Icky The Fire Bobby

[OldFozz]

I recall my father using "Icky the fire bobby" as a catch all rather than Mr Nobody. Can anyone throw any light on Icky's origins?

[Mamyalynne]

Mentioned here with a few others, will research more,,,


http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/liverpool-giants-2014-scouse-nan-7408784

[Mamyalynne]

Icky the Fire Bobby



In the land of thingamabob and wotsit,
Icky was my bogeyman, the specter
who'd grab me if I didn't get to bed,
if I didn't eat my peas or mashed spuds.

He haunted pantry, clothes cupboard,
made plans in the dark to terrify,
a mean older brother, a hairy policeman
with hatchet and tall bobby's helmet.

I trembled in bed waiting for his bullseye
lantern to single me out, to haul me off
to the coal bunker for punishment with all
the other bad, sobbing little beggars.

Christopher T. George

[Buenchico]

Was your father a Scouser, perhaps, OldFozz? (Or perhaps just a fan of Ken Dodd?). The various web references available seem to suggest that there's definitely a Liverpool connection (with at least one mentioning that Doddy might have referred to Icky).

However most references seem to allude to Icky as being a sort of bogeyman, whom children were threatened with if they misbehaved, rather just being 'Mr Nobody', as in this poem:
http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/showthread.php?2578-Icky-the-Fire-Bobby-(CTG)

However he seems to have acquired a new role in this book!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ICKY-FIRE-BOBBY-Fire-Trouble-ebook/dp/B0057OGG20

[Tilly2]

The Stoke version is 'Icky from Bonce'. It must be the same man!

[OldFozz]

I did find this one

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/TALES+FROM+THE+PAST.-a0172478935

My dad was from Widnes, so not that far from "The Pool" but he would have been a "Woolie" not a Scouser...

[cazbar]

John Hickey lived in Liverpool England. He had always wanted to be a fire man but had a lung condition, so ended up being a book keeper instead. In his 40s, around 1900, he had some kind of breakdown, and started dressing as a fireman in his spare time, complete with tunic, helmet, hand held fire extinguisher and, worryingly, an axe. Some youths had set fire to an old mattress on some waste ground (nothing ever changes does it!) and of course Hickey arrives to put it out. One of the youths gave Hickey a bit of cheek, questioning his 'authority' as he wasn't a real fireman. For this cheek, he got a clip round the ear 'ole (as we say in Northern England) and a squirt of water in the face! Hickey continued roaming the streets of Liverpool most evenings until his axe was confiscated by the police. It's not clear what happened to him after that, but no doubt it could be researched. He then became a kind of bogey man character used by parents: "Do as you're told or Icky the Fire Bobby will get you!" As he did have a bit of form for physical violence no doubt the story spread fast and was quite effective! I lived in Southport, about 25 miles from Liverpool, and was a child in the 60s, and by then his Mr Nobody type purpose was also established "So if you didn't do it, I suppose Icky the Fire Bobby did then?!" or something along those lines. I'm not sure if he still held a more bogeyman role in Liverpool itself though. Hope this helps