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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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

F. W. Clifford

F. W. Clifford

District Officer in the St John Ambulance Brigade, No. 1 District, 1920-1942. Officer in the Order of St John. Nature, No. 3806, 10 October 1942 carries Clifford's obituary. At the time of his sud...

Person, Emergency Services, Medicine, Museums / Libraries, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Capt. L. H. R. Claydon, Late RAMC (V)

Capt. L. H. R. Claydon, Late RAMC (V)

Assistant Commissioner in the St John Ambulance Brigade, No. 1 District, 1919-1924. Serving Brother in the Order of St John.

Person, Armed Forces, Emergency Services, Medicine, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Percy C. Aitchison

Percy C. Aitchison

Auxiliary Fireman Percy Charles Aitchison was born on 2 February 1914 in Brockley, London, a son of Robert Imrie Aitchison (1876-1964) and Eugenie Louise Sarah Aitchison née Demolice (1874-1939). H...

Person, Emergency Services

War dead non-military, WW2
1 memorial
PC Walter C. Choat

PC Walter C. Choat

Aged 34, killed by a burglary gang fighting their way out of a building in Cutler Street.

Person, Emergency Services, Tragedy

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

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Diana Princess of Wales

Diana Princess of Wales

Born Lady Diana Frances Spencer in Norfolk. Married the Prince of Wales at St Paul's Cathedral in London on 29 July 1981, divorced 28 August 1996. Died in a car crash in Paris with Dodi Fayed. Abov...

Person, Royalty, Seriously Famous, France

12 memorials
Guy Fawkes

Guy Fawkes

Born a protestant in York but became a Catholic when his widowed mother married a Catholic. A professional soldier, he fought for Spain but when he realised that Spain would not invade Britain and ...

Person, Execution, Nationalism, Seriously Famous

1 memorial