Agreement to form a Fire Brigade
18 January 1883 - Banbury Advertiser A Vestry Meeting was held on Friday 12th January.  A discussion was held about the formation of a fire brigade with agreement that this should be done. Volunteers were in the room and it was felt voluntary raising of the money would not be a problem.

Naming the crew and the organisation to form the Brigade
1 February 1883 - Banbury Guardian At another Vestry Meeting on Friday 19th January, Mr. John Scroggs in the chair, it was agreed to form a Volunteer Fire Brigade with Mr GS Hedges as Captain. The rest of the crew are named. Lieutenant Bennet and Fireman W Hawkes were deputed to receive subscriptions to which Mr Holford Cotton Risley contributed £5. Repairs to the engine were authorised and the question of uniforms left to the next meeting

Provision of uniforms
28 April 1883 - Oxford Chronicle & Reading Gazette Deddington Fire Brigade Uniforms were provided and made by Mr. A Samman & Mr. James Chislett - Drapers, Market Place, Deddington.

Drill in Aynhoe Grounds
28 April 1883 - Oxford Times A joint drill with the Banbury Fire Brigade was held at Aynhoe Grounds. Deddington was commanded by Lieutenant Lovell. Afterwards they were entertained at dinner by Captain & Mrs Austin

Fire at Mr Tim's farm in Steeple Aston
13 October 1883 - Buckingham Advertiser and Free Press Deddington in company with Woodstock, Steeple Aston and Blenheim Brigades attended a big rick fire at Mr Tim's farm which took all night to put out. 6 ricks were destroyed. However, Mr Tims was insured.

Need for a new engine and more volunteers
25 October 1883 - Banbury Guardian This very extensive article refered back to the formation of a voluntary Brigade earlier in the year following a large fire on Hawkes' farm in May which demonstrated  the need to replace the worn out existing engine with a new one and a volunteer Brigade. It said an appeal for funds had not been well responded to and in consequence, although the Brigade had made valiant efforts at two recent fires - it quoted Mr Tim's fire of a week ago - the want of a good engine was felt. It hoped that people would now be more liberal with their donations to enable a new engine to be purchased.

It listed the crew: Captain - George Strange Hedges, Lieutenant - John Bennett, Engineer - A. Churchill, Sub-Engineer - W. Green, Firemen - G. Beesley, D.M Bennett, C. Course, W. Hawkes [ed's note: at whose farm the fire in May was at], C. Hobley, T. Smith, F. Sturch & A. Whetton

Purchase of a new engine approved
20 December 1883 - Banbury Guardian At a Vestry meeting 'on Friday last' it was agreed to purchase a new engine from Messrs Merryweather of London 'at a cost not to exceed £180 and for the money to be paid in by three installments of £60 per annum.'

Fire at Lord Haldon's residence in Adderbury
21 February 1884 - Banbury Advertiser The new engine was successfully tested out attending a fire at Lord Haldon's 'hunting seat' in Adderbury in conjunction with the Adderbury and Banbury Brigades. The fire was also reported in The Buckingham Express (in two articles) on 1 March.[Ed's note: this article was scanned in 2 parts and there are a couple of lines of  overlap]

Drill practice
6 September 1884 - The Oxford Journal Woodstock Brigade brought over a 'team of smart men' to give Deddington a combined drill for 'an hour and a half's excellent practice' in Mr Hawke's meadow. Captain Hedges provided hospitality afterwards.

Fire at Mr Radford's farm near Croughton
25 September 1884 - Banbury Advertiser Brackley Fire Brigade were called out at about 7pm  to a fire of three corn stacks and a hayrick on Mr Radford's farm between Croughton and Souldern. The nearbyy small pond was exhausted within an hour and the nearest supply after this  was a brook 500 yards away and so Deddington Brigade were called on to help. They arrived at midnight and helped prevent the fire spreading to buildings. £700 worth of damage which was insured.

A fire in the rickyard of Mr Thomas Winter
8 October 1884 - Oxfordshire Weekly News Deddington Brigade 'turned out and left with the engine in a remarkably short space of time.' The article comments that had it not been for their promptitude another 15 ricks might have been destroyed instead of just one. [Ed's note: clearly the new engine was proving its worth. The location of the farm is not known. No Thomas Winter is listed in the 1881 census for the parish.]

The first annual dinner
6 December 1884 - Oxford Journal The first annual dinner was held 'with the customary excellence of the hostess of the King's Arms'.  Toasts were made and 'The proceedings were considerably enlivened by songs from'..eight of the attendees (all named), concluding with the National Anthem

An Entertainment by the Fire Brigade
22 April 1886 - Banbury Guardian An evening of musical and dramatic entertainment in aid of funds for the Fire Brigade. The Oxford Journal announced it as forthcoming and also carried an article about a joint drill with Banbury followed by lunch hosted by Capt. Austin. These lunches seem to have been part of the drill! Clearly the entertainment went well according to The Banbury Advertiser's review  and raised a significant amount of money according to The Oxford Journal.

A fire at Mr Bennet's farm in Over Worton
19 October 1886  Oxfordshire Weekly News, the Banbury Advertiser and the Oxford Journal. 

The Fire Brigade go on strike
Tuesday 5th May 1896 - Bicester Herald
As announced by Mr. Thomas Smith, secretary. Mr. Smith, the other officers and all members of the Brigade had tendered their resignation. The Brigade approached the Parish Council (PC)for an annual grant instead of asking private individuals and the neighboring areas for donations & subscriptions. These were dwindling. Appliances needed replacing and the cost of drills needed to be funded. The PC were unanimous that they would not pay, as this exceeded their duty. The PC accepted all the resignations and asked for the uniforms to be returned to the PC Clerk, as these were the property of the PC. (Need to research this fact. Were the uniforms originally privately funded?).

Parish Council meeting about a new Brigade
14th July 1896 - Banbury Guardian
The article suggests that there were not many volunteers since the resignation of the previous Brigade members. However, Engineer Mason confirmed there were sufficient numbers for a Brigade in the event of an emergency, and new volunteers would be sought in the meantime as vacancies needed to be filled with urgency. Dr. Saunders was reinstated as Captain, he had been the previous Captain. The fire engine and appliances were needed to be tested as it was feared the appliances were defective. This means Deddington was without a Brigade for over two months. Did the PC want control of it? Better to be publicly funded than privately? Interesting turn of events!

 


 

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