was obtained later. The duty, if an important one, was divided into a day and night duty. This enabled an experienced man to be sent on day duty to meet the surveyor, and to carry out his instructions regarding the working out of the salvage; and a junior man at night. 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. If, for instance, a large fire occurred at a pianoforte manufacturers, and the debris was all in one common heap, the London Salvage Corps might have to arrange certain quantities of pegs and wires in order to give an idea of the number of pianos before the fire. The watching continued until the loss was settled, when the charge of the premises was given over to the assured. Scandal During the 1930s the service was accused of participating in a criminal arson scandal. At the trial of Leopold Harris in 1934, he testified that he had had nearly every Salvage Corps officer "in his pocket". Harris was later sentenced to 14 years in jail. 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." The arson ring took £500,000 in false insurance claims. Closure In the early 1980s meetings took place between the insurance office representatives, central government and the London Fire Brigade with a view to incorporating the services undertaken by the corps into the London Fire Brigade. Regardless of the loss of salvage skills an agreement was reached and the corps was disbanded in April 1984. 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. See also Glasgow Salvage Corps Liverpool Salvage Corps Salvage Corps Notes References London's Firefighters published