The Fire Marks

The Nisbet Family at the Fire Marks Handover Ceremony at The Scottish Fire Service Training College at Gullane

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 Marks were originally made of lead, followed in the 1800’s by copper and then iron and tin.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.

Alexander Nisbet – Firemarks Collection

Alexander Nisbet joined the Glasgow Fire Brigade in February 1929 and eventually attained the rank of Firemaster of Coatbridge.

When the National Fire Service (NFS) was formed in 1941 he served as Fire Force Commander in the Dundee and Highland areas. He was awarded the George Medal for bravery within two days of being temporarily attached to the London Fire Brigade. For the story of his courageous actions in London, click on the Fire Mark at the bottom of this page.

In 1947 he became the first Firemaster of the newly formed Lanarkshire Fire Brigade and was instrumental in the building of the new headquarters in Hamilton, which is now the HQ for Strathclyde Fire & Rescue. He was awarded the MBE and OBE.

During his time he collected Fire Marks and formed one of the largest private collections in UK. When he retired in 1962, he donated them to the Fire Service College Gullane. With the Fire Museum & Heritage Centre opening, the Nisbet family generously donated the collection to the Museum & Heritage Centre for public display.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service along with the Heritage Trust wishes to express our sincere gratitude to the Nisbet Family for allowing this world class collection to be shown in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Museum and Heritage Centre.