| Monday April 3rd 1939 |
|
On Monday
April 3rd 1939 thirteen of the
Great Western Railway Company's
trucks arrived at the Sutton Harbour Goods Station,
in Sutton Road. They were loaded with nine tons of steel air-raid shelters. A team of
around twelve men started to load them on to
GWRC road vehicles. The
following morning the first one was delivered to a house in Mainstone
Avenue, not far from the depot. It took six men to carry the parts for each
one and they marched through the houses and deposited them against the walls
of the back gardens.
The parts
were:
A - six curved lengths of 7 feet 8 inches;
B - one straight length of 7 feet;
C - one straight length of 1 feet 3 inches
D - one straight length of 3 feet 3 inches;
E - two straight lengths of 6 feet;
F - two straight lengths of 3 feet;
Two "channels";
Two T-shaped pieces;
Two "angles";
and one bag of nuts and bolts.
Each
household had to construct its own shelter. Although all the shelters were
being delivered to Sutton Harbour,
many of the deliveries were expected to be made from Keyham, presumably from
the goods yard at
Keyham
Station.
|
| |
|
| Thursday April 27th 1939 |
|
|
Conscription was introduced by
the Military Training Act which Parliament passed on Thursday April
27th 1939. Men of 20 and 21 years of age were required to
undertake six months of military training. |
| |
|
| May 1939 |
|
|
Air Raid Precautions had
already been set up by May 1939. Plympton become the headquarters of Devon
County's 'H' Division, with Police Superintendent S F Smith in charge as
Divisional Commandant. The Special Constabulary was under Mr S J Lawry; the
assistant divisional commandant was Mr C H Crews; the area organiser was
Major A G White; and the chief warden was Mr E Birch. |
| |
|
| Friday August 25th 1939 |
|
| Great Britain
signed a treaty of mutual assistance with Poland on Friday August
25th 1939. |
| |
|
| Friday September 1st 1939 |
|
|
German troops invaded Poland on Friday September 1st 1939 and it became
clear that Britain was about to go to war. The evacuation of
schoolchildren out of London began on September 1st 1939. |
| |
|
|
Mr William Cornish, the Head
Master of the Johnston Terrace School
at Keyham, recorded in the school's log book (held at the Plymouth and West
Devon Record Office, accession number 2323/2) that at five past four on the
afternoon of Friday September 1st 1939 he received notice that owing to
hostilities between Germany and Poland, all schools will be closed until
further notice. They reopened about three weeks later. |
| |
|
| Saturday September 2nd 1939 |
|
|
The first train loaded
with evacuees passed through
North Road Plymouth Station on Saturday
September 2nd 1939, heading for Saint Austell. |
| |
|
| Sunday September 3rd 1939 |
|
|
Great Britain and France
jointly declared war on Germany on Sunday September 3rd 1939.
One of the immediate effects
of the declaration was the suspension of pleasure boat trips on the River
Tamar. The other was the closure of schools in Plymouth and throughout
Cornwall so that officials could deal with allocating places to children
being evacuated from London. Plymouth was seen as a safe place to send
children at that time.
A second train load arrived at
North Road Plymouth Station by
Great Western Railway on
the afternoon of September 3rd. Amongst the children were 241 girls from a
high school; 270 boys from a grammar school; plus 238 girls and 60 boys from
Roman Catholic schools. They were greeted at
the Station by men and nurses
from the
Saint John Ambulance Brigade,
under Mr H Miller, the Commissioner, and Mrs H Hastings, the Lady Corps
Superintendent, policemen, railway employees and ordinary passengers, all of
whom ran errands for the children purchasing chocolate, sweets and ice
creams to help them on their way to the Camborne and Redruth area of
Cornwall. It was reported that many of the adults declined to take the
money off the children.
In addition to the school
children were about 200 mothers and other children, the youngest of whom was
Master Joseph Dickson, aged just three weeks. The Great Western
Railway Company
provided a coach to act as a sick bay in case any of the young travellers
were feeling the strain of travelling but it was not required.
