These firemen are from the Westminster, Royal Exchange and Atlas insurance offices, and all of these companies are now part of the Royal Sun Alliance Insurance Company. The large badge and buttons show which company each man worked for.
Equipment was still very basic but in 1721, Richard Newsham patented a ‘new water engine for the quenching and extinguishing of fires’. This pump could provide a continuous jet of water with some force, something that had not been possible before.
The firemen, of the time, had little training and wore brightly coloured uniforms to distinguish themselves between the different brigades. During large fires they would become very tired through continual pumping of the appliances, and would offer bystanders ‘beer tokens’ in return for their help.
James Braidwood and the London Fire Engine Establishment (LFEE) 
The first insurance company was named after the Greek mythological bird, the 'Phoenix', which arose from the ashes.
