The London Salvage Corps was maintained by the fire offices of London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. The corps was first formed in 1865 and began operations in March 1866. It was inspired by the Liverpool Salvage Corps

Liverpool Salvage Corps

Liverpool Salvage Corps was a service in Liverpool, England, founded and maintained by fire insurers, whose aim was to reduce the loss and damage caused by fires, to help mitigate the effects of fire and of fire-fighting and to salvage both premises and goods affected by fire...

 which had been formed in 1842, to reduce the loss and damage caused by fires, to help mitigate the effects of fire and of fire-fighting and to salvage both premises and goods affected by fire.

History

The London Corps was founded by John Brookes Johnston of the Royal Insurance Company. The staff of the corps when first formed consisted of 64 men. By the early 1900s, owing to the many improvements that had taken place in the system of dealing with salvage, and the increase in work-load, staff numbers rose to over a hundred.

The various stations of the corps were well placed, and the Metropolis was mapped out so that when a fire took place it was attended as soon as possible. The headquarters were situated at Watling Street

Watling Street

Watling Street is the name given to an ancient trackway in England and Wales that was first used by the Britons mainly between the modern cities of Canterbury and St Albans. The Romans later paved the route, part of which is identified on the Antonine Itinerary as Iter III: "Item a Londinio ad...

, called the No. 1 station, and this station protected the City of London

City of London

The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

 enclosed by Euston Road

Euston Road

Euston Road is an important thoroughfare in central London, England, and forms part of the A501. It is part of the New Road from Paddington to Islington, and was opened as part of the New Road in 1756...

, Tottenham Court Road

Tottenham Court Road

Tottenham Court Road is a major road in central London, United Kingdom, running from St Giles Circus north to Euston Road, near the border of the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, a distance of about three-quarters of a mile...

, City Road

City Road

City Road or The City Road is a road that runs through inner north and central London. The northwestern extremity of the road is at the Angel, Islington where it forms a continuation of Pentonville Road. Pentonville Road itself is the modern name for London's first bypass, the New Road from...

 and the river Thames - this was known as the "B" district. No. 2 station was at Commercial Road

Commercial Road

Commercial Road , in length, is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. It runs from "Gardener's Corner" , through Stepney to the junction with Burdett Road , Limehouse from which point the route becomes the East India Dock Road...

, and covered the whole of the eastern and north-eastern portion of London to the north of the Thames, and was known as "C" district. No. 3 station, opposite the headquarters of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Station in Southwark Bridge Road

Southwark Bridge Road

Southwark Bridge Road is a road in Southwark, London, England, between Newington Causeway near Elephant and Castle and Southwark Bridge across the River Thames, leading to the City of London, in a meandering route...

, protected the whole of south London

South London

South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...

, and was known as "D" district. No. 4 station, at Shaftesbury Avenue

Shaftesbury Avenue

Shaftesbury Avenue is a major street in central London, England, named after Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, that runs in a north-easterly direction from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus....

, covered the West End

West End of London

The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...

 and Kensington

Kensington

Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...

 - "A" district. Finally, No. 5 station, in Upper Street, Islington, protected the parish of Islington.

Staff

The working staff (which was mainly recruited from the royal navy in the early 1900s) consisted of a chief officer and a superintendent, foreman and crew of men at each station. The stations of the corps were connected by telephone with the fire brigade stations who relayed calls to them. In addition to the "home" staff, there were also staff constantly employed, during the daytime, inspecting docks, wharves, "Manchester" (i.e.: cotton) goods and uptown warehouses, and reports were made weekly to a committee.

Duties

Generally speaking, the work of the Corps was divided into two distinct classes: (1) Services at fires and (2) Watching and working salvage.

Services at fires

Services at Fires formed the most important feature of the work. Much depended upon the method of dealing with the salvage. If, for instance, the upper part of a large Manchester goods warehouse was on fire, it would be of very little advantage to the offices interested in the risk if the men were set to work removing stock from the ground floor. The best method would be to cover up with tarpaulin all goods there, and prevent the water from collecting on the lower floors.

The most important work of the corps was to prevent damage to goods - the damage from fire was left almost entirely to the fire brigade. The "traps", which immediately on receipt of an alarm proceeded to the scene of the fire with their crew of men, carried every kind of apparatus for the saving of goods from destruction by fire or damage by water, as well as limelight

Limelight

Limelight is a type of stage lighting once used in theatres and music halls. An intense illumination is created when an oxyhydrogen flame is directed at a cylinder of quicklime , which can be heated to 2572 °C before melting. The light is produced by a combination of incandescence and...

apparatus for use in working after the fire had been extinguished - thus enabling the men to note the position of dangerous walls etc. They also carried portable coal-gas apparatus, which could be employed in the interior of buildings when the ordinary means of illumination had failed, and ambulance appliances for emergencies.

Watching and working salvage

When a fire took place, a man was left behind in charge of the salvage if the property was insured. If there was uncertainty over whether the property was insured, but it appeared probable that it was, a man was left until the information was obtained later. The duty, if an important one, was divided into a day and night duty. This enabled an experienced man to be sent on day duty to meet the surveyor, and to carry out his instructions regarding the working out of the salvage; and a junior man at night. The day man, if working out salvage, would employ a number of men called strangers, over whom he acted as a kind of foreman. The working out might take the form of dividing up damaged goods into lots ready for a sale to be held by the surveyor, or of sifting over the debris to find remains of certain articles claimed for. If, for instance, a large fire occurred at a pianoforte manufacturers, and the debris was all in one common heap, the London Salvage Corps might have to arrange certain quantities of pegs and wires in order to give an idea of the number of pianos before the fire. The watching continued until the loss was settled, when the charge of the premises was given over to the assured.

Scandal

During the 1930s the service was accused of participating in a criminal arson scandal. At the trial of Leopold Harris in 1934, he testified that he had had nearly every Salvage Corps officer "in his pocket". The arson ring took £500,000 in false insurance claims.