Synopses & Reviews
Born 3rd September 1800 in Edinburgh, James Braidwood was educated at the Royal High School. In 1814, he joined his father's building business and trained as a Surveyor. Following the Great Fire of Edinburgh in 1824, a fire brigade was formed, the first Municipal Brigade in Britain, and he became the Master of Engines. By 1830, he had developed a scientific approach to fire fighting and written the first book on the subject in the English language. That same year he was awarded a silver medal by the Society of Arts.
By now, his fame had spread throughout the land and in 1832, he came to London to set up and take command of London's first full time fire brigade. He encountered some terrible fires, amongst them the destruction of the Houses of Parliament (1834), the Royal Exchange (1838) and the Armoury of the Tower of London (1841). In 1844, he was awarded a Telford medal by the Institution of Civil Engineers. By the 1850's, he had carried out the first fire surveys of the Royal Naval dockyards, the London Docks and numerous public buildings and palaces, including the British Museum, the Bank of England and Buckingham Palace. By now considered a worldwide authority on fire fighting, he was much respected in high places and revered by those who worked for him. The London Fire Brigade was second to none anywhere in the world.
James Braidwood lived at the brigade headquarters in Watling Street, fifty yards from the church of St Mary Aldermary. In 1838, James Braidwood married a widow, Mary Ann Jane Jackson, in this church. She already had four children and their marriage produced six more.
Braidwood was killed when a wall collapsed on him at the Tooley Street fire. His funeral procession stretched for one and a half miles, thousands lined the route to pay homage to him and his funeral remains to this day, one of the biggest ever accorded to a commoner in London.
James Braidwood was a devoted Christian, a man of vision with enormous energy, unfailing courage and an unflinching devotion to duty. What little spare time he had, he gave to the Ragged Schools, which offered free education, food and clothing to poor children. He was the pioneer of fire protection and fire prevention and may truly be described as the Father of British Fire Service.