Group    From 1865 

London Fire Brigade

Categories: Emergency Services

The London Fire Engine Establishment, formed in 1833 under the leadership of James Braidwood, was a private organisation funded by insurance companies, mainly aimed at saving material goods from fires. In 1865, following the Tooley Street fire and others, the publicly-funded and managed Metropolitan Fire Brigade was created, under the control of the Metropolitan Board of Works, later the LCC. In 1904 it was renamed as the London Fire Brigade.

From 1833 the first headquarters were at 68 Watling Street (see Beyond the Flames for some details and a photo), in the City of London. In 1878 moved into an old workhouse on Southwark Bridge Road, extended in 1883. 1937 moved into its Lambeth HQ. In 2007 it moved from there to 169 Union Street, Southwark, practically adjacent to its previous Southwark home.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
London Fire Brigade

Commemorated ati

Dudgeon's Wharf explosion - red plaque

Unveiled on the 50th anniversary of the fire.

Read More

Eyre Massey Shaw

Sir Eyre Massey Shaw, 1830 - 1908, first chief officer of the Metropolitan Fi...

Read More

Fire Brigade HQ - Southwark

This stone relief was located above the main entrance to the former headquart...

Read More

Great fire of Tooley Street

2021: This plaque has been replaced with a similar plaque, re-branded to prom...

Read More

James Braidwood

What a great plaque. The inscription is inside a laurel wreath, in front of a...

Read More

Show all 9

This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
London Fire Brigade

Creations i

Dudgeon's Wharf explosion - oblong plaque

The unveiling of this plaque was reported in the East London Advertiser of 24...

Read More

Sidney Street siege and fire

Our colleague Alan Patient decoded JEECS into ‘Jewish East End Celebration So...

Read More

Stephen Maynard - steel plaque

Plaque erected on the 30th anniversary.

Read More

Other Subjects

Sir William MacCormac, Bart. KCB, KCVO, MD, FRCS

Sir William MacCormac, Bart. KCB, KCVO, MD, FRCS

Notable surgeon during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Strong advocate of the antiseptic surgical methods proposed by Joseph Lister and he served in conflicts such as the Boer War. An...

Person, Emergency Services, Medicine, Politics & Administration, Ireland

1 memorial
William Downes

William Downes

Auxiliary fireman killed in an air raid on Poplar

Person, Emergency Services

War dead non-military, WW2
1 memorial
Cyril Demarne

Cyril Demarne

Born Poplar.  A firefighter in WW2 he became Chief Officer of the West Ham Fire Brigade. In 1955 he moved to Australia where he set up firefighting and safety centres in Australasia and in Beirut. ...

Person, Emergency Services, Australia

War served, WW2
2 memorials
Victor Ralph Farley Chipperfield

Victor Ralph Farley Chipperfield

Co-partner or employee of the South Suburban Gas Company. Served but did not die in WW1. Victor Ralph Farley Chipperfield was born on 21 August 1897, a son of Henry William Chipperfield (b. circa ...

Person, Armed Forces, Emergency Services

War served, WW1
1 memorial
William Charles Miles

William Charles Miles

Member of the ARP/Civil Defence Services - stretcher bearer. Andrew Behan has kindly provided this research: William Charles Miles was born in 1899 and in 1937 he married Ellen Sheila Scallan (190...

Person, Emergency Services

War dead non-military, WW2
1 memorial