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The London Archives

Fire Brigade records [Large Image]

Research Guide
bishopsgate-fire-station-in-1935

1. About this guide

This guide explores how to use the records of the London Fire Brigade and its predecessors to find information on fires, firefighters and other staff.

2. Who was responsible for firefighting in London?

After the Great Fire of London in 1666, firefighters were employed by various insurance companies to tackle fires in buildings that they insured. These brigades merged in 1833 to form the London Fire Engine Establishment (LFEE), a private enterprise funded by the insurance companies.

Following the Tooley Street Fire of 1861, the insurance companies wrote to the Home Secretary suggesting that a public body should be set up to be responsible for fires in London. This led to the formation of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) in 1866, a public body controlled by Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW).

The MFB became the responsibility of the London County Council (LCC) in 1889 and was renamed the London Fire Brigade (LFB) in 1904.

In 1938, the threat of war led to the formation of the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) to supplement the work of local brigade. The Auxiliary Fire Service and local brigades merged into a National Fire Service (NFS) between 18 August 1941 and 31 March 1948. The LCC resumed control of the London Fire Brigade on 1 April 1948.

On 1 April 1948 the Middlesex Fire Brigade (MFB) was also established. This brigade, run by the Middlesex County Council (MCC), was responsible for fires in the county of Middlesex. Before the war, this was the concern of urban districts and municipal boroughs.

In 1965, with the formation of the Greater London Council, the LFB was enlarged to deal with fires across the whole of Greater London. The brigade was subsequently governed by the following bodies:

  • 1965 to 1986: Greater London Council (GLC)
  • 1986 to 2000: London Fire and Civil Defence Authority (LFCDA)
  • 2000 to 2018: London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA)
  • 2018 onwards: London Fire Commissioner (LFC), a functional body of the Greater London Authority (GLA).

3. Looking for an individual fire

If you are researching a particular fire, please start by gathering as much detail as possible from local newspapers. Many newspapers are available to search on the British Newspaper Archive. Once you have an approximate date, you can then search the fire reports listed below. Fire reports are registers which record incidents attended by the Fire Brigade.

Fires in London

The main records for fire reports for London can be found in the following sources:

Fires in Middlesex

Primary sources for fire reports in the former County of Middlesex can be found in the following records:

4. Looking for staff records

Staff in London

We do not hold personnel files but we do have some supplementary staff records.

For the period between 1833 and 1850, firemen are listed in the back of the minute books of the London Fire Engine Establishment Committee in CLC/B/017/MS15728

From 1866, surviving records for the Metropolitan/London Fire Brigade are listed in LCC/FB/STA/03. Key records are:

  • Register of disciplinary cases, 1866 to 1869 in LCC/FB/STA/03/016
  • Register of men who left the Brigade, 1876 to 1916 in LCC/FB/STA/03/037
  • Register of candidates for enrolment in the Brigade, 1881 to 1920 in LCC/FB/STA/03/017-020
  • Wages book for workshop staff, 1903 to 1907 in LCC/FB/STA/03/033
  • Record sheets of regular Brigade personnel who left the service, 1920 to 1941 in LCC/FB/STA/03/028
  • Record sheets of regular Brigade personnel serving in 1941 in LCC/FB/STA/03/021–027
  • Register of regular personnel absorbed into National Fire Service in 1941 in LCC/FB/STA/03/034
  • Record sheets of watchroom attendants serving in 1941 in LCC/FB/STA/03/029
  • Record sheets of administrative, clerical and technical staff leaving before 1960 in LCC/FB/STA/03/030–032

For firefighting staff enrolled in the Auxiliary Fire Service from 1938, see LCC/FB/WAR/04/012–014. These volumes are not detailed but do give their name, district, fire station, and date and reason for leaving.

Documents relating to honours and awards given to staff during the Second World War can be found in LCC/FB/WAR/01.

Staff in Middlesex

Personnel files survive for staff who worked for the Middlesex Fire Brigade and resigned before 31 March 1965. See MCC/FB/STA/03 for uniformed staff, MCC/FB/STA/04 for auxiliary staff and MCC/FB/STA/05 for non-uniformed staff.

Records relating to honours and awards given to staff can be found in MCC/FB/GEN/08/019–030.

5. Records held elsewhere

The LFB holds some staff records from 1860 to date. For pre-1923 records contact the London Fire Brigade Museum at museum@london-fire.gov.uk. For later staff records contact their Records Services Department at RecordsServices@london-fire.gov.uk.

For records of pre-1941 urban district and municipal borough fire brigades in Middlesex contact the archives of the relevant successor London borough.

The records of the Fire Brigades Union from 1919 to date are held at Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick.