The astonishing bravery of a Manchester hero who died in the line of duty but will never be forgotten
His bravery was already known during a distinguished 40-year-career in the fire service. But at the age of 64, having come out of retirement, as a senior officer, John Johnson Hunt still led his crews from the front.
Mr Hunt served in the fire service in both Manchester and then Sale. Bravery and near-misses were the hallmarks of his career. In an incident in 1885 he saved a firefighter’s life by crawling along a sixth-floor parapet in dense smoke, courage which saw him receive several awards and have a song written for him.
In the census of 1871, he was listed as a fireman living at the Chief Fire Station in Jacksons Row, Manchester and on September 30th 1872, he married Henrietta Elizabeth Grothier at Manchester Cathedral. They had two children, Herbert and Emily. On February 16th 1869, when assisting at a fire at the Rochdale Road Gas Works, Fireman Hunt was directed to take a jet up a ladder to fight the fire from the top of a wall. Unfortunately, the ladder was too short and he tried pulling himself up by pulling on a coping stone but this gave way and he fell backwards into the yard.
He received the silver medal of the Manchester and Salford Humane Society for "conspicuous bravery" at the Thatched House Hotel fire in Manchester in 1879 and he was the only fireman living at that time who had the silver bar of the society in addition to the silver medal. The Brooklands Hotel was built in 1872 at the junction of Marsland Road and Hope Road, diagonally opposite Brooklands train station. When built it was a landmark in the area and clearly visible for miles around across the open fields. At one time it was owned by the Grand Hotel in Manchester and was used as an annex of that hotel whenever it was fully booked.
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