Ruddy Austin J. - The Home Front 1939-1945 in 100 Objects

The Home Front 19391945

in

OBJECTS

in

OBJECTS

Austin J. Ruddy

First published in 2019 by

Frontline Books

An imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd,

47 Church Street, Barnsley, S. Yorkshire, S70 2AS

The right of Austin J. Ruddy to be identified as the author this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.

HB ISBN: 9 781 52674 086 1

PB ISBN: 9 781 52676 733 2

eISBN: 9 781 52674 087 8

Mobi ISBN: 9 781 52674 088 5

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CIP data records for this title are available from the British Library.

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For more information on our books, please email: info@frontline-books.com , write to us at the above address, or visit: www.frontline-books.com

This book is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Cheryl Tagg Ruddy (19441980), and the Allied wartime generation. Just two words: thank you.

Cover image: Actually, it should be 101 Objects of the British Home Front! This rather imposing red object, middle left, is a small childs respirator for infants aged around two to four years old. It was manufactured with a bright red rubber face piece and blue filter to be less intimidating to young children. Mysteriously, it was known as a Mickey Mouse gas mask, even though it bore no resemblance to the Disney character. For more about respirators, see Object 6.

I t is appropriate here to pay tribute to my familys wartime generation: my mother, Cheryl Tagg Ruddy, a war baby born a week after D-Day; my father, Austin Ruddy, another war baby and his sister, Pamela; my paternal grandfather, also Austin Ruddy, Royal Engineers Sapper 192940, invalided through war injury with the BEF in France; my grandmother, Edith Ruddy, a wartime housewife; my maternal grandfather, Frank Leslie Tagg, draughtsman on the Hawker Typhoon aircraft at D. Napier & Son Ltd and member of their 7th (Acton) Battalion, Middlesex Home Guard platoon; great uncle John Oliver Smith, Company Sergeant Major of 5th (St Marylebone) Battalion, County of London Home Guard; great uncle Edward Sidney Smith, AFS/NFS Fireman, 75X Station, Torriano Avenue School, Kentish Town, London 193945, plus Charles Cooper, Corporal of the 1st Airlanding Brigade, 1st British Airborne Division: to those who have passed on, I hope I have told your stories well enough I still have many questions I wish I had asked!

Grateful thanks go to my parents, Austin and Stephanie, plus the rest of my family, for nurturing my interest in history, to the various militaria dealers who have fed my thirst, particularly Roger Miles, and fellow historians who have shared their knowledge.

My partner, Kerry, must be due some sort of long-service medal for putting up with all of this.

Id also like to thank my friend, photographer Andy Baker, who photographed all the objects, together with the staff at Frontline Books, including publisher Martin Mace, contact Lisa Hooson and my editor Paul Middleton. Thanks must also go to aviation historian Andy Saunders, who first commissioned me to write a similar series of articles in Britain at War magazine.