Plymouth City Council advertised for contractors to erect 50 brick or
concrete Air Raid Wardens' Posts while White's Naval Surplus Stores in Ebrington Street advertised 1,200 Government Surplus curtains, ready to
hang, from 6d to 10d each; black lined fancy linen, from 1s 6d to 3s 6d
each; and metal boxes suitable for storing food or the deeds to your house,
for one to two shillings a time. The Millbay Laundry, Cleaning and
Dyeing Company Limited
were advertising black-out curtains and Coster's had a
plentiful supply of boys' suits (short trousers, of course) for 8s 11d, with
cheaper quality ones available for as little as 6s 11d. Co-operative
Red Label tea was 2s 8d per pound and steaks, chops, fish and grills 'of all
descriptions' could be had in the Grill Room of the Royal Hotel.
|
| |
|
| Friday September 29th 1939 |
|
|
Friday September 29th
1939 was National Registration Day. |
| |
|
| Thursday November 9th 1939 |
|
|
Viscount Astor was elected Lord
Mayor of Plymouth on Thursday November 9th 1939. |
| |
|
| Wednesday December 13th 1939 |
|
|
On Wednesday December 13th
1939, during the so-called "Battle of the River Plate", the British cruiser
HMS "Exeter" was damaged. The German pocket battleship "The Admiral Graf Spee"
was scuttled on December 17th. |
| |
|
| Monday December 18th 1939 |
|
|
His Majesty the King visited the
Plymouth Command of the Royal Navy on Monday December 18th 1939, on the day that the first
contingent of Canadian soldiers arrived in England. |
| |
|
| Tuesday December 26th 1939 |
|
|
On Boxing Day, Tuesday
December 26th 1939, the first squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force
arrived in England. |
| |
|
| Monday January 8th 1940 |
|
|
The rationing of
butter, ham, bacon and sugar started on Monday January 8th 1940,
when ration books were also introduced There was points
rationing for tinned goods, dried fruit, cereals, syrup, treacle
and biscuits. At first each person was allowed 16 points per
month to spend on whatever was available at the time. This was
later raised to 20 points per month. Each person had to be
registered with a specific local shop and could only use their
points in that shop. Milk, eggs, and their "dried" versions, as
well as oranges, were strictly controlled to ensure that
expectant mothers, babies and the elderly had sufficient
supplies. Fish and potatoes were never rationed although from
time to time they became in very short supply.
Amounts changed
over time but a typical weekly ration was:-
-
butter 2 ounces
-
margarine 4 ounces
-
milk 3 pints (sometimes it was only 2
pints)
-
cheese 2 ounces
-
1 fresh egg
-
one packet of dried eggs every four
weeks
-
bacon or ham 4 ounces
-
1s 6d worth of other meat
-
tea 2 ounces
-
sugar 8 ounces
-
one pound of jam every two months
-
and 12 ounces of sweets every four
weeks
It was reported in
"The Daily Mail" newspaper that 'The King, Queen, the
Princesses and other members of the Royal family will eat only
the normal ration of butter, bacon and sugar from today (first
day of rationing). They have been issued with "commercial
travellers' cards" - given to all people who have to move about
the country. The King insisted that this method be adopted
and no special arrangements should be made. The Queen has
drawn up special menus, dropping two courses from both luncheon
and dinner'.
|
| |
|
| Wednesday January 31st 1940 |
|
|
HMS "Ajax" arrived
in the Royal Dockyard on
Wednesday January 31st 1940 after its action in the "Battle of
the River Plate". |
| |
|
| Thursday February 15th 1940 |
|
| HMS "Exeter"
arrived at the
Royal Dockyard on Thursday February 15th 1940. |
| |
|
| Friday February 16th 1940 |
|
|
On Friday February
16th 1940 the officers and men from HMS "Ajax" and HMS "Exeter" were
given a civic reception in the
Guildhall. |
| |
|
| Monday March 11th 1940 |
|
|
Monday March 11th
1940 saw the beginning of meat rationing. |
| |
|
| Sunday March 17th 1940 |
|
|
Plymouth's cinemas were permitted to open on a Sunday for the first time on Sunday on March 17th
1940. |
| |
|
| Friday May 10th 1940 |
|
|
On Friday May 10th
Mr Neville Chamberlain resigned and was replaced as Prime
Minister by Mr Winston Churchill. A National Government was
formed. |
| |
|
| Tuesday May 14th 1940 |
|
|
The formation of
the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) was announced by Mr Anthony
Eden on Tuesday May 14th 1940. |
| |
|
| Sunday May 26th 1940 |
|
| Their Majesty's
the King and Queen led the Nation and the British Empire in a Day of
National Prayer at Westminster Cathedral on Sunday May 26th 1940.
