James Braidwood

James Braidwood (1800–1861) founded the world's first municipal fire service in Edinburgh in 1824, and was the first director of the London Fire Engine Establishment (the brigade which was eventually to become the London Fire Brigade).[1] He is credited with the development of the modern municipal fire service.

On 22 June 1861 his life was claimed in the Tooley Street fire at Cotton's Wharf near London Bridge station when a falling wall crushed him to death, three hours after the fire began. It took two days to recover his body and his heroism led to a massive funeral on 29 June where his funeral cortege stretched one and a half miles behind the hearse, a public spectacle equal almost to the Tooley Street fire itself. The fire, which continued to burn for a fortnight, caused £2,000,000 worth of damage. A London fireboat was named in his honour in the 1930s.

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