IN THE winter of 1940-41 there was some diversion of attacks by the Luftwaffe away from London to the industrial cities and ports, with the purpose of disrupting war production and the supply of produce from abroad. But a theory that the British public could be bombed or terrorised into surrender still persisted in some elements of the German high command. In consequence the capital seldom had more than two or three nights in succession without an air raid, most of which delivered a mix of high explosive and incendiary bombs on Central London, the Docklands and the East End.

The fire services were not overwhelmed simply because the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) of volunteer firemen had been established before the war and significantly expanded when conflict came. Many of the voluntary firemen worked at their normal jobs by day — in banks, offices or shops — and reported to their stations for duty each evening. Harry Errington was just such a man: the master cutter for a Savile Row tailor by day and a fireman by night.

During a raid on London in early 1941, he and two other auxiliary firemen had taken temporary shelter in the basement of a building only for it to receive a direct hit. Errington was initially stunned but, on recovering his senses, he found the rooms above on fire and his two comrades trapped beneath the debris of the partly fallen ground floor. He had no tools beyond a fireman’s axe but set to work to dig out the two men with his bare hands.

The task appeared near hopeless and he was driven back by the heat of the fire above, before he was able to free either of them. Finding and soaking a blanket, he wrapped it round his head and shoulders and returned to heaving the debris aside while the building creaked and groaned above him as the fire took a fiercer hold. Freeing his comrades at last, he turned to the stone stairway which — though filled with smoke — led to the relative safety of the street. Neither man could stand, much less walk, so Errington dragged each of them to the foot of the stairway, then carried them in turn on his back up the stairway and clear of the burning building.

All three recovered, miraculously sustaining no serious burns or injury. The two trapped by the fallen debris would have been burnt or crushed to death but for Errington’s persistent and courageous determination to free them, despite the risk to his own life. One of the men saved was a solicitor who, as Sir John Terry, served as managing director of the National Film Finance Corporation 1958-78.

For his gallantry in saving the lives of his two comrades, Harry Errington was awarded the George Cross in August 1941. This decoration had been instituted by King George VI in 1940 specifically to recognise acts of conspicuous gallantry in circumstances of extreme danger by civilians, or by members of the Armed Services when not in the immediate presence of the enemy. The award ranks with the Victoria Cross, awarded for valour in battle, and is worn before all other decorations except the VC.

Errington continued to serve with the AFS until the end of the war, as the V1 flying bomb menace and the silent V2 rockets threatened London and southeast England well into 1945, and fire often following their impact and explosion.

Harry Errington was born in London in 1910. His Polish parents, Soloman and Bella Ehregott, coincidently lived in Poland Street, Westminster. They had arrived from Lublin in 1908 and anglicised the family name to Errington when Harry was born.

He was educated at the Westminster Free School and won a trade scholarship to train as an engraver. The nitric acid used in the engraving process affected his chest, or at least his mother believed that to be the case, so he went to train as cutter under his uncle who was an established “out-door tailor” with several contracts in Savile Row. He remained in the business until retirement.

He had a lifelong interest in basketball and coached the amateur team from Regent Street Polytechnic, which was prominent in the English amateur competition in the years shortly after the war, winning the national competition on at least one occasion. He became involved in managing the basketball competition in the Olympic Games held in London in 1948.

In later years, he became vice-chairman of the United Kingdom Amateur Basketball Association and, later, a life vice-president, travelling as far afield with the team as Canada, Iceland, Russia and Poland.

Having once, as a young man, accidently invited two girls to be his guest at the same basketball final in London, he decided that romance was a chancy affair — and remained unmarried.

Harry Errington, GC, was born on August 20, 1910. He died on December 15, 2004, aged 94.