A service were held at the Ancient Parish Church of Saint Andrew the
Apostle in Plymouth, at which the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress were
present. Similar services were held in other Church in the
City. |
| |
|
| Monday May 27th 1940 |
|
|
335,490 British,
French and Belgian troops were evacuated from Dunkirk between
Monday May 27th and Tuesday June 4th 1940. |
| |
|
| Sunday June 2nd 1940 |
|
|
On Sunday June 2nd 1940
600 French and other troops arrived at
Turnchapel Station after
evacuation from Dunkirk. |
| |
|
| Tuesday June 18th 1940 |
|
|
At 5.30pm on
Tuesday June 18th 1940 the ex--Great Western Railway Company's Channel Islands ferry, the "St Helier",
under Captain R R Pitman, anchored in Plymouth Sound, having
diverted while on passage from Southampton to La Pallice on the
French coast. She sailed again at 10.35pm to resume her mission
but the Captain was amazed to pass French ships of all types
making a mad dash for the English ports. The situation on land
was rapidly getting worse and it was not long before the "St
Helier" was attacked by two enemy planes. The crew replied with
heavy fire from the ship's guns and scored hits on both planes,
causing the bomb intended for the ship to fall short. Realising
that any attempt to embark troops was likely to end in disaster,
the ship was ordered to sea, where she ran the gauntlet of an
enemy submarine and a severe electrical storm that rendered the
compass and degaussing cable useless. The "St Helier" finally
arrived back in the relative safety of Plymouth sound at 5.35pm
on Friday June 21st. |
| |
|
| Sunday June 30th 1940 |
|
|
Plymouth's first
air raid alert took place at 12.45am on Sunday June 30th 1940
and lasted one hour. |
| |
|
| Thursday July 4th 1940 |
|
|
On Thursday July 4th 1940 the Prime Minister announced in the House of
Commons that the Government had seized French warships to
prevent them from falling into enemy hands. |
| |
|
| Saturday July 6th 1940 |
|
|
The first bombs to
be dropped on Plymouth fell just before midday on Saturday July
6th 1940. The three bombs hit a block of eight houses on the
Corporation housing estate at Swilly Road, numbers 132 to 146.
Three houses were demolished, two were wrecked beyond repair,
and three others were damaged. Other properties nearby were
damaged by the blast.
Mrs Blanch
Margaret Ellnor, aged 33, of 140 Swilly Road, the wife of Mr F A
Ellnor, became Plymouth's first air-raid victim, closely
followed by Mr Harry Clarke Swinburne, aged 58, of 142 Swilly
Road and thirteen-year-old Joseph Harold Nicolas, aged 13, of
138 Swilly Road, the son of CPO F Nicholas RN. Joseph died on
July 8th at the
City Hospital, Greenbank. Six other people were injured.
Apparently the raider, a Dornier, or "Black Pencil" as they were
nicknamed, was challenged by gunfire from the anti-aircraft
positions but got away without being hit.
Two Police
officers who were in the police box at the junction of Beacon
Park Road and Wolseley Road attended the incident. They were
Police Sergeant Stephen Mansfield and Police Constable Reginald
Hawkins. A 13-year-old lad by the name of Jimmy Silcock, who
lived at number 136 Swilly Road, later recalled that the rear of
his family's home caved in as a result of the blast and his
mother, who had remained in the house, got covered in debris and
had to be dug out.
|
| |
|
| Sunday July 7th 1940 |
|
|
The following day,
Sunday July 7th 1940, there was another attack from a bomber
that flew low over the City from the direction of Laira. The
time was about 5.30pm. It was so low, apparently, that a man on
duty at the gasworks at Coxside opened fire on it with a
shot-gun. The bombs missed their supposed target, the gasworks,
and landed on houses at the junction of South Milton Street and
Home Sweet Home Terrace. The local post office was destroyed.
