London Salvage Corps - Watling Street, London, UK - Blue Plaques on Waymarking.com

The plaque, that is above the entrance to a restaurant, reads:

On this site stood
the Headquarters
of the
London
Salvage Corps
1907 to 1960

The London Salvage Corps Association website tells us:

The events leading up to the establishment of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (later known as the London Fire Brigade) took place over a period of many years. The Great Fire of London in 1666 underlined the need for fire insurance and for a more organised means of fighting fires. The first fire offices came into being and fire fighting bodies were set up on a Parish basis. In 1833 ten insurance offices announced the formation of a Fire Engine Establishment “with a view to the better protection of the property and lives of the inhabitants of the metropolis and its vicinity”. The London Salvage Corps came into being in January 1866. Its advent was heralded by the passing of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act of 1865 which laid the responsibility for fighting fires in London upon the Metropolitan Board of Works and which also conferred upon the fire insurance companies insuring property within the Metropolis, the right to establish a separate salvage force charged with the duty of attending at fires and saving insured property.

On the 22nd December 1865 a meeting took place at the London Fire Engine Establishment in Watling Street of twenty four fire insurance offices where it was agreed “That it is expedient immediately to establish a Salvage Corp in the service of the Offices independent of the Fire Brigade of the Metropolitan Board of Works”. This fire fighting force was used as a public service and its benefits were shared by insured and uninsured alike but at the expense of the fire insurance policyholders. The costs of providing such a service became increasingly onerous and the insurance offices concerned proposed to the Government that they should hand over their entire Fire Engine Establishment to any suitable authority. By 1865 the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act was passed and in 1866 the stations and all appliances and stock were transferred to the Metropolitan Board of Works, without charge, Thus the stage was set for the establishment of the London Salvage Corps and eighteen fire insurance offices became the founder members.

The historical note would not be complete without reference to the part played by the Corps during the years of the Second World War. Heavy unit pumps were kept at each Corps station and when London was under heavy attack from the air, members of the Corps were engaged almost every night fighting fires in the Metropolis. By the 1980s the Corps attended all fire calls in the City and near East and West end areas and all significant fires and floods in the Greater London area. They worked alongside the Fire Brigade controlling damage by protecting contents from fire fighting operations, pumping out, ventilating and drying out also temporary roof and security protection and a post fire and security watching duties. Following the Moorgate tube disaster in February 1975, where the Corps provided emergency services, the Corps was included in London’s Major Emergency plans. All the Corps services were still being rendered free to insured and uninsured property, the costs still being born entirely by the Insurance offices and their policyholders, unlike the Fire Brigades costs which were financed by all London rate payers.

The historical note would not be complete without reference to the part played by the Corps during the years of the Second World War. Heavy unit pumps were kept at each Corps station and when London was under heavy attack from the air, members of the Corps were engaged almost every night fighting fires in the Metropolis. By the 1980s the Corps attended all fire calls in the City and near East and West end areas and all significant fires and floods in the Greater London area. They worked alongside the Fire Brigade controlling damage by protecting contents from fire fighting operations, pumping out, ventilating and drying out also temporary roof and security protection and a post fire and security watching duties. Following the Moorgate tube disaster in February 1975, where the Corps provided emergency services, the Corps was included in London’s Major Emergency plans. All the Corps services were still being rendered free to insured and uninsured property, the costs still being born entirely by the Insurance offices and their policyholders, unlike the Fire Brigades costs which were financed by all London rate payers.

In the early 1980’s meetings took place between the Insurance Office representatives, central Government and the London Fire Brigade with a view to incorporating the services undertaken by the Corps into the London Fire Brigade’s general services. As a direct result of these meetings an agreement was reached and the Corps was disbanded in April 1984. All of its equipment, vehicles and Headquarters premises were offered to the London Fire Brigade, much of which was accepted and used. The staff were not as lucky, due to reasons of age, recruiting conditions and staffing costs, very few of the general staff were trained and absorbed into the London Fire Brigade. Those remaining were offered early retirement (depending on their age and service) and the rest were made redundant.

The London Salvage Corps Association was formed almost immediately following the disbandment and is still going strong to this day.

The AIM website additionally tells us:

The London Salvage Corps and the London Fire Engine Establishment were created and maintained by the principal fire insurance offices of London. The London Fire Engine Establishment had undertaken salvage work as part of its normal fire extinguishing duties. However, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act of 1865 was vague enough to enable the Metropolitan Board of Works to refuse responsibility for any salvage work without payment. The amount sought by the Metropolitan Board of Works for this service exceeded that for which an independent salvage corps could be maintained by the fire offices themselves. Therefore it was decided at a meeting of the London Fire Engine Establishment on 22 December 1865 to establish a salvage corps independent of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. The London Salvage Corps commenced operations during January 1866. The original subscribers to the London Salvage Corps were the Alliance, Atlas, Globe, Imperial, London, Protector, Royal Exchange, Sun, Union and Westminster fire offices, but membership varied subsequently.

The London Salvage Corps was based at 31 Watling Street until 1873, 63-64 Watling Street from 1874 to 1884, 64 Watling Street from 1885 until 1905, 63-66 Watling Street from 1906 until sometime after 1955. The Corps was located at 140 Aldersgate Street when it was wound up in 1984.

The Printers and Theatres Rating Committee (Southern Committee) was set up under the auspices of the London Salvage Corps towards the end of the 19th century to administer a scheme for the rating of insurance premiums on theatres, music halls and printers and allied trades. The scheme was later extended to cinemas and film production studios. The Southern Rating Committee became increasingly associated with the Fire Offices' Committee rather than the London Salvage Corps until, in 1962, its administration was taken over by the Fire Offices' Committee.