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The Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire was established in 1836, its principal role being to place fire ladders in London streets in the interests of life safety. Until then, although insurance company fire brigades acted to protect property and buildings from fire, the protection of people was not considered in the same way. The distribution of fire ladders by the Society was a major advance.

The Society’s records up to and including 1998 are available for inspection at the Guildhall Library in the City of London.

They have been catalogued and you can search the catalogue online at www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/librarycatalogue and entering ‘Society for the Protection of Life from Fire’ in an author search.