Five people were
killed in this raid: Mark and Mrs Ellen Keefe, aged 65 and 60
respectively, and Carroll Voysey, aged 55, all of 87 Cattedown
Road; Samuel Hollinsworth Peek Tremain, aged 49, of 17 South
Milton Street; and Police Constable Alfred Edwin Crosby, aged
48, husband of Mildred Crosby of 16 Lynwood Avenue, Marsh Mills,
Plympton, and son of Hannah Crosby of 11 First Avenue,
Bexleyheath in Kent. He and an unnamed soldier were on duty in
South Milton Street. Four others were injured, including Mr
Frank Reginald Jago, aged 68, of 39 Cattedown Road, who died in
the City Hospital, Greenbank, on July 16th.
|
| |
|
| Monday July 8th 1940 |
|
|
It was announced
on Monday July 8th 1940 that tea was to be rationed to 2 ounces
per head per week. |
| |
|
|
Also on July 8th,
Devonport received an early morning raid when four bombs were
dropped in the vicinity of Morice Square and Marlborough Street, killing Mr Sidney Walter Coombe Slee,
aged 54, the butcher, whose shop in Marlborough Street received
a direct hit. His wife, Mary Truscott Slee, survived. One of
the bombs crashed right through the
Royal Sailors' Club in Morice Square, exploding in the
kitchen and wrecking the dining room above it, which had only a
short time before been crowded with sailors having their
breakfasts. Three people were seriously injured in the raid,
including a woman who was dug out of the debris of her house. |
| |
|
| Wednesday July 10th 1940 |
|
|
On Wednesday July
10th 1940 the German Luftwaffe began the Battle of Britain in
the skies over the South East of England. |
| |
|
| Tuesday July 23rd 1940 |
|
|
Mr Eden, the
Minister of War, announced on Tuesday July 23rd 1940 that the
Local Defence Volunteers were now to be known as the Home
Guard. |
| |
|
| Thursday July 25th 1940 |
|
|
On Thursday July
25th 1940 the Duke of Kent made the first of many visits to Plymouth
during the War. |
| |
|
| Thursday August 1st 1940 and
Tuesday August 13th 1940 |
|
|
247 Squadron,
Royal Air Force, was reformed from the Sturmburgh Fighter
Flight, based on the Shetland Isles, at RAF Roborough on
Thursday August
1st 1940. It flew Gloster Gladiators and the first arrived at
Roborough on Tuesday August 13th 1940.
Confirmed by the late Mr David Penberthy from research done at The National Archives
in 2010.
|
| |
|
| Sunday August 11th 1940 |
|
| A second Day of
National Prayer was held on Sunday August 11th 1940. |
| |
|
| Friday August 16th 1940 |
|
|
London had its
first air raid on Friday August 16th 1940. |
| |
|
| Friday August 16th 1940 |
|
|
Three naval
ratings, the victims of an unidentified air-raid in the South
West, were buried on Friday August 16th 1940. They were Mr
William Harding, aged 39 years; Mr Allan brooks, 22; and Mr
Rufus Barnes, also 22. |
| |
|
| Friday August 16th 1940 |
|
|
'Plymouth Hits
Back' was the slogan of the Plymouth Spitfire Fund in its
attempt to raise £5,000 towards an aircraft for the war effort.
As at August 16th 1940 £150 had been donated. Although the fund
was divided into units of £1, these could be made up of smaller
amounts from those who could not afford to give that sum of
money. The treasurer of the fund was Mr H L Jeffery.
|
| |
|
| Saturday August 17th 1940 |
|
|
It was business as
usual for the motor coach tour companies. On Saturday August
17th 1940 Plymothians could sample the delights of an all-day
visit to Fowey, Polperro and Looe with Embankment Motors for 8s
6d; or Widecombe, Haytor and Torquay with the Co-operative
Travel Service for the same price; or an afternoon mystery drive
for three shillings from Western National Coach Tours.
