Explosive history

With bonfire night this month, author Harry Smee recounts the explosive story of his family’s firework company, Brock’s, creators of wonders and war-changing weapons

- Harry Smee

The most famous pyrotechnist in the world, ‘The Fire King’ Arthur Brock, moved his huge operation to Hertfordshire countryside in 1933. More than 200 workers relocated from Sutton to the 220-acre Woodhall Farm in Hemel Hempstead and Arthur built them two streets of houses, named after the London pleasure gardens Ranelagh and Vauxhall where the family firm had once entertained London society. The move continued the remarkable history of Brock’s Fireworks which began in 1698 in Islington.

Renowned for the summer seasons at the Crystal Palace and its Brock’s Benefit, a huge annual display, the company was synonymous with fireworks the world over. What was less well-known was its links to warfare. The chemical crossroads goes back to the 1860s. In 1891 Brock’s won a gold medal for its signal gun at the first Royal Naval Exhibition in Chelsea. An impressed visitor was Kaiser Wilhelm II and that summer he was entertained at Crystal Palace with a Brock’s display. So delighted was the emperor he asked his uncle, the future King Edward VII, to introduce him to Arthur for a detailed discussion.