Talk:William Rae (firefighter)

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Biography

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Firefighting

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Removed unsupported claim

I have removed the claim from the lede that Rae (who died 27 November 1904) was "the first UK firefighter to die in the line of duty in the 20th century." This is not stated in either of the articles cited, and according to the San Francisco Call for 7 January 1904 Chief Roe (no first name given) of the London Fire Brigade was killed in the line of duty the previous day.^[1] Gildir (talk) 08:02, 10 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I think you are technically correct, the source doesn't support the claim, this was my first article and the mistake I've made was to rely on wikipedia as a source, specifically List_of_British_firefighters_killed_in_the_line_of_duty.

However the fact that your citation is from a San Fransisco, and there is/was at least one London in California and I doubt news in England would travel so far as to make the same day's newspaper in California (international phone calls were somewhere between rare and impossible in 1904), the currency quoted is US dollars not UK pounds, this strongly suggests to me that this was a US event. I also note the significant efforts by UK press and fire department to list fire fighters who died and it seems very unlikely that they included Rae (a low ranking fire fighter) and missed Roe if he was the chief of the UK's biggest fire department and died between Rae's injuries and his death. So I think it's very likely this claim is true, but I'm into original research and using Wikipedia as a source territory, so I think I have to accept your edit, even though I think the original statement is very likely true. CT55555 (talk) 12:52, 10 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Your suggestion may well be correct; the possibility occurred to me as well. However, there are at least two other items ("BRITAIN MAY AID JAPAN" and "Japanese Order Rice") on the same page of the same issue of the Call which are simply datelined "LONDON" and appear to come from London, England. The latter item reads: "The Times' Calcutta correspondent says the Japanese Government is reported to have placed heavy orders for rice in Burmah [sic]."^[2]^[3] Presumably the reference is to The Times of London. Gildir (talk) 13:36, 10 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ "London's Fire Chief Killed". San Francisco Call. Vol. 95, no. 38. 7 January 1904. Page 2, column 7. Retrieved 10 February 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
^ "BRITAIN MAY AID JAPAN. Cannot Permit the Little Empire to Be Crushed by Russia". San Francisco Call. Vol. 95, no. 38. 7 January 1904. Page 2, column 4. Retrieved 10 February 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
^ "Japanese Order Rice". San Francisco Call. Vol. 95, no. 38. 7 January 1904. Page 2, column 6. Retrieved 10 February 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.

[1] "London's Fire Chief Killed". San Francisco Call. Vol. 95, no. 38. 7 January 1904. Page 2, column 7. Retrieved 10 February 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.

[2] "BRITAIN MAY AID JAPAN. Cannot Permit the Little Empire to Be Crushed by Russia". San Francisco Call. Vol. 95, no. 38. 7 January 1904. Page 2, column 4. Retrieved 10 February 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.

[3] "Japanese Order Rice". San Francisco Call. Vol. 95, no. 38. 7 January 1904. Page 2, column 6. Retrieved 10 February 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.

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