Fires Collection

Blitz in the City of London - AFS firefighters, WW2
Blitz in the City of London - AFS firefighters at work with hoses following a bombing raid. Date: 1940s

Blitz in London -- St Bride Street, Farringdon Street, WW2
Blitz in London -- St Bride Street and Farringdon Street, with firefighters at work in a smoky atmosphere and pedestrians walking by

A Dreadnought firing her great guns. Date: circa 1910s

Mad Metal Robot
THE MAD ROBOT by William P McGivern. A brave man fires a ray-gun at an advancing metal robot with large claws and a brain encassed in a glass-domed head Date: 1944

WW2 poster, Back Them Up! Showing a British commando raid on a German-held port in Norway. Date: 1940s

H H Sheikh of Kuwait Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
The 10th Monarch of Kuwait (between 1921-1950)

18th century fire engines
Various early fire engines and firefighting equipment from the 18th century Date: 18th century

LCC-LFB Aftermath of a fire in Hare Street, SE18
A retail shop and dwellings above were seriously affected by a fire in Hare Street, London SE18, requiring additional fire engines to combat it

Commandos Crossing the Rhine at Wesel; Second World War, 194
Sketch showing the night crossing of the River Rhine, made by British Royal Marine Commandos of the 21st Army Group, near Wesel in Germany, 23rd March 1945

Horse drawn fire engine
A horse drawn fire engine

1st Petrol Fire-Engine
A combination fire-fighting engine, with chemical fire extinguishing apparatus and a fire-escape ladder. This model was the first petrol motor fire-engine in the world

Pyne - Bargemen
THAMES BARGE MEN Barges are an essential part of the transport system, bringing coal for fires, hay for horses, by river and canal

Fire Safety Hop Pickers
Notice to Hop-pickers giving advice as to fire prevention and what to do in case of a fire. Issued by Fire Offices Committee Fire Protection Association

Fire-Fighting Motorcycle
Merryweathers fire-fighting motor-cycle and sidecar unit of 1910, with manual fire- pump mounted on a platform

Manual Fire-Engine / 1885
Factory Pattern Manual Fire- engine constructed by Merryweathers for the use of factory fire brigade

Merryweathers Engine
Merryweather Three-in-one Motor Fire-Engine, with a Fire Suds apparatus producing a semi-fluid substance which floats on burning liquids and smothers the flames

Great Fire of London
Old St Pauls cathedral engulfed by flames

Eyre Massey Shaw / 1890
Sir EYRE MASSEY SHAW Leader of fire brigades and author on the techniques and technicalities of fighting fires

Great Fire of London
The blazing city seen from the south bank of the Thames

Sutherland Fire Engine
Merryweathers Sutherland fire-engine, which gained first prize at the international contest at the Crystal Palace. The engine continued in use for 27 years

Fire Engine in Action
A London fire-engine in action racing to a burning building

Electric Fires 1929
Electrical heaters give cosy warmth instantly day and night no fumes no smoke, products for Harrods catalogue electrical department. 1929

Blitz in London -- Turnmill Street, Clerkenwell, WW2
Blitz in London -- Turnmill Street, Clerkenwell. General view showing the fire damage caused by incendiary bombs on 21 February 1944, including the top floor of the Steam Pipe Company. Date: 1944

London Salvage Corps at work with salvage sheets
The London Salvage Corps were financed by the Insurance Companies and were not part of the London Fire Brigade

NFS (London Region) ordinary fire in Islington, WW2
A fire in a shop and dwelling in Liverpool Street, Islington, North London

Blitz in London -- AFS personnel receiving treatment, WW2
With the Blitz still at its height

LCC-LFB emergency dam unit and trailer pump, WW2
Emergency water supplies were vital to supplementing the available mains supply for fighting the vast swathe of fires that swept parts of London during the Blitz

View of City fires from St Pauls Cathedral, WW2
Blitz in London -- view of City fires from St Pauls Cathedral following an air raid

Fighting fires at Thames Haven oil tanks, WW2
Fighting fires at Thames Haven oil tanks during the Second World War

