The People's Hero: Millais's The rescue and the image of the fireman in nineteenth-century art and media: J.E. Millais's celebrated painting can be best understood in the rich context of Victorian depictions of firefighters, who first became popular heroes in the nineteenth century

Apollo, Dec, 2004 by John A. Walker

(7) For a biography of Braidwood, see Brian Henham, True Hero: the Life and Times of James Braidwood, Father of the British Fire Service Romford, 2000.

(8) For a biography of Shaw, sea Ronald Cox, Oh, Captain Shaw: the Life Story of the First and Most Famous Chief of The London Fire Brigade, London, 1984.

(9) The writer is quoted by Sally Holloway in her book London's Noble Fire Brigades 1833-1904, London's 1973 p. 129.

(10) On Halse see Elizabeth Farningham, George Halse, Sculptor, 1826-1895, Doncaster, 2002.

John A. Walker is a freelance art historian whose book Firefighters in Art and Media will be published by Francis Boutle in 2005.