Ever since Guy Fawkes and the infamous Gunpowder Plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605, we have been fascinated with putting on a show of fireworks each time we have a bonfire on 5th November.
Fireworks have been on the go for much longer than that but it is at this time of year that we enjoy them the most.
And we have been enjoying them for hundreds of years, as proved by a set of instructions for using fireworks in 1774, recently discovered at the East Riding Archives and Local Studies Service in Beverley.
The ‘Proper directions for Exhibiting the following Fireworks’ was written by Samuel Clanfield on 28 November 1774.
In this document he describes how to use various fireworks including four ounce sky rockets, Roman candles, large ‘mines’, Chinese trees, portfires and water rockets.
For the latter Clanfield recommends that: “A person should stand at the side of the water with a Fuze burning on the Ground by him, To the flame of which, the mouth of each Water rocket must be apply’d, it takes fire directly & must be immediately Skim’d into the Water, where they rise & fall several times till they terminate…”
Collections Officer Sam Bartle said: “Clanfield wrote these instructions on 28 November 1774, so he was a bit late for Bonfire Night. His methods would have been perfectly acceptable back then, but I think we can definitely say these instructions are out-of-date. Do not follow them under any circumstances.”
Many of the fireworks mentioned by Clanfield remain in use today, demonstrating that the old ones are still the best.
