Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Museum and Heritage Centre
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The Fire Marks displayed here reflect the dramatic origins of the fire insurance industry over 200 years ago.
The Great Fire of London in 1666 highlighted the need for some form of compensation to be paid to people who had property lost or damaged in fires in the city and 1680 saw the creation of the first fire insurance company "The Fire Office", later known as The Phoenix
The Phoenix had its own fire brigade which would tackle fires in premises which bore the company’s mark, signifying that the buildings’ owners had paid for fire cover
Soon, rival insurers with their own brigades were set up. Competition became so fierce that when insurance brigades discovered that burning buildings did not carry their mark, the firemen sometimes stood back, taunted or even hindered the firemen belonging to the authorised insurer’s brigade
Fire marks displayed the Insurance Companies’ emblems or names and policy numbers. Marks were originally made of lead, followed in the 1800's by copper and then iron and tin.
These fire marks belonged to Alexander Nisbet, Firemaster of Lanarkshire Fire Brigade until he retired in 1962. The collection was displayed for a time in the Scottish Fire Service Training College at Gullane and is now shown here courtesy of Firemaster Nisbet’s family.