Birks

#One Street 15

the history
of the city
is written
in its streets
read the signs

Street hardware is a key part of the social ecology of a city. Access covers of various descriptions proclaim former municipalities, defunct utilities and steel and iron manufacturers from the local and the global, the past and the present.

Walking down my One Street, Bradford's Great Horton Road, today I spied this one. Abbot Burks & Co. was a new name to to me, but a bit of digging led me to a story of one of the city's notable figures.

Norman Birks was a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during WW1 until he became the first of thirty nine pilots shot down by German fighter ace Carl Menckhoff. He endured difficult conditions as a POW, notably at Holzminden where James Whale ranked among his fellow internees. Despite escape attempts he remained a POW until the end of the war. On returning home he co-founded Abbot, Burks & Co., a company manufacturing components for the gas industry. The company was still going until 1995, but this piece of street ware looks like it has some age.

Hidden history under our feet, and another to add to the collection.