Robert E Line Snr.      

(1833 - 1877)    

 

Copy of REL snr.jpg (63291 bytes)

 

Robert Emerson Line was born in Newton Longville , Buckinghamshire on 13th July 1833. At the age of 22 he moved to London to join the London Fire Brigade. Before that he worked as a farm labourer. He was enrolled as a Fireman 2nd Class on July 23rd 1855 at the Regent Street Fire Station (see service record) and was noted as being 5ft  6 1/2 in tall. He married Emma Ann Emerson on the 20th March 1856 at St Mary`s parish church in Lambeth. Emma was described as a minor being then aged under 21.They had eight children - see page bottom. Robert Emerson Line died at his home at 283 Bethnal Green Road in South London on the 23rd June 1877 having contracted "malignant typhoid fever" four days earlier. He was aged 44.

Eight years after the death of Robert Emerson Line, Emma remarried. Her second husband was railway engineer  Joseph Moseley. The wedding took place on 2nd May 1885 at St Mary`s parish church  in Lambeth. At some point they moved to 17 Mason Terrace in Herne Bay, Kent.  She died from chronic nephritis and influenza uraemia on the 6th May 1908 aged 72 at her Herne Bay home..

Service Record

Promotions

23rd July 1855 -  Fireman 2nd Class

23rd July 1858 - Fireman 1st Class

16th March 1863 - sub-Engineer

30th November 1866 - Engineer

Appointments and injuries

23rd July 1855 - Regent Street Station

28th July 1855 - Removed to Tooley Street Station

May 1856 - Removed to Southwark Bridge Road

Oct 1857 - Appointed to a special duty at the float (this was a barge fitted with a steam pump to supply Thames river water to the brigade - an early fire boat)

July 1861 - Appointed to take charge of Land Steam Fire Engine

July 1861 - Removed to Nellclove Square (?) Station (possible mis-spelling as no trace of the location - or perhaps it no longer exists)

22nd March 1865 - Severely burned at a fire in Leman Street, Whitechapel

26th July 1866 - Removed to South Hackney. Officer-in-Charge

24th January 1868 - Removed to King Street (Regent Street)

24th January 1870 - Tendon of left leg broken at a fire in Oxford Street

1st June 1870 - Removed to Bayswater Station. Officer-in-Charge

6th July 1871 - Removed to Tooley Street Fire Engine Station. Officer-in-Charge

14th March 1877 - Removed to Bethnal Green Fire Engine Station. Officer-in-Charge

23rd June 1877 - Died of Typhoid Fever, the widow has been granted a gratuity of £35 .0 .0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Offences and Awards

14th September 1869 - Neglect of duty as not making himself acquainted with the injuries a woman had sustained by running against the horses in No 13 steamer while returning from a fire. Neglecting to report the same to his foreman - Cautioned.

November 1869 - Making several errors, omissions and irregularities in the petty cash book during the current year - Cautioned

14th May 1870 - Neglect of duty in not sending particulars of a fire to the foreman until 9.45 a.m., fire having occured at 4.30 a.m. and this causing it to be too late to be entered into the printed report - Cautioned

1st February 1873 - Using a knife to erase an entry in his petty cash book - Cautioned

8th April 1874 - Carelessness in turning the head of No. 40 (at) Star Corner (?) Bermondsey. Scrape(d) against an iron grating in the road and thereby damaging  the nearside of the main ladder - Cautioned

21st May 1874 - Neglect of duty in disabling his steamer without asking if he might do so. Having the morning report 40 minutes late. Being absent from the station - Reprimanded

August 1874 - Carelessness in keeping his carmans book for the month of July 1874 - Cautioned

14th November 1874 - Making a false statement about No.65 steamer book and Mr Palmer on the 14th instant in justification of the careless manner he had kept No.80 steamer`s book when in charge of No.13 Regent Street Station. - Reprimanded

29th December 1874 - Neglect of duty in allowing J. Fordham to be about the engine house under the influence of drink on the 29th November - Cautioned

29th November 1875 - Carelessness in entering the roll call in the occurence book on the 29th and 30th alt. and the 1st and 2nd inst. respectively - Cautioned

4th July 1876 - One minute and 30 seconds answering his speaking pipe when visited by the General Arrangements Board at 1.27 a.m. on the 4th instant - Cautioned

4th July 1876 - One minute and 3 seconds over the time allowed in turning the engine out when visited by the General Arrangements Board at 1.27 a.m. on the 4th instant - Cautioned

4th July 1876 - Neglect of duty in allowing No.22c (?)  Escape to be on its station in an improper condition - Severely Reprimanded

Between July and Decmber 1876 - Leaving a tradesman`s bill unpaid at Holloway Station in goods he had received between the months of July and December 1876, the greater part of which he had charged for in his petty cash book - Severely Reprimanded

14th June 1877 - Leaving a fire at Hayley Wharf, Rotherhithe and returning to his station he not having received any order from his Superintendent as he being at the time with the General Arrangements Board - Reprimanded

 

 

This photograph of the memorial to James Braidwood, Fire Chief of London during the conflagration at Tooley Street near Tower Bridge, London, in 1861,  was pasted into a family album with an attached note saying "he had something to do with the Line family". It was probably only because Braidwood was Robert Emerson Line`s ultimate superior officer. Braidwood was killed in the early stages of the fire when a wall collapsed on him. Warehouses in Tooley Street blazed for two days before virtually every fireman in London, including Robert according to the London Fire Brigade, brought it under control. It was a full two weeks before the fire was fully damped down (see picture opposite). Family legend had it that the gutters in Tooley Street were running with burning candle wax - a story which has been handed down to the present generation. 

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Children

Robert Emerson (1857)

Henry (1858)

Anne (1862)

Thomas (1863)

Charlotte (1867)

Louisa (1867)

Emma Maude (1870) (photo)

Clara (1871)

emma-maude.jpg (15916 bytes)

Pictured above is Emma Maude Bishop - daughter of Robert Emerson Line Snr - probably photographed sometime during the mid 1930s. She married William Alfred Bishop in September 1895 in Lambeth. William was three years her junior and worked as an insurance agent. According to the 1901 census they had no children. On the reverse is a Christmas greeting to nephew Thomas William Line.

 

 

 

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