The amount sought by the Metropolitan Board of Works for this service exceeded that for which an independent salvage corps could be maintained by the fire offices themselves.

The London Salvage Corps was founded by John Brookes Johnston of the Royal Insurance Company.

If, for instance, the upper part of a large Manchester goods warehouse was on fire, it would be of very little advantage to the offices interested in the risk if the men were set to work removing stock from the ground floor.

They also carried portable coal-gas apparatus, which could be employed in the interior of buildings when the ordinary means of illumination had failed, and ambulance appliances for emergencies.

Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War the London Salvage Corps turned out on average seven times a day.

In its report to the insurance companies the LSC stated, "It is evident that the loss in material damage, trade and unemployment would have been much greater but for these activities."

The day man, if working out salvage, would employ a number of men called strangers, over whom he acted as a kind of foreman.

The working out might take the form of dividing up damaged goods into lots ready for a sale to be held by the surveyor, or of sifting over the debris to find remains of certain articles claimed for.

Captain Brymore Eric Miles, chief of the insurance companies' salvage corps was sentenced to four years in jail for "corruption and conspiring to pervert the administration of justice."

[5][6] All of the LSC equipment, vehicles and Headquarters premises were offered to the London Fire Brigade, some of which was accepted and used.

Due to reasons of age, recruiting conditions and staffing costs, very few of the salvagemen undertook retraining and were absorbed into the London Fire Brigade.

Those remaining were offered early retirement (depending on their age and service) and the rest were made redundant.