London at War: Relics of the Home Front from the World Wars

By Alan Brooks

An extensively illustrated tour of relics and reminders of the city’s WWI and WWII experiences.
 
The two world wars of the twentieth century seem so distant from us now, yet in London the evidence of these conflicts can be found in the many relics and reminders that are scattered across the fabric of the modern city. And, as Alan Brooks demonstrates in this fascinating photographic record, they can be seen and visited today.
 
Plaques and inscriptions, graves, cemeteries and rolls of honor, stone monuments and stained glass, war-damaged buildings, pillboxes, and air-raid shelters, painted signs and camouflage—these are just some of the mementos of war, and of the experience of Londoners during the greatest conflicts the country has known.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jul 12, 2011
• ISBN: 9781844683222

Book preview

First published in Great Britain in 2011 by

Wharncliffe Local History

an imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street

Barnsley

South Yorkshire

S70 2AS

Copyright © Alan Brooks, 2011

ISBN 978 1 84563 139 0

eISBN 9781844683222

The right of Alan Brooks to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

Typeset in Ehrhardt by Chic Media

Printed and bound in England by CPI

Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the imprints of

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For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact

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Contents

Abbreviations & Picture Credits

Acknowledgements & Dedication

Preface

Prologue ‘Black Sunday’

Abbreviations

Picture Credits

All photographs are by the author, except 5.27.

Acknowledgements and Dedication

Ihave received help from a number of individuals and institutions inthe research and the photography for this book. I am pleased to saythat virtually without exception my enquiries were received withinterest and enthusiasm. This project has occupied me, part-time, for afew years now. I can only offer my most contrite apologies to anyone whohas tried to help me and whom I might have inadvertently omitted fromthis list. I have, however, omitted the sullen and unhelpful. They shouldknow who they are! I wish to thank the following people and the staff ofthe following organisations (mainly in no particular order):

London Metropolitan Archives.

London Fire Brigade Museum.

Stephanie Maltman of Firemen Remembered.

Phil Mortimer at the London Fire Brigade Headquarters in Lambeth.

The following Local History Departments: Barnet, Camden, Hackney, Hammersmith & Fulham (especially Anne Wheeldon), Islington (especially Martin Banham), Kensington & Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Wandsworth.

The following public libraries: Wandsworth (especially the late and much lamented West Hill branch), Barbican and Guildhall.

The museum at The Royal London Hospital.

Peggy Crispin and Clare Troughton at Mildmay Mission Hospital.

The UK National Inventory of War Memorials (at the Imperial War Museum).

Friends of Kennington Park.

Duncan Jeffery and Nigel Harris of Westminster Abbey (for kind permission to photograph inside St Margaret’s Church, Westminster).

Reverend Bertrand Olivier (for kind permission to photograph inside All Hallows by the Tower Church).

St Botolph’s Aldgate Church.

Imperial War Museum (for kind permission to publish my photographs of the V weapons in their main gallery).

The following cemeteries: City of London, East London, Islington section of St Pancras & Islington, Manor Park, Old Battersea (Morden), New Southgate, Putney Vale and Tower Hamlets.

The Norwegian Embassy in London.

The British Postal Museum & Archive.

London Transport Museum.

David Andrews and John Dutton of Wandsworth Borough Council.

The staff on duty at the time of my visits to St Dunstan and All Saints Church in Stepney, the crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields Church,

Balham Underground Station, NatWest Bank in Upper Street, Finsbury Leisure Centre, and The Royal Academy for allowing me to take photographs.

Rupert Harding and Brian Elliott of Pen and Sword Books.

But most especially…Susan Fleischer-Thompson, who accompanied me on many trips to London’s streets, churches, cemeteries, etc., and who provided support above and beyond the call of duty throughout the gestation of this obsession of mine.

Thank you again, everyone.

Wherever possible and appropriate, I have tried to corroborate facts, but mistakes do occur and one’s memory is not always perfect! Of course, I take responsibility for any errors or inaccuracies that may have made their way into this book. The only exception to this is in the Selected Statistics (Appendix 4), where I have had to take figures, provided by the stated sources, on faith.

Finally, I most humbly dedicate this book to the people of London who lived through one or both of the world wars, whether they were scarred physically or mentally, or both, or whether they were killed. I thank any supreme being who exists that I have not had to endure what they did.

Preface

The aim of this book is simple. It is to provide a selection or atlas of photographs of items relating to the Home Front in London during the two world wars. Most importantly, these items must be reasonably available for viewing to the general public in real life. There are (essentially) no military memorials. There is little social history – this has been done before, far better than I could hope to (see Appendix 5). The area of interest is that under the governance of the old London County Council (which ran the central part of London during the period covering WW1 and WW2), plus the City of London. This area I have designated under the abbreviation LCC&CA (LCC and City Area) for brevity in the text. However, on the odd occasion, I have chosen to include items located just outside this area. If you do not like my selection, then research and write your own book.

It is not intended to be encyclopaedic (but see below). For example, I have not included every example of surviving damage to buildings from flying debris from exploding bombs or missiles, nor of signage indicating nearby air raid shelter locations, that I have come across. I have not included photographs of every deep level shelter entrance building which still exists (although the Addendum to Chapter 4 does list their locations). I have also made editorial decisions about inclusion or exclusion of potentially relevant material. For example, there exist many plaques or signs indicating that some particular building was damaged by enemy action during WW2, but they are not all included. The chances of inclusion are greatly increased if a specific date for the relevant incident is stated, but some less specific inscriptions are included if I consider them of interest for other reasons (eg Queen’s Hall at Langham Place), if a particular building was damaged on more that one occasion (eg the Innholders Hall, and St James Garlickhythe Church), or if I particularly like the wording of the inscription (eg St Lawrence Jewry Church).

There is another reason for material being omitted. I might not know it exists. London is a big place. On the assumption that this book might be considered for an updated edition in the future, please let me know (via the publishers) of any such items that you might consider worthy of inclusion, preferably giving as explicit details of the location and its description as possible – it took me about four visits to find the plaque in central Lewisham relating to the V weapon incident there (and even then it proved impossible for me to take a decent photograph of it).

I have provided a relatively detailed account of the bombing raids in WW1. This is largely because they are not widely known about, and because they gave people a taste of what they might expect in WW2. In describing the period between the wars, I have attempted to convey the build-up to a conflict that few at the time can have doubted would happen eventually. The most ‘encyclopaedic’ chapter is that listing the WW2 civilian war graves and memorials. Despite the efforts of the staff at the UK National Inventory of War Memorials at the Imperial War Museum, many of these were ‘lost’ when I started my research, and I am proud to have been able to track down several of them. I would like to think that this book might serve as a fairly accessible source book for information such as this.

Although I have stated that every item included in this book can be viewed in person, please do not expect just to turn up and expect everything to be on show. Some buildings have specific opening hours, some seem to be open or not at random, and still others may be closed without notice for private events. I think it took about five or six attempts to get me and a functioning camera into the Guards Chapel to