Re: Safety First

Posted by ESC on June 17, 2006

In Reply to: Re: Safety First posted by Gary Martin on June 17, 2006

: : I'd like to find the earliest reference to the phrase 'Safety First'. I believe it may have been used by a British general in the context 'Safety first will be the death of the British Empire'. Any ideas?

: The earliest reference I can find is from 1873, in Cassell's Magazine - "A system that would go on the motto of safety first."

: I can't find anything that relates directly to the Empire. Stanley Baldwin used "safety first" as a slogan. Churchill was rather disparaging of that and said, in 1941.

: "But of this I am sure, that there is no less likely way of winning a war than to adhere pedantically to the maxim of "safety first."

You got that right.