EXTINGUISHMENT BY COMPANY. THE BEGINNINGS OF FIRE INSURANCE.
"Cannot provision be made against loss by fire?"
Looking at the terrible ruin caused in 1666, prudent men would naturally
begin to ask this question. And some enterprising individual declared
that a scheme must be launched whereby such provision might be made.
So, although proposals and probably attempts for fire insurance had been
made before, by individuals or clubs, and by Anglo-Saxon guilds; yet we
read that "a combination of persons"--which, in the words of to-day, we
suppose means a company--opened "the first regular office for insuring
against loss by fire" in 1681.
Of course, another speedily followed. That is our English way. But both
of these have disappeared. One, however,--the appropriately named
Hand-in-Hand, which was opened in 1696,--still survives, and added
life-insurance business in 1836. The Sun was projected in 1708 and
started in 1710, the Union followed four years later, the Westminster in
1717, the London in 1720, and the Royal Exchange in the same year.
[Illustration: LONDON FIREMAN IN 1696.]
Therefore, the close of the seventeenth and the beginning of the
eighteenth centuries saw the practice of fire insurance well established
in Britain as an organized system. Now, these offices not only undertook
to repay the insurers for losses, but also to extinguish the fires
themselves. This latter, indeed, was fully regarded as an integral part
of their business. Thus, one of the prospectuses of an early fire-office
states that "watermen and other labourers are to be employed, at the
charge of the undertakers, to assist at the quenching of fires." And it
is worthy of note that, while the earliest men employed were watermen,
the London Fire-Brigade to-day will only accept able-bodied sailors as
their recruits.
[Illustration: FIRE-INSURANCE BADGES.]
The offices dressed their men in livery, and gave them badges; the men
dwelt in different parts of the city, and were expected to be ready when
any fires occurred. Even to-day the interest of the companies in the
extinguishment of fires is recognized, and their early connection
therewith maintained; for they pay the London County Council £30,000
annually toward the support of the brigade.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the fire-offices had notably
increased in numbers. Thus, in 1810 there were sixteen, and some of
their names will be recognized to-day. In addition to the Hand-in-Hand
and the Sun, were the Phoenix (1782), the Royal Exchange, the North
British (1809), the Imperial (1803), and the Atlas, dating from 1808;
there was also the Caledonian, dating from 1805.
Each company fixed its badge to the building insured, a course which
appears to have been suggested by the Sun, and adopted so that the
firemen of the different companies might know to which office the
burning house belonged.
The badge was stamped in sheet-lead, and was painted and gilded; but the
badges for the firemen appear usually to have been of brass, and were
fixed to the left arm. Each company not only kept its own engines and
its staff of firemen, but also clad its men in distinctive uniforms. The
dress for the Sun Office consisted of coat, waistcoat, and breeches of
dark-blue cloth, adorned with shining brass buttons. The brass badge
represented the usual conventional face of the sun, with the rays of
light around, and the name placed above.
The helmet was of horse-hide, with cross-bars of metal. It was made of
leather inside, but stuffed and quilted with wool. This quilting would,
it was hoped, protect the head from falling stones or timbers, dangers
which are still the greatest perils threatening firemen at their work.
By-and-by, Parliament made some effort towards organizing fire
extinction. In 1774, a law was passed, providing that the parish
overseers and churchwardens should maintain an engine to extinguish
fires within their own boundaries. These engines were doubtless manned
in many parishes, especially in rural districts, by voluntary workers,
who sometimes were probably not even enrolled in an organized voluntary
brigade; the police also in certain places undertook fire duty. But
"what is every one's business is no one's business," and for various
reasons numbers of these parish fire-engines fell into disuse.
In short, the organization for the extinguishment of fires was
thoroughly unsatisfactory. The men belonging to the different companies
were too often rivals, when they should have been co-workers; each
naturally gave special attention to the houses bearing their badges. We
obtain a remarkable picture of the inefficiency prevailing in a letter
from an eye-witness, Sir Patrick Walker, in No. 9 of the _Scots
Magazine_ in 1814. It refers to Edinburgh, but doubtless is true of
other places.
[Illustration: ROYAL EXCHANGE FIREMAN.
(_From a portrait._)]
Sir Patrick had taken an active part in endeavouring to arrest a
conflagration, and he remarks on "a total absence of combined and
connected aid, which must often render abortive all exertions." The
chief defect, he declares, lies "in having company engines, which
creates a degree of jealousy among the men who work them." When all
success depended on their united efforts, then they were most
discordant. There were often more engines than water to adequately
supply them, consequently no engine had probably enough to be efficient.
The remedy, he held, was to abolish all names or marks, and form the
whole into one body on military principles.
Curiously enough, the brigade that was formed in London has come to be
regulated rather on naval than on military principles; but the essence
of Sir Patrick's suggestion was undoubtedly sound. He also complained
greatly of the waste of water by hand-carrying, which, moreover, created
great confusion.
These grave defects were, no doubt, also felt keenly by the London
fire-offices, and in 1825 some of them combined to form one brigade.
They were the Sun, the Phoenix, the Royal Exchange, the Union, and the
Atlas; and seven years later, in the memorable year 1832, all the more
important companies united.
In this action they were led by Mr. R. Bell Ford, director of the Sun
Fire-Office. The organization then formed was called the London
Fire-Engine Establishment, and had nineteen stations and eighty men. It
was placed under the superintendence of Mr. James Braidwood, a name
never to be forgotten in the story of fire-brigades and their work.
But to learn something of this great man and his daring deeds and noble
career, we must change the scene to Edinburgh.