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.

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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.

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Eyre Massey Shaw

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

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Fire Brigade HQ - Southwark

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

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Great fire of Tooley Street

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

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James Braidwood

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

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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...

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Sidney Street siege and fire

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

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Stephen Maynard - steel plaque

Plaque erected on the 30th anniversary.

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Other Subjects

Robert Fabian

Robert Fabian

Robert Honey Fabian was born in Lewisham. He joined the police in 1921 and rose to the rank of Detective Superintendent in the Metropolitan Police. We wonder if he managed to keep his middle name s...

Person, Emergency Services, Literature

1 memorial
Fireman Jeremiah Donovan

Fireman Jeremiah Donovan

Died in a fire at St Stephens Hospital, Chelsea. Jeremiah Donovan was born on 10 March 1905 in Battersea, London, one of the six children of Jeremiah Donovan (b.1868) and Mary Donovan née Cunningh...

Person, Armed Forces, Emergency Services

War dead non-military, WW2
1 memorial
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
Terry Hunt

Terry Hunt

Terence James Hunt was born on 12 December 1957 and lived in Chadwell Heath, Essex. He was a firefighter attached to Silvertown fire station who died, aged 33 years, on 10 July 1991 while fighting...

Person, Emergency Services, Tragedy

2 memorials
Lt.-Col. John Lees Hall, MRCS, LRCP (FD)

Lt.-Col. John Lees Hall, MRCS, LRCP (FD)

Deputy Commissioner in the St John Ambulance Brigade, No. 1 District Metropolitan Corps, 1907-1915. Knight Grace in the Order of St John. The BMJ, 1915 Aug 28; 2(2852): 351 carries an obituary: "L...

Person, Armed Forces, Emergency Services, Medicine

1 memorial