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

Fm. Arthur J. Batt Rawden

Fm. Arthur J. Batt Rawden

Firefighter who died as a result of a fire at Langley St, WC2. Rawden, Hawkins and Gadd died 11-23 May 1954.

Person, Emergency Services

1 memorial
Fireman Barry Charles Trussell

Fireman Barry Charles Trussell

Died a month after attending a fire in the Intensive Care Unit of Tooting’s St Georges Hospital. He was buried following a sudden flash explosion in the storeroom, taken to the special burns unit o...

Person, Emergency Services

2 memorials
J. T. Bennett

J. T. Bennett

Either lost his life, or gave distinguished service to the London Fire Brigade, and was buried in the Highgate Cemetery plot between 1884 and 1955.

Person, Emergency Services

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

3 memorials
W. E. Nash

W. E. Nash

Either lost his life, or gave distinguished service to the London Fire Brigade, and was buried in the Highgate Cemetery plot between 1884 and 1955.

Person, Emergency Services

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Crown Film Unit

Crown Film Unit

Formerly the G.P.O. Film Unit, it was an organisation within the British Government's Ministry of Information during World War II. Its remit was to make films for the general public in Britain and ...

Group, Cinema

1 memorial
Anna Kendall

Anna Kendall

Headteacher of Christ Church Primary School, 1992 - 2009. The image comes from a 2010 interview.

Person, Children, Education

2 memorials
The Crown Estate

The Crown Estate

Some of these plaques have an 'R' representing Regent Street which was (2024 defunct) a Crown Estate website promoting Regent Street as a shopping destination.  Wikipedia had (2025: the map is no ...

Group, Gardens / Agriculture, Property

3 memorials
Greenwich Station

Greenwich Station

Located on the line between London and Dartford, it was originally part of the London and Greenwich Railway. It is also part of The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) extension to Lewisham which opened ...

Building, Transport

1 memorial
Christ Church, Lambeth

Christ Church, Lambeth

The photo, c.1910, shows the complex of buildings. Damaged in WW2 the church was demolished sometime before 1958, all but the tall Lincoln Tower.

Building, Religion

1 memorial