by Austin Sprake:
An early steam fire-engine drawn by four horses, with an out-rider, racing to a burning house. Variations of colour exist in the fire-engine and the men's clothing.
by Geoffrey Godden:
There are two distinct versions of this subject but both depict a horse-drawn fire engine. This, the first, shows four horses drawing the engine, with a fifth horse and rider spurring them on. A three-storey house is seen in flames in the top left-hand corner of the picture.
This version was registered on 2nd April 1880, the title first appearing on label 13 and most examples being found with type B card-mounts [as the image above]. The sub-heading to this title is 'Heroism on Land', and the pair to it is "Called to the Rescue - Heroism at Sea" [see st56 on this site].
Other comments:
Design registered 2 April 1880, although the Diamond Registration Mark impressed on top right corner of card-mount (not shown on the image) has an actual date of 6 April 1880 instead.
