Picture of Leeds firemans memorial – detail.
Yesterday I posted about a Victorian memorial to Leeds firemen who died whilst attending fires. I thought the stone plaque at the top of the memorial was worth a second look.
The round plaque has carved in it a Victorian fire crew with a wagon and horse. To me it looks stylized but that could just be weathering it being exposed to the elements for more than 100 years.
James Potter Schofield is the first name on this memorial and he died in the dark arches fire at the Leeds railway station which had been partly built on arches over the river Aire in 1854 being called the Leeds Central station on Wellington Street. Back then several business had their premises under in station in the dark arches. In 1892 a fire started and raged out of control for nearly 24 hours despite the efforts of fire crews from Leeds, Bradford and further afield. Jim Schofield was tackling the fire when the platform he was working on collapsed and he found himself inside the arches and was overwhelmed.
The funeral of fireman James Schofield was attended by firemen from across Yorkshire and it was said that around 100,000 people lined the route.
Leedsdailyphoto.com 