Sunderland Borough Police's first day of duty was 14th November 1837, and the fire brigade was part of the police. In December 1898, the Town Council decided to put the Fire Brigade on a strong footing, and, when re-organised would consist of a Superintendent, Engineer and six firemen as permanent staff and 22 police constables as auxiliary firemen. The Chief Officer, a Superintendent, would receive £3 per week with an allowance of ten shillings for rent. That month Mr Thomas Breaks, aged 38, was appointed Superintendent of the Brigade from a total of 47 applicants. Superintendent Breaks was the first Superintendent to be appointed to have sole responsibility of the Fire Brigade, his predecessors were appointed as Superintendents of Police, part of their duty being to oversee the running of the Fire Brigade. The Fire Brigade was run by the police, at that time the Chief Constable was William Carter. The Fire Station, together with the Police Court buildings were new buildings built on an awkwardly shaped site between Gill Bridge Avenue and Dun Cow Street, off High Street West. The Police Court & Quarter Sessions building was opened in 1907 and the Fire Station in 1908. On 22 January 2010 23:05, ROB SHEPHERD <robshepherd1974@googlemail.com>wrote: > Can anyone tell me when Sunderland established its own police, fire brigade > and ambulance services? > > Am I right in thinking that Sunderland had a combined police fire brigade? > > Were the fire brigade responsible for ambulance services? > > Many thanks > > Rob > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ENG-DUR-SUNDERLAND-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- Stan Mapstone