London Fire Brigade, second Brixton Riots
On 28 September 1985 the second Brixton riot erupted. After the arrest of a man following a shooting incident, a largely black crowd protested at Brixton Police station in Lambeth, South London

Dick Turpin shoots fellow highwayman, Tom King Date: 1839

Fire Engine of 1666
The early fire engine named Ye Deluge, used at the Great Fire of London in 1666 and attended the first fire at Bournemouth

Saint Hyacinth carrying an image of the Virgin
Hyacinth, Silesian saint who escaped from the flames of Kiev during an attack on a monastery by the Tartars because he was carrying an image of the Virgin. His feast day is 17 August

LFB major control unit in operation at a fire
LFB firefighters in action, and a major Control Unit vehicle in attendance at a fire, 7 October 1955

Blitz in London -- salvaged mail, Calthorpe Street, WW2
Blitz in London -- following the bombing of Mount Pleasant Post Office on 18 June 1943, salvaged mail was temporarily piled up in nearby Calthorpe Street. Date: 1943

Trocortesian or Madrid Codex. s. XIV. Detail
Trocortesian or Madrid Codex. s.XIV. Detail

LCC-LFB Serious office fire, Farringdon Street EC4
Two turntable ladders deployed at an office building fire in Farringdon Street, City of London, 16 November 1934

Battery firing at Japanese positions - Burma
A Battery commanded by Major O.T. Hackett fires a 3.7 Howitzer (light artillery) at Japanese positions in the Burma Hills - circa 1945. The Battery is itself under fire

Armada / Warning Beacons
THE SPANISH ARMADA Beacon-fires warn of the approach of the Spanish Armada

Roman Fire Engine / Pump
Roman fire engine, consisting of two double-cylindered force pumps worked by means of a rocking beam (now lost)

Between Two Fires 17C
A Puritan traveller is caught between two fires at a wayside inn

Elephant Hunt (Dore)
An intrepid hunter takes on an entire herd of elephants and fires at one of them from point-blabk range. In a moment he will be trampled to death, and serve him right

1st Steam Fire Engine
The first steam-powered fire engine by Ericsson and Braithwaite, used at several fires very successfully

TOZER FIRE PUMP / C. 1870
Tozer Fire-Pump, a portable and extremely useful fire- pump, named after the Chief Officer of the Fire Brigade of the City of Birmingham

Portable Steam Pump / 1883
Valiant portable Steam Pump. designed and patented by Merryweathers in 1883. A powerful self-contained pumping engine

Great Fire of Chicago
More than half of the city is destroyed by a fire

Late C18 Fire Engine
Known as a bed-poster, this London engine is a manual machine worked by pumping handles on either side : a Beadle and a Watchman are in official attendance

Fire Fighting 1666
Hand squirts, leather buckets, axe and helmet from the period of the Great Fire of London (in the Merryweather Collection)

Earths Central Fire
Cross-section of the globe showing the central fire, the lateral fires, and the volcanoes where the fire breaks out on the surface

Horse drawn fire engine, Trafalgar Square, London
A horse drawn fire engine races past Trafalgar Square, Central London

Canadian Fire Department
Canadian fire services and engine Date: 1950s

Firemen at Chipping Norton Workhouse, Oxfordshire
Firemen stand in a burnt-out section of the Chipping Norton workhouse in Oxfordshire following a fire on 19 March 1911. Sewing machines and cotton reels amongst the debris indicate a sewing room

Belgian Artillery Battery in action - WWI
Belgian Artillery Battery in action - screened (partially!) by trees - early months of WWI. Date: circa 1914

French Fireman 1850
French firemen - (sapeurs-pomiers) Date: 1850

Printemps Store Aflame
Printemps Department Store in flames, Paris

Abbots Leigh church after the fire
Engraving of the church in Abbots Leigh near Bristol, which suffered a fire on 20th February 1848

C17th Fire Engine / Dutch
An early fire engine in use in Holland. The first flexible hose was invented by Jan van der Heijden in 1672 in the Netherlands, and a pre-cursor of this may be shown here

Motor Fire-Boat / London
The Beta III one of the London Fire Brigades several fire-boats, constructed by Merryweathers in 1926

Electric Fire Engine
Merryweathers electrically propelled fire-engine, which enabled 12 men to travel on the vehicle

