local residents and owned by the parish. Later, the control of the fire brigade was handed from the parish to the Gas Inspectors, who were privately funded.

1884 saw an appeal for £200 (approximately £13,300 today) for a second fire engine to be provided by the Gas Inspectors, and the creation of a volunteer fire brigade to run alongside it. Before this, the fire brigade was an ad-hoc service with no dedicated team to make up the brigade.

There were, however, a specific set of rules for using the Egham fire engine in the late 1800s. First, the engine itself was 10 shillings for the first hour of use, followed by an extra shilling for every subsequent hour after that; the fireman were paid 5 shilling for the first hour, and six pence every hour after; the labourers required to run the engine were paid dependent on their work; the owner of the horses pulling the engine was paid 2 guineas for the horses, 5 shillings for the drivers, and 1 guinea cancellation fee. In addition, there was a 2 guinea insurance payment that could be retrieved from the fire office after using the fire brigade. An example of these charges in action was in September 1898, when the hayrick at the Sun Inn, Englefield Green, caught fire. The cost was: £2 for the horses, 5 shillings for the driver, £1 and 1 shilling for the officer in charge, 10 shillings for the assistant in charge, £1 and 16 shillings for the men’s time, and 2 shillings and 6 pence for the call itself. In total, it cost £5, 16 shillings and 6 pence, approximately £470 in today’s money. The same year as the Sun Inn fire, there were 7 calls total for the fire brigade; in 1899 there were 4, one call in 1901 and 8 calls in 1913.

Presentation of the ‘Phoenix’ fire engine to the Egham Voluntary Fire Brigade by Baron Bruno Schroeder in July 1913. Egham Museum P942

In 1895, a purpose built fire station was built at 152 High Street, then rebuilt on the corner of the High Street and Vicarage Road in 1928, and then newly built on the same site in 1990. In 1913, the brigade was gifted a new motorised fire engine named ‘the phoenix’ by Baron Bruno Schroder, with another motor engine added to the ranks in 1935. Not long after, the voluntary fire brigade disbanded in 1939 during the Second World War, replaced by the Auxiliary Fire Service, and then the National Fire Service was introduced in 1941.

Recently, there have been discussions around making Egham fire station a daytime only service, and Staines and Sunbury fire stations were closed and combined into the newly built Fordbridge Station in 2019. Local residents have been vocal about the changes to the local fire service, culminating in a petition to Surrey council about the switch to day only services.