THE LONDON BRIGADE MANUAL
by
Keith Jones

The world famous fire engineering company, Merryweather & Sons, produced many types and sizes of manual fire engine of which Greenwich, Factory and Mansion are a few that spring readily to mind. But by far the most famous and successful of them all was the London Brigade engine. This became the standard manual of the Capital's fire service, as well as a firm favourite with many other fire brigades around the country and, indeed, the Empire.
Its designer, and builder, was Moses Merryweather, the first of his name to enter the business of fire appliance manufacturing. Born in Yorkshire in 1790, he travelled as a youth to London where in 1807 he was taken on as an apprentice to the firm of Hadley, Simpkin and Lott whose premises were located at 63 Long Acre. At the conclusion of his indentureship he remained with the firm, now under sole control of Lott. In 1836 he married the owner's niece and on the death of Lott took control of the firm. By this time he knew all there was to know regarding the design and development of hand manual pumps and managed the firm until 1859, when his son Richard succeeded him.
In 1851 Moses Merryweather designed and built a new pattern manual engine for the Great Exhibition. One of its claim to fame was that it was lighter than current engines in use in London at that time. These tended to be longer, presumably for carrying more men, and to have 7-inch pumps. It was an immediate success and was awarded the Grand Prize Medal. When worked, ideally by 22 men, it was capable of pumping water to a height of 21ft. The engine was considered particularly powerful for its weight and size and was able to pump dirty water containing sand and gravel that would have brought other engines of the time to a halt.
Merryweather originally named the model Paxton after Sir Joseph Paxton, Member of Parliament for Coventry. He was the designer of the Crystal Palace which was destroyed by a spectacular fire on 30th November, 1936. Ironically Sir Joseph's name is linked to the fire service in yet another way. In 1862 he was appointed a member of a select committee, set up by Parliament, ....to inquire into the existing state of legislation and of existing arrangements for the protection of life and property against fire in the Metropolis.
The appliance was a great success as much for the quality of construction as for its design. Nevertheless over the next decade various modifications and refinements were made to the engine, including increasing the size of some of the models. It continued to win prizes. At the 1862 International Exhibition the Paxton was awarded the Prize Medal for Improvements in Design of Fire Engines, Good Workmanship, and Performance.
It was at this time that Captain Sir Eyre Massey Shaw, who had recently been appointed Superintendent to replace James Braidwood after his untimely death, decided to standardise fire pumps in the London Fire Engine Establishment. His choice was the 6-inch engine. He ordered several from the company who, presumably realising the sales potential, soon adopted the name London Brigade for the model.
He chose the size because of the lightness of the appliance which, when necessary, could easily be hauled by a small number of men. But primarily it was designed for horse propulsion. Although it could easily be pulled by one animal it was more usual for two to be put in the shafts. The body was mounted on springs located fore and aft which allowed for easy travel over bad roads and cobbled streets of those days.
The actual engine consisted of a pair of 6-inch, single acting force pumps, each with an 8-inch stroke which equated to a 0.816 gallon capacity for each cylinder. These were fed by a single inlet and in turn supplied water to two deliveries. Shaw considered 30 men the ideal number to work the engine to its best advantage. These were many volunteers selected from large crowds that were inevitably drawn to the scene of any large outbreak of fire.
Output (gpm) was dependent on the number of complete strokes achieved. It was reckoned at that time that a group of highly trained pumpers could manage 60 strokes a minute. But in practice, when untrained volunteers were on the levers, 40 was a more reasonable number to expect. Knowing the capacity of each