four hours. Noblemen would not permit the contractors or their workmen to approach their demesnes. In 1848 Firbank was engaged on the Rugby and Stamford branch of the North-Western railway, and lost most of his savings by the bankruptcy of the former contractor of the line. When the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company transformed their mineral tramways and canals into passenger railways in 1854, Firbank took the contract for dealing with the canals in the town of Newport, Monmouthshire. He also took the contract for the maintenance of the lines for seven years, and this contract was several times renewed.
Firbank established himself at Newport, where he formed an intimate friendship with Mr. Crawshaw Bailey, the ironmaster, who supported him in his early undertakings. He was employed in South Wales for thirty years, until the absorption of the Monmouthshire company by the Great Western. In 1856 Firbank took a contract for the widening of the London and North-Western railway near London, and afterwards (1859-66) various contracts on the Brighton line. He was also engaged upon the Midland Company's Bedford and London extension (1864-1868), which involved great difficulties and ultimately cost the company upwards of 3,000,000l. He was contractor in 1870 on the Settle and Carlisle extension of the Midland railway. He was afterwards contractor for many lines, the most difficult undertaking being the Birmingham west suburban section of the Midland railway.
In 1884 Firbank built the St. Pancras goods depôt of the Midland railway. The last contract taken by him was for the Bournemouth direct line from Brokenhurst to Christchurch. It proved to be the most troublesome of all his undertakings, and was finally completed by his son, Joseph T. Firbank. The lines constructed by Firbank from 1846 to 1886 amounted to forty-nine. All through his career he was a generous employer, doing his best to promote the welfare of those whom he employed.
Firbank died at his residence, near Newport, on 29 June 1886. He was twice married, and was survived by his second wife and seven children. Firbank has been described as 'an excellent specimen of the class of Englishmen who rise up not so much by any transcendent talents, as by intelligence and energy,' and above all by a scrupulous 'honesty, inspiring confidence' (Samuel Laing). He was indefatigable in work, retiring to rest by nine o'clock and rarely rising later than five. His business faculties were very great. He was a justice of the peace and deputy-lieutenant for the county of Monmouth.
[F. M'Dermott's Life and Work of Joseph Firbank, 1887.]
FIREBRACE, HENRY (1619–1691), royalist, sixth son of Robert Firebrace of Derby, who died in 1645, by Susanna, daughter of John Hierome, merchant, of London, held the offices of page of the bedchamber, yeoman of the robes, and clerk of the kitchen to Charles I, which he obtained through the interest of the Earl of Denbigh. He became much attached to the king, and was able to be of service to him on more than one occasion—at Uxbridge, in connection with the negotiations there in 1644, Oxford, and elsewhere. After the king's surrender to the Scots at Newark, in 1646, Firebrace joined him at Newcastle, and attended him to Holmby House and Hampton Court, and again after his flight to the Isle of Wight he obtained permission to attend him as page of the bedchamber during his confinement in Carisbrooke Castle. Here he determined, if possible, to effect the king's escape, and accordingly contrived one evening, as Charles was retiring to rest, to slip into his hand a note informing him of a place in the bedchamber where he had secreted letters from friends outside. A regular means of communication was thus established between the king and his most trusted supporters. They thus concerted a plan of escape. At a signal given by Firebrace Charles was to force his body through the aperture between the bars of his bedchamber window, and let himself down by a rope; Firebrace was then to conduct him across the court to the main wall of the castle, whence they were to descend by another rope and climb over the counterscarp, on the other side of which men and horses were to be in waiting to carry them to a vessel. On a night, the precise date of which cannot be fixed, but which was probably early in April 1648, Firebrace gave the signal by throwing something against the bedchamber window. The king thrust his head into the aperture, and succeeded in squeezing some portion of his body through it, but then stuck fast, and could with difficulty get back into the room. Firebrace was not slow in devising a new plan, which he communicated to the king by a letter. A bar was to be cut in one of the windows, from which the king would be able to step upon a wall and escape over the outworks. The king, who had already begun filing one of the bars of his bedchamber window, expressed approval of the new plan as an alternative scheme. In the end, however, he abandoned an attempt
