MILITARY SERVICE RECORD & CIVILIAN CAREER

HENRY, Peter E.

1952

PERSONAL DETAILS

Date and place of birth: 3 May 1933, London

Next of kin address: n/k

MILITARY SERVICE

Date and place of enlistment: 18 Nov 1949, Army Recruiting Office, Blackheath, Greater London

Regimental Number: Restricted

G.S.C. 18 Nov 1949 – 25 Jul 1952:

Company: 'C' ● Squad: 15 ● Trade: Draughtsman (Mechanical) ● Rank: Apprentice Corporal (Ref: Daily Routine Order N^o 32 of 1952)

Education: Army Certificate of Education Class 2 (Ref: Part 2 Order N^o 40 of 1950)

Education: Part 2 only towards Army Certificate of Education Class 1 (Ref: Part 2 Order N^o 38 of 1951)

Trade Qualification: Draughtsman (Mechanical) Class 3 (Ref: Part 2 Order N^o 62 of 1952)

R.E.

Posting: wef 01 Sep 1952: HQ Royal Engineers Depot, Barton Stacey, Hampshire (Ref: Part 2 Order N^o 64 of 1951)

Posting: Sep 1952 - Apr 1953: 37 Engineer Regiment R.E., Osnabrück, BAOR

Posting: Apr 1953 - Sep 1953: 23 Engineer Regiment, 2 Infantry Division, Dortmund, BAOR

Promotion: Corporal

Posting: Sep 1953 - Apr 1954: 10 Trades Training Regiment R.E., Chatham, Kent

Trade upgrade course: qualification - Draughtsman Mechanical Class A2

Posting: Apr 1954 - Sep 1955: War Office, London District HQ, Horse Guards, Whitehall, SW1

Posting: Sep 1955 - Jun 1956: 10 Trades Training Regiment RE, Chatham, Kent

Trade upgrade course: qualification: Draughtsman Mechanical Class A1

Posting: Jul 1956 - Apr 1959: CRE Nicosia, Cyprus, Middle East Land Forces

Promotion: Sergeant

Duties: Work Service in anticipation of the Suez Invasion and throughout the Cyprus 'EOKA' Emergency

Discharge

Date & place: 02 May 1959, Aldershot, Hampshire

Rank: Substantive Sergeant

CIVILIAN CAREER

20 Jul 1959: Enrolled in London Fire Brigade, serving until 19 Jul 1989 completing 30 years service.

Oct 1959 - Feb 1965: Following three months training, served at various Stations in the East-end of London as Fireman, Leading Fireman and Sub-Officer. Attending fires and other emergencies in socially deprived areas that included ethnic minorities in multi-occupied dilapidated housing. Experience included at supervisory rank, rescues and large fires in factories, commercial premises, shipping and dockside warehousing.

1965: Selected for newly introduced 10-months Home Office "Accelerated promotion" Course for Station Officers after a series of written papers and 3-day selection process. This included psychometric testing, team projects, plus extended interviews with Home Office psychiatrists, senior Civil Servants, and Fire Brigade Chief Officers. The aim to select candidates suitable for senior management appointments.

1965 - 1971: On course completion, continued to serve as Station Officer in East-end of London; 3 years at Stratford, Newham, varied industrial and dockland areas. And at Whitechapel, Tower Hamlets, historically an area of diverse immigrant communities plus light industrial factories with the commercial-finance City of London adjacent to and flanked along the Thames shoreline with mid-1800 warehousing.

1971 - 1976: Having proved operational competence and management ability at Station level, decided to transfer to specialist duties in the Fire Safety Department at Brigade Headquarters, the decision prompted by former Army technical training and experience. Such a background was relevant to building inspections and surveys as part of fire risk assessments using plans of buildings. First 18 months involved inspecting high-rise buildings and large structural complexes in Central London. This could involve the testing of sprinkler systems and other forms of installed fire-fighting installations including those incorporating automatic fire-extinguishing mediums.

Further opportunities for promotion arose with the advent of the first Designating Order under the Fire Precautions Act of 1972, in respect of all public accommodation premises following a number of serious fires both in London and nationwide. This Act was extended in 1974 when various fire safety provisions under other Acts, e.g. the Factories Act, were consolidated under the Fire Precautions Act. The main element of enforcement was by the formal issue of a legal document, The Fire Certificate, in respect of satisfactory premises. Thus, departmental workload increased as London became a major tourist centre.

The promotion process by application for vacancies continued, consisting of interviews by Promotion Boards and performance reports. Thereby I rose to Divisional Officer (Grade 1), the pinnacle of supervisory and middle-management. Whatever, promotion was achieved; attending serious fires and other large-scale incidents was an on-going duty depending on scale of the emergency. Hours on-call were 96 over a week but in later years reduced to 72; this included time at desk if operational demands allowed.

1976 - 1981: On promotion to Senior Divisional Officer in 1976, the role was to change from that of management and supervision of inspecting teams. At senior level the function was primarily the formulation of Brigade fire safety policies in respect of inspection work, both procedural (legalities) and technical. This required interpretation of legal instructions from the Home Office and other impinging legislation such as National Building Regulations and Health & Safety at Work Act, 1974. The technical policies were derived from an ever-developing electronic industry with regard to fire detection/alarm systems. National practices relevant to "means of escape" from buildings of diverse construction and use, including commercial and industrial complexes had to be adapted to London developments. The safety of people had to be considered where they might work, being entertained or slept. All property developers and their architects strove to minimise costs and had a legal right to appeal and challenge any fire safety requirement. Thus, many case files were referred to Brigade HQ for consideration and guidance, if not a decision.

1981 - 1989: In 1981 promoted to Deputy Assistant Chief Officer and was sent back to take command of a Division in North London. In those years a Division being one of eleven sub-Areas, comprising in total the whole of the London Fire Brigade area of responsibility. Within a typical Division there were some 12 Stations, each covering a particular area of the Division manned by 4 Watches varying in strength from 5 to 12 men per shift/duty watch. I was responsible for operational efficiency, training, discipline and "health & safety" including welfare assisted by a management team of Officers under my direction. I was entrusted to maintain harmonious industrial relations with the Divisional negotiating committee of the Fire Brigades Union. In 1983 I transferred to South London Division and was in command until mid-1985. During this period it fell to me to contribute to the Brigade history when I approved, after a probationary period, the permanent service of the first woman in the Brigade. Hence, the title of Fireman was dropped and Fire fighter adopted. She was judged by Arborfield standards; I witnessed her determination when I took part in the Divisional annual cross-county run. Finally, I was to return to Brigade HQ, Fire Safety Department, serving as Deputy with the overall Brigade fire safety responsibilities plus those for petroleum legislation under the Petroleum Consolidation Act.

Retired 19 Jul 1989

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

MIFireE – Member of The Institution of Fire Engineers

FIMgt – Fellow of The Institute of Management

MARITAL & FAMILY STATUS

Married: Doreen ● Children: daughters Vivien, Elise & Gisele ● Grandchildren: two grandsons

IN RETIREMENT

2003

Hobbies: (Until recent years) jogging; regular reader of The Times & Daily Mail; Reading – political biographies, history biased to military subjects including WW1, historical novels by Allan Mallinson, cavalry Napoleonic, with contrasting Naval matters of the same period by Patrick O’Brian.

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