Pyro Company Histories - The British Classics

hi just came across an old fountian made by gebruiksaanwijzing holland
it was imported by DIAMOND FIREWORKS (UK) LIMITED
a quick search says they were Dissolved (Incorporation date 23/10/1998 .
traded from Registered Address: Unit 13 Bealey Industrial Estate, Dumers Lane Radcliffe, Manchester, M26 2QE

i have no more info at mo

 

This was part of Celebration Fireworks I believe. The late Howard Garman occupied this site and from there sold Bad Boy brand Fireworks. It may have been taken over by Celebration Displays but I can't be certain. I had almost forgotten that address!

 

Phoenix/ Britannia (Hemel Hempstead)

I am very excited to find reference to my own family history on this website - and have come to this forum to provide what I know concerning The Phoenix Firework Co.

Kenneth Gray is my Great-Grandfather, father of Rita Gray (my grandmother) who fondly recalls stories of her father's inventions. Kenneth was an engineer by profession and not only produced fireworks but constructed engines and racing vehicles too.

It is worth noting however that the re-brand from Gray's to Phoenix was done by Kenneth himself long before the sell-up of the factory. We still have in our possession the original labels that were used on his pyrotechnics (these labels being produced shortly before the breakout of WW2 I believe)!




Our family factory was targetted by the Luftwaffe in World War 2 as an industrial site that needed to be dispatched, and attempted to bomb the factory during air raids. Incendiary charges were dropped upon the factory but British Spirit prevailing - all of them missed!

My Great-Grandfather being the nutter he was, collected three un-detonated charges and a spent one and kept them on his mantelpiece... still live for some decades. Amazingly through the hoarding mentality of my Grandma - the spent charge is still in my possession as a peice of war-time memorabilia, and one of the few surviving memories of The Phoenix Firework Co.



Unfortunatly (or maybe history's way of telling us something) The Nazi Swastika and Eagle emblem have pretty much completely worn away, but the manufacturing digits are still clearly visible on the incendiary charge. A cool bit of history, I think.

I hope you firework enthusiasts find these little titbits as interesting as I do!

 

Hi James
You say it is a spent charge........ ? This is a 1kg German Inciendary bomb, when ignited the whole casing would have ignited and burnt away being made of magnesium, just to complicate matters the Germans started to add an explosive charge to the back end of these...presumably you have had this checked out.
Be amazed how many people have them without realising this hazard
All the info. you need is here
http://www.bombfuzecollectorsnet.com/page12.htm
Kevin

 

You are quite right - a 1KG incendiary bomb, but there's nothing inside. There is a hole blown on the outside where presumeably it began to discharge, but perhaps it was never filled properly. It has been juggled around with and sat next to the Dyson under the stairs for a good forty years

It is quite dead I assure you

*pardon the holes in my socks.

 

Looks like it misfired,
I have over the years seen several complete examples at flea markets but always emptied examples done at the time collected up.
I recently bought the grandkids a moneybox, but mummy says they can't have it.......... they are only 7 months old though.

 

Sultanbrown,
Hi,
The Pains accident you refer to . I believe that Randall Is William Randle Eldest Son of George and Sarah Randle of Wandsworth. In the Croydon Guardian it is spelt differently to the official Parliamentary Report I remember from the 1960's an Eric Craig who knew my Mother . He is a descendant of the Craig that is mentioned.
Tiggy

 

Old thread but just noting 'for the record' George Christopher Harrison's son George John Harrison married Catherine Craig in 1885, the daughter of John Cedric Craig (born c.1811) and Susan Hanscomb, two other firework families (e.g. John C Craig who did the fireworks at the World's Fair in New York in 1939), and half sister to Mary Ann (possibly Mary Ann Eliza) Craig who was the wife of James Pain (her mother was Mary Ann Hanscomb). Another (slightly tenuous) link is that John C Craig's 2nd wife was Grace Ennis Kirk, manager of United States Fireworks Co, Memphis, Tennessee and grand-daughter of Ephraim Barber, who did the first fireworks show in St Louis, Missouri on July 4th 1835 ... and then there's the link across to Wells Fireworks as Mary Ann and Susan Hanscomb were grand-daughters of Benjamin Hanscomb and Susanna Bridgeman, and their daughter Susannah married Thomas Tucker, and Thomas and Susannah's daughter Susan Matilda Catherine Tucker was Joseph Wells second wife (married 1844) ... Joseph's first wife was Elizabeth Ann Mortram, daughter of Zachariah Mortram and Ann Elizabeth Pain.

 

Absolutely brilliant!
There is a link to a few Pain's / Pains-Wessex items here: https://1drv.ms/f/s!ApoPX-954DWBgY9zxffBm8kcunEg2g

 

Wow!

 

I have a couple of their posters...

 

I have a fairly large empty Diamond box, be interested to see what the contents were. Guessing a mix of relabelled Vulcan and blue touch.

 

I have a few of the old Diamond rockets still, they were really good fireworks and were mostly Vulcan, Shogun and Maverick.

 

Going through some boxes looking for something else I came across 3 different catalogues for Diamond Fireworks........ this is inside page of the 1998 edition.

 

I have a Diamond brochure here from when they first started that shows the rockets, cakes and candles too, a brand i discovered through a newspaper add being sold in of all places a little backstreet shop that actually sold radios for taxis!, after two years in that shop they moved to a 3 week seasonal and that was it, by that time they had started selling other brands including Devco which i have never seen being sold round here since then, i really rated the original Diamond stuff.

 

this is the rocket selection in that brochure

 

A lot of similarities between the Diamond and Bright Star stuff of the time, looks to be all made by Vulcan/Maverick. Made some great pyro back then.

 

I still have two of the 4 rockets packs and the cakes and candles in the bottom picture were all made by Vulcan.