Published in Windlesora 33 (2016)
© WLHG 2018
On December 28th 1912, Whittaker, the 13 year-old employee of the Chalvey Cinema was working in the Rewinding Room while next door, Mr Perrin the projectionist, oversaw the showing of the film A Fire At Sea.
Unbeknownst to the audience, Whittaker started calling help. The smell of smoke wafted into the auditorium as the highly flammable reels of film that Whittaker had been working with, were on fire. Perrin rushed in from the Projection Room and unsuccessfully attempted to douse the flames with a wet blanket. He climbed down the vertical ladder and raised the alarm with Mr George Bennett, the proprietor. Bennett immediately set about evacuating the cinema as calmly as possibly with the help of Mr H L Darvill and Police Constable Taylor who took over the evacuation, and the cinemas was empty within three or four minutes. Henry Darvill was a Windsor solicitor from Pilgrim Place. With the evacuation underway, Mr Bennett climbed the vertical ladder to the trap-door that led into the first floor. Here were housed the Rewinding Room, Operators Box, and the Generating Room. Mr Bennett described in his own words some of what happened:
It was a regular furnace, but if I had hesitated a moment neither the boy nor myself would have been saved…I had to go along a little passage at the back of the operator’s Box to reach the boy who had run furthest from the flames…into the trap.
Bennett had fallen over whilst carrying the boy, and being partially suffocated, he almost gave up at that point. When Whittaker regained consciousness later, he admitted that the fire was his fault as he had been smoking, despite Mr Bennett’s warnings to employees against it. All the celluloid films in the Rewind Room caught light; the smell and toxic fumes were terrible. More than 6000 feet of film were destroyed. Today’s Health and Safety Executive warn that:
It catches fire very easily and once alight is difficult to put out. Fires… burn extremely quickly with a hot, intense flame and the smoke is particularly toxic, containing large quantities of poisonous gases.
Bennett lost about £100 as he had been unable to secure insurance cover for the reels, however the building was insured. The rooms involved had been fireproofed. This meant the fire was contained to that area of the building, thus ensuring the safety of the cinema’s patrons.
In 1911 Bennett and his wife Elizabeth were running the Globe Public House on Oxford Road. He had also been the Goalkeeper for Windsor and Eton Football Club. Most importantly he was a Fireman, having served ten years with the Eton Fire Brigade, and was currently with Windsor Fire Brigade. During the summer of 1912, he was a member of the four- man team which won the National Union Fire Brigade Championship at Crystal Palace. There can be little doubt that George Bennett’s experience played a large part in isolating the potential hazard areas, and subsequently saving young Whittaker’s life. Any residual feelings of woe may have been alleviated somewhat when, at Buckingham Palace on August 12th 1913, King George V presented George Edward Bennett with the Albert Medal for Life-Saving on Land.
Windsor Local History Group 