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National Treasures saved from Fire
Our City and our nation came very close to losing much of our heritage
when fire threatened to destroy the College of Arms in the City of Lon-
don last year.
The College, which was built 1671-88, is located in Queen Victoria
Street, London on land bequeathed to the Heralds by Queen Mary Tudor
in
in 1555. The original building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London.
The site is the official repository for Coats of Arms and the pedigrees
of English, Welsh, Northern Irish and Commonwealth families. It
also contains the records of the Coats of Arms for all our City Livery
Companies. The library contains a diverse collection of resources
both old and new, including parchment manuscripts, ancient seals,
books and periodicals. As Trustees and custodians of our nation’s
rich heritage, conservation of these artefacts and materials is an im-
portant but costly part of the College's work.
These most precious of records were threatened when a fire was dis-
covered on the 4
th
floor and which quickly spread to the roof. Fol-
lowing an alarm ,fire crews from Southwark and Dowgate fire sta-
tions were quickly on the scene led by Incident Commander, Steve
Smith.
In realising the significance of the building
and its contents, Steve decided on a coordi-
nated approach using BA crews to tackle the
fire from within, whilst minimal water jets,
applied externally from aerial appliances, kept water damage to a minimum.
Working with the College curator to try to preserve the historical manuscripts,
Steve and his team established a functional damage control centre, identifying and
prioritising the most valuable items before moving them to safety. Simultaneously,
the support crews focused on stopping the fire from spreading and protecting the
lower parts of the building.
In acknowledging the professionalism of the fire team, the Garter King of Arms confirmed that the treas-
ures of the City and of our Livery Companies had undoubtedly been saved due to their promptness and
efficiency.
Fire, which had once ravaged and destroyed our City, had this time been defeated from robbing us once
again of the records of our heritage. In acknowledging the immeasurable debt of gratitude that was owed
to Steve and his Crew, the Worshipful Company of Firefighters decided that such actions should not go
overlooked or unrecorded. On behalf of all the Livery Companies, we agreed to present Deputy Assistant
Commissioner Steve Smith with a special Commendation and Citation, which he duly agreed to accept
on behalf of the attendant crews and the London Fire Brigade. The occasion for the presentation was to
be the prestigious Massey Shaw Dinner.
Worshipful Company of Firefighters honours
LFB Heroes
Coats of arms have been and
still are granted by Letters Pat-
ent from the senior heralds, the
Kings of Arms. A right to arms
can only be es-
tablished by the
registration in
the official re-
cords of the Col-
lege of Arms of a
pedigree show-
ing direct male
line descent from
an ancestor already appearing
therein as entitled to arms, or
by making application through
the College of Arms for a grant
of arms. Grants are made to
corporations as well as to indi-
viduals.