Respecting the origin of fire brigades: "In 1774 an Act was passed requiring every Parish to provide itself with one large and one small engine, &c., and everything necessary in case of fire. The first London fire brigade was an Institution entirely independent of the parishes, as indeed also of the Government and of the Corporation of London. It was created and exclusively supported by the Insurance Companies of the Metropolis. At first every Insurance Company had its own fire engine and men to work it, but in 1825 some of them joined, and when the advantage of union was seen most of the others desired to take part in the combination already formed, the result of which was that in 1833 a more extensive organization was made, to which the name of the London Fire Brigade was given. Such was the state of matters until by Act 28 and 29 Vict. cap. xc., July 5th, 1865, the duty of extinguishing fires and protecting life and property in case of fire was declared to be entrusted to the Metropolitan Board of Works within their jurisdiction, and provision was made for the establishment of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. The Act provides for its support from three sources, viz.: 1st, £10,000 Grant from Treasury; 2nd, ½d. in the £ Rate; 3rd, £35 for every £1,000,000 insured in the Metropolis from Insurance Companies, which in the year ending December 31, 1872, realized £16,267. All the Stations are in direct communication by telegraph with the Central Station, so that any required number of engines or men may be summoned to any given spot without delay. In 1872 the cost of maintenance was: Brigade, £67,520; Stations, £8,793; Total, £76,313. All the Dock Companies have engines, and some large private firms."--_Popular Cyclopedia_, Blackie & Son. By 1833 all the important Companies combined and the London Fire Brigade was formed, organised and raised to an efficient standard under the management of the late and much lamented Mr. James Braidwood, who met with his death in the act of discharging his duties at the great conflagration which broke out in the afternoon of Saturday, June 22nd 1861, in one of the warehouses on the banks of the river, close to the Surrey side of London Bridge, which in spite of increasing efforts to extinguish it, continued to burn until it destroyed property worth nearly £2,000,000. The destruction of property thus caused by the fiery element is without a parallel in the Metropolis since the great fire of 1666. "Three acres of ground were gradually covered with a mass of fire, glowing and crackling at a white heat like a lake of molten iron. The saltpetre, the tallow, the tar and other combustibles stored in the warehouses ran blazing into the Thames until the very river appeared to be covered with the flames. Ships were burned as well as houses, and the danger to life was almost as great on the river as in the street. The glare of the conflagration was not only visible but strikingly conspicuous 30 miles off."