Brocks Fireworks

History

John Brock set up his firework business in Islington back in 1698, making it Britain's oldest manufacturer of its kind. He passed away on 5 November 1720 at 43 and was laid to rest at St James's Church in Clerkenwell, London. In 1825, the company's factory sat in a residential part of Baker's Row, now called Vallance Road, in Whitechapel, London. It was wrecked when a boy, while packing gunpowder into a firework, caused a spark that set it off. He tossed the firework aside and fled in panic. The blast from fifty pounds of gunpowder and a large quantity of saltpetre instantly tore off the roof, set the building ablaze, and shattered every window in most of the surrounding streets.

The firm later moved into south London, setting up in South Norwood and Sutton, and forged a strong link with the Crystal Palace. Starting in 1826, they created public shows called "Brock's Benefits" and began using "Crystal Palace" as a brand name. In 1868, they built a firework factory in Nunhead, southeast London, close to where The Pyrotechnists Arms pub still stands. At that time, the company was known as C. T. Brock & Co, "Crystal Palace" Fireworks. Brock Street was laid out on a closed part of nearby Tappesfield Road to commemorate the factory.

Advertisements for Brock's appeared in the 1887 edition of Whitaker's Almanack and several later ones. The company supplied fireworks to the Crystal Palace company, the UK War Office, the Government of India, and other clients. Henry Brock died on 4 October 1901 at 53 and was buried at Holy Trinity Church in Leverstock Green.

In the early 1930s, the business relocated to Hemel Hempstead. During that decade, Brock's built homes and a sports club for its workers on a 207-acre site on the town's northeastern side. Street names like Ranelagh Road and Vauxhall Road recalled earlier contracts with 18th-century London Pleasure Gardens, where Brock's had put on firework displays. During the Second World War, the company produced the "target markers" used by the RAF's Pathfinder Force, which helped bombers aim their payloads more precisely.