John Tann’s Safe

 Whilst visiting St Bartholomew-the-less church yesterday I found a safe with the plaque which reads John Tann’s Reliance 117 Newgate St London EC.

Safe seen at St Bartholomew-the-less church

The Tanns were in fact the most famous of all Victorian safe-building families.

The Tann Family through generations 

The founder of the company starts with Edward Tann born in 1747, was a smith of St. Luke's, Old Street, London, and had been working in Chiswell Street, Finsbury. He made iron chests under his own name in Crown Street, Moorfields in 1790.

By 1814, with his first son Edward. they occupied a manufactory at 1 Hope Street, Hackney, then called Harvey Street and later renamed Treadway Street in 1881. The family residence was in the next building at number 2 Minerva Terrace, which is a section of Hackney Road. The advertisement incised in the gable facing Hope Street dates from around 1890. 

Ghost sign Hackney Road

Their first 'fire-proof ' safe was exhibited at the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1851, and about the same time they opened their first city office at 30 Walbrook.

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 By 1888 the Tann City office had moved to 11 Newgate Street, and by 1900 the factory also moved to St.Stephen's Road, Old Ford. With the construction of the Old Bailey on the site of Newgate Prison, the offices then had to move again in 1912, but only to number 117 Newgate street.

The John Tann Company - 117 Newgate Street, circa 1900s. Rising to prominence in the 1800s - and best known for their 'Reliance' safe.

The Chancery Lane Safe Deposit Company and Bank of England used John Tann products.

The fourth generation of Tanns came into the business around the time their father died in 1900. They were John who was born in 1841 and Edward born in 1853. John however died in 1904 leaving his brother as Governing Director. The last of the line was Edward's son John Laurance Tann born in 1890 who had no male heir, it was then decided that the best course for the future for the company would be for it to become part of a larger engineering group. The business became part of the Clayton Dewandre company in 1965. 

Police Call Posts

Whilst walking through Postman’s park and onto St Martins le grand I stumbled across a Police call post.

Police call posts appear as small cast-iron towers that were made in the late 1920’s and were sited throughout the City of London. The posts enabled the public to call a Police station and were also used for the station to contact the ‘Bobbies’ on the beat in that area. They had a red signal light on the top, which would flash if the Constable were required to contact the station. They had an upper hatch that opened to give access to the telephone; a middle door that opened horizontally to provide a writing surface, and lower door opened to a storage cupboard containing first aid kit.

The Police call posts saw a decline in use during the 1960s, they portray today a historical reminder of days gone by before the advancement of technology which led to modern policing.

The 8 Police call posts that still survive today which are Grade II listed and restored to their original design, can be found at the following locations:

St Martins Le Grand (Entrance to Postman’s Park)

Victoria Embankment (Near the City Boundary Dragons)

Aldgate (Outside St Botolph’s Church)

Walbrook (Near Mansion House)

Friday Street at the corner of Queen Victoria Street

Guildhall Yard (Gresham Street)

Liverpool Street (East side of the station)

Old Broad Street (By Adam’s Court)

 

  Police Call Post St Martins Le Grand entrance to Postman’s Park

Serving with the ATS in WW2

 This article features my cousin Eileen Ethel Maud Salmon, during World War Two at the age of 22 she signed up and joined the ATS in June 1942. She served as Corporal her role within this rank included clerical work and was based in London.

  

 

The Auxiliary Territorial Service, known as the ATS was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, it was originally set up as a women's voluntary service, until 1 February 1949, when it then merged into the Women’s Royal Army Corps.

The ATS had its roots in the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps(WAAC), which was formed in 1917 as a voluntary service. The WAAC was disbanded after four years in 1921.

 

The ATS was granted full military status from April 1941. However, ATS women were still not allowed to undertake combat roles, but the duties of it’s members were expanded. Eventually there were over a hundred different roles in the ATS some of which now included orderlies, drivers, postal workers and ammunition inspectors.

 

it was decided to increase the size of the ATS, with numbers reaching 65,000 by September 1941. Women between the ages of 17 and 43 were allowed to join, although these rules were relaxed in order to allow WAAC veterans to join up to the age of 50. 

 

By 1943 the ATS represented 10 per cent of the Royal Corps of Signals having taken over the major part of the signal office and operating duties in the War Office and Home Commands, and ATS companies were sent to work on the lines of communications of active overseas theatres.

By VE Day and before demobilisation , there were over 190,000 members of the women's Auxiliary Territorial Service.

 

During serving for the ATS Eileen married Daniel Gilbert Adams known as Danny in 1943, but their marriage was short lived as he died whilst on duty. Danny was a flight sergeant in the RAF on the night of 25th April 1944 his aircraft exploded as a result of a night fighter attack over Germany. He died at the age of 27. His memorial is at CWGC Durnbach cemetery in Germany.

After the war in 1947 Eileen remarried and had a daughter Margaret who found me and if it wasn’t for her this post would have been impossible to write. I want to say thank you so much for reaching out and sharing wonderful memories and photos with me.

For further information regarding the ATS I have attached a short video from The National Army Museum. https://youtu.be/AXn0_uH1XIg