Fire service historian and author

Roger Mardon

www.romar.org.uk

© Copyright Roger Mardon

www.romar.org.uk

All rights reserved

Home | Books | Galleries | Facts | News | Help! | Links | Contact | Terms of Use

Battersea

Bermondsey

Bethnal Green

Camberwell

Chelsea

Deptford

Finsbury

Fulham

Greenwich

Hackney

Hammersmith

Hampstead

Holborn

Islington

Kensington

Lambeth

Lewisham

Paddington

Poplar

St. Marylebone

St. Pancras

Shoreditch

Southwark

Stepney

Stoke Newington

Wandsworth

Westminster

Woolwich

Barking

Barnet

Bexley

Brent

Bromley

Camden

Croydon

Ealing

Enfield

Greenwich

Hackney

Hammersmith

Haringey

Harrow

Havering

Hillingdon

Hounslow

Islington

Kensington & Chelsea (Royal)

Kingston upon Thames (Royal)

Lambeth

Lewisham

Merton

Newham

Redbridge

Richmond-upon-Thames

Southwark

Sutton

Tower Hamlets

Waltham Forest

Wandsworth

Westminster (City)

Before the Great Fire of London in 1666,  buckets, hooks and squirts were the main equipment of fire protection. They were looked after, in theory, by parish officers but organised firefighting had disappeared with the Romans when they left Britain over a thousand years earlier. There were primitive fire engines comprising a cistern, which was filled by buckets, and a manual force pump which produced intermittent squirts of water.

The Great Fire encouraged London citizens and merchants to initiate a system of fire insurance. Nicholas Barbon, in partnership with others, set up the first fire insurance office and soon realised the folly of standing by while insured buildings burned. By 1680 he had formed a private fire brigade to protect his interests and from then on the insurance offices and their fire brigades offered the best protection London had enjoyed for centuries. Public provision for fire protection was made in 1707 when parishes in London were required to provide and maintain a large engine, a hand engine and leather hose. The insurance brigades amalgamated under the London Fire Engine Establishment which came into operation on 1 January 1833, managed by a committee of a director of each contributing fire office.

The saving of life from fire was a secondary activity of the insurance brigades and the Fire Escape Society was formed in 1828 in recognition of the high loss of life in fires. Six wheeled escape ladders were provided, each under the control of a conductor whose responsibility was to ‘run’ the escape to a fire with such help from members of  the public as he could muster. The organisation as not well supported and eight years later it was succeeded by the Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire.

Before the Metropolis Management Act 1855 there were about 300 governing bodies in London, mostly self-elected or corrupt, including pavement commissioners, turnpike boards, lighting commissioners and sewers commissioners. The Act established parish vestries and district boards, and the Metropolitan Board of Works was set up as the central authority for the drainage, paving, cleansing, lighting, and improvement of the area. As a result of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865, the Board assumed responsibility for the fire engine establishment and maintained it out of public funds from 1866. The Metropolitan Fire Brigade, as it was known from then onwards, took over the escapes of the Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire in the following year. London now had its first effective public fire brigade.

The London County Council (LCC) was constituted under the Local Government Act 1888 and took over the responsibilities of the Metropolitan Board of Works on 21 March 1889. The London Government Act 1899 established 28 metropolitan boroughs to replace the vestries and district boards but the City of London remained a separate authority. Under these arrangements, the local authorities in London were the LCC, the City of London Corporation and the metropolitan boroughs, namely

The LCC was the fire authority for London but it was not until 1904 that the London County Council (General Powers) Act authorised the change of name from Metropolitan Fire Brigade to London Fire Brigade.

The London Government Act 1963 brought major changes to this organisation. With effect from 1 April 1965, the area of London was enlarged from 117 square miles to 620 square miles and the LCC was replaced by the Greater London Council (GLC). The county of Middlesex, and the county boroughs of Croydon, East Ham and West Ham were abolished, along with their fire brigades, and taken into the enlarged area. (County boroughs were the equivalent of today’s unitary authorities and were fire authorities.) Fifty-four borough and county districts from Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey were also absorbed by Greater London.

Fire stations transferred to London from the county borough and county brigades were -

Since the 1965 reorganisation, Greater London has comprised the City of London, which remains a separate authority, and the 32 London boroughs listed below -

The GLC remained the strategic authority for the Capital until it was abolished with effect from 1 April 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985. As fire authority it was succeeded by the London Fire & Civil Defence Authority (LFCDA).

London’s administration suffered yet another change to usher in the present system. The Greater London Authority Act 1999 created a form of regional government for London with a directly elected mayor and a London Assembly, effective from the year 2000. The Mayor is responsible for London-wide issues and sets the budget for London-wide services, including the fire brigade. The fire authority under this system is the London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA), whose members are appointed by the Mayor. Nine are selected from the Assembly and eight are selected from the councillors of the London boroughs, in each case to reflect the political balance of their respective bodies.

Previous

Next

Back to top