London based Mary Evans Picture Library has today announced representation of the London Fire Brigade archive, a major collection tracing the history and heritage of the LFB from the late 19th century to the present day. The archive holds extensive documentation of the fire service in London and is a fascinating record of the development of fire-fighting equipment and techniques and of the history of the brigade itself.
The London Fire Brigade can trace its origins back to 1666, when in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London, insurance companies established their own fire brigades with a view to limiting damage caused by future fires.
The first batch of over 2000 images from the archive includes many evocative photographs of fire-fighting during World War Two, as well as horse-drawn fire engines and other early equipment. There are also interesting scenes of the destructive 1936 fire when the Crystal Palace was burnt to the ground, while modern photography brings us right up to the 21st century, with the attempted rescue of a whale stranded in the Thames in 2006 of particular note. More material will be added online regularly from the hundreds of thousands of negatives and prints in the London Fire Brigade Archive.
“We are very pleased to be the exclusive picture agency representing the London Fire Brigade, ” says, Paul Brown, Managing Director of Mary Evans Picture Library. “Their vast holdings not only cover almost every aspect of fire-fighting over the years, but offer an alternative perspective on some of the most significant historical events in the capital over the past 150 years. The addition of the London Fire Brigade collection to our library continues our commitment to bringing unique and specialist archives to a wider image buying audience”.
View a selection of images here: Mary Evans/ LFB
Will Carleton (owner at PhotoArchiveNews.com) worked as advisor to London Fire Brigade finding a partner for the LFB archive.