PIANO-TYPE FIRE ENGINE
Piano type manual fire-engine, named after a resemblance of the shape of the bodywork to that instrument. Nozzles and branch-pipes were carried on brackets on the main frame

Steam Fire Engine
Canterburys steam fire- engine, built be Messrs Merryweather & sons, of Greenwich

FOULIS GAS FIRE / 1889
Foulis Patent Regenerative Gas fire, supplied by the Carron Company. Universally admitted to be the most efficient gas fires by the trade both at home and abroad

London Fireman 1750
A London fireman stands beside his engine : he is employed by an insurance company, the Hand-in-hand whose uniform he wears

Great Fire of London
Street scene during the Great Fire of London

Comic postcard, Keep the home fires burning - woman shocked to see fire coming out of the chimney Date: 1914-1918

Page from The Illustrated London News showing a pThe 1861 Tooley Street fire, also called the Great Fire of Tooley Street, started in Cotton's Wharf on Tooley Street, London, England

France. Paris Commune. Arsonist firefighters surprised
France. Paris Commune. Popular revolutionary movement that took power in Paris from 18 March to 28 May 1871, during the Franco-Prussian War. Arsonist firefighters surprised by Versailles troops

France. Paris Commune. Rue de Rivoli (Rivoli Street)
France. Paris Commune. Popular revolutionary movement that took power in Paris from 18 March to 28 May 1871, during the Franco-Prussian War

Fires spreading uncontrolled during WWII air raid drawn by Fireman Reginald Mills - In the Service of the Nation, The N.F.S. Goes Into Action booklet 1944. Date: 1944

Fires across the Thames following WWII air raid drawn by National Fire Service Fireman Reginald Mills - In the Service of the Nation, The N.F.S. Goes Into Action booklet 1944. Date: 1944

Russia. Fires on the night-eve of the Feasts of Saint John or Kupula Night. Engraving by Lemaitre, Danvin and Cholet. History of Russia by Jean Marie Chopin (1796-1870)

Kawanishi H8K Nishiki Hikotei Type 2 Flying Boat Emily
Imperial Japanese Navy Kawanishi H8K Nishiki Hikotei Type 2 Flying Boat Emily Flying with an Engine-Fire after Being Shot-Down Date: 1940s

Sunset off Dunkirk during the evacuation, WW2
Sunset off Dunkirk, on the northern French coast, during the evacuation, with Junkers dive-bombers attacking shipping, and a paddle steamer hit and beached

Scene during the evacuation of Dunkirk, WW2
Scene during the evacuation of Dunkirk, on the northern French coast, with German dive-bombers attacking shipping and setting a paddle steamer on fire

Fatal fire at HMV record store, Oxford Street, London
Fatal fire at the HMV record store, Oxford Street, London, 27 December 1937, showing firefighters in action with hoses at night. Date: 1937

Japanese Fleet bombards Vladivostok - 5 March 1904
Russo-Japanese War - the Japanese Naval Fleet bombards Vladivostok - 5 March 1904 Date: 1904

A torpedo fired from HMS Afridi - British Destroyer
A torpedo fired from HMS Afridi - Britains Biggest Destroyer (at this time). Date: circa 1939

Consolidated B-24J Liberator
USAF 491st Bg Bomber Group Consolidated B-24J Liberator Burned Wreckage Date: 1944

Abraham Wivell's Improved Fire Escape Date: 1860

WW2, Peter The Pilot Saves The Children
This illustration depicts a scene in which Peter the Royal Air Force pilot fires his fighter plane guns towards two robbers who were pursuing the children in the woods. Date: circa 1940

Vietnamese Patriotic Poster - Vent your Red Hot Anger (on the enemy) Date: circa mid-1970s

Australian Gas Light Company Advertisement
An advertisement illustration for The Australian Gas Light Company, the image shows a woman doing household chores in an all-gas home

An advert for Belling Electric Fires, suggesting that as well as creating warmth, they can also help to generate daydreams. Date: circa 1932

Advert for Coalite smokeless coal 1951
Coalite was a ideal smokeless fuel for every type of grate, cooker and boiler. Date: 1951

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