John Conen - The Bombing of London 1940-41: The Blitz and its impact on the capital

Copyright 2023 John Conen

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ISBN 978 1803134 093

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The excerpt from A Chelsea Concerto by Frances Faviell appears

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Researching this book has taken many years. Volume two of The Blitz Then and Now edited by Winston Ramsey, and Alfred Prices Blitz on Britain 1939-1945 provided an invaluable framework. The Middlesex and LCC archives (particularly MCC/CD/WAR and LCC/FB/WAR) in the London Metropolitan Archives are a valuable source of information on the impact of the Blitz on London as are those of the Ministry of Home Security (particularly HO186) in the National Archives. As with all aspects of German attacks on the UK, wartime restrictions on reporting by the censor mean that contemporary newspaper accounts are of limited use. However, in London, numerous local and personal accounts have been published since the war in many different books and websites. I owe a great debt to the authors and editors of these accounts.

I have had to collate material from a large number of sources, some of which have been little explored in the past. Casualty figures are often difficult to establish, but fortunately the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission provides a comprehensive record which I have drawn on extensively to explore some of the little-known incidents of the Blitz. Unfortunately, military casualties are not recorded by location and given the number of service people that must have been in London at this time, must be higher than the dozen or so I have come across in various sources.

I am grateful to the staff of the London Metropolitan Archives, the National Archives, the Guildhall Library, the Camden Local Studies and Archive Centre, the Westminster Archives Centre, the Kensington and Chelsea Local Studies and Archives, the Vestry House Museum, Walthamstow, and the staff of public libraries in London for their invaluable assistance in researching this book.

I am also grateful to:

Winston Ramsey, for his past help and inspiration.

Chris Pond for generously giving his advice and copy-editing skills, and for access to the Chigwell Urban District Council war damage cards.

Nicola Beauman of Persephone Books for permission to quote extracts from Few Eggs and No Oranges by Vere Hodgson.

Jack McInroy http://walworthsaintpeter.blogspot.com for permission to quote from the memoirs of Rev. John Markham, Rector of St. Peters Church, Walworth 1937-1944.

Philip Mernick of the East London History Society for permission to quote from Stephen Sadlers article Terror at Wenlock Brewery published in East London Record issue 19, 1998.

Nick Baldwin of the Archive Service, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, for permission to quote from the story of William Pendle the boilerman.

Gary Stone of Chingford Historical Society for permission to use extracts from Chingford at War and from Chingford Historical Society newsletters.

Alex Mitchell for permission to use extracts from the diaries of his great aunt, Gwladys Cox, which are held at the Imperial War Museum.

Jan Yoxall for permission to use extracts from the webpages Jimmys Lambeth.

The extract from the Westminster Abbey website explaining the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour is reproduced by courtesy of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster.

Andrew Rootes for permission to include an extract from his book Front Line County.

Tim Bryan for permission to include an extract from his book Great Western at War.

Eve Hostettler for permission to use the article regarding the bombing of Cubitt Town School which originally appeared in a 2008 edition of Island History News.

Rob Pateman for permission to quote from Kenningtons Forgotten Tragedy published by the Friends of Kennington Park.

Joanna Mack for permission to quote from the memoirs of Len Jones which originally appeared in The Making of Modern London 1939-1945 London at War which she co-authored with Steve Humphries.

Capital City College Group for permission to quote from the account of the bombing of Dame Alice Owens School in the memorial programme produced by City and Islington College in 2005.

Dave Haunton of Merton & Morden Historical Society for permission to quote from his articles in the societys bulletins.

The National Gallery for permission to cite extracts from their website about the Myra Hess concerts.

The Land Mine in Portland Place by L D Macgregor is BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.

Every effort has been made to contact the rights holder for texts from which Ive cited quotations, but in a few cases I had no success. I will gratefully acknowledge in any future editions any permissions received after the date of first publication.

This is not primarily a social history. I have looked at the Blitz as a battle rather than an experience. There has been, for many years, fascination with the social history aspects of the Blitz and the experience of civilians but usually this is at the expense of the actual events that prompted them. Many distinguished social historians have approached the Blitz from the experience perspective and the works of authors such as Longmate, Calder, Gardiner, Ziegler and White are essential reading and highly recommended. As an experience the Blitz has also been well documented by those on the receiving end with many memories recorded. But how does the battle relate to the experience? I have revisited the London Blitz of 1940-41 looking at exactly what happened in the metropolis in those years, and set out a chronology of events as the Blitz progressed. I have examined what gave rise to those experiences which constitute such a rich London heritage.

Who won the battle? The success or failure of the Luftwaffes Blitz is often measured solely by the experience of the civilians on the receiving end. Simon Jenkins identifies A grim acceptance that this was something that had to be seen through to the end and fortitude rather than a Blitz spirit. The latter certainly didnt win the battle. Blitz has found its way into many contexts in recent years even to describe the actions of a food processor. The Blitz spirit now means carrying on through a range of adversarial conditions in modern times relatively minor interruptions to daily routine. This is perhaps yet another reason to refocus on the original.