Embankment Motors also operated a rather unusual tour, to
Cheesering, on Bodmin Moor, departing from Princess Square at
2.30pm, price 6s 6d. |
| |
|
| Sunday August 18th 1940 |
|
|
As from Sunday
August 18th 1940 the visiting hours at Plymouth's City Hospital
(otherwise known as Freedom Fields Hospital) were: to wards 1 to
8 inclusive, Tuesdays only, between 5.30 and 6.30pm; to ward 14
and the maternity and children's wards, Sundays only, between
2.30 and 3.30pm; to wards 15 and 16, Fridays only, between 5.30
and 6.30pm. Only one visitor was allowed per patient in the
Hospital at any one time. |
| |
|
| Friday August 23rd 1940 |
|
|
The first all-night
bombing raid on London took place on Friday August 23rd. This
was the start of The Blitz, although Plymouth's own Blitz
did not start until March 1941. |
| |
|
| Tuesday August 27th 1940 |
|
|
There was a bad
air-raid on Tuesday August 27th 1940 which killed the following
inmates and staff of Ford House in Wolseley Road:
Beatrice Allen,
aged 62;
Mary Bendle, aged 66;
Ivy Alexandra Bennett, aged 38, daughter of Mr J A Bennett;
Frances Mildred Annie Coombe, aged 58, daughter of the late
William and Frances Coombe;
Mary Ellen Dawe, aged 36, of 5
Woolster Street, Plymouth,
daughter of the late William and Alice Daw;
Lily Edgcumbe, aged 55;
Mary Ann Pring Griffin, aged 64;
Annie Louisa Harris, aged 59;
Jessie Elizabeth Hill, aged 57;
Elsie Elizabeth Ley, aged 39, daughter of Henry and Bertha Ley
of 132 King Street;
Winifred Irene Roberts, aged 40; and
Clara Rosina Skinner, aged 44.
|
| |
|
| Tuesday August 27th 1940 |
|
|
The
Great Western
Railway Company's
tender, the "Sir John Hawkins", was damaged in that raid after
she had been repaired she was taken over by the Admiralty and
given a Naval crew. |
| |
|
| Sunday September 8th 1940 |
|
|
A third Day of
National Prayer was held on Sunday September 8th 1940. |
| |
|
| Sunday September 15th 1940 |
|
|
Lieutenant R
Davies of Plymouth led the squad which removed a time bomb that
threatened Saint Paul's Cathedral in London on Sunday September
15th 1940. |
| |
|
| Saturday September 21st 1940 |
|
|
On Saturday
September 21st 1940 the
Great Western Railway Company
suspended running the overnight Travelling Post Office train to
Plymouth
and Penzance and also the Plymouth to Bristol TPO. |
| |
|
| Tuesday September 24th 1940 |
|
|
On Tuesday September 24th
1940 His Majesty the King created the George Cross for civilian bravery. |
| |
|
| Monday September 30th 1940 |
|
|
The first of a
fleet of over-age American destroyers arrived in England on
Monday September 30th 1940. |
| |
|
| Saturday October 5th 1940 |
|
|
Air raid shelters
were erected at Hooe on Saturday October 5th 1940. |
| |
|
| Friday October 11th 1940 |
|
|
A second
contingent of American destroyers arrived at Plymouth on Friday
October 11th 1940. |
| |
|
| Monday October 21st 1940 |
|
|
On Monday October
21st 1940 Purchase Tax came into operation. |
| |
|
| Thursday october 24th 1940 |
|
|
The extension of
British Summer Time to throughout the winter was announced by
the Home Secretary, Mr W S Morrison, on Thursday October 24th
1940. |
| |
|
| Saturday November 16th 1940 |
|
|
A special football
match between the Royal Navy and the Army took place at Home
Park on Saturday November 16th 1940 in aid of the Earl Haig
Poppy Fund. Over 6,000 spectators paid £157 16s at the
gate and over 2,000 additional were sold. The kick-off was
performed by Mrs Davies, the wife of Captain R Davies, the hero
of Saint Paul's Cathedral. |
| |
|
| Wednesday November 27th 1940 |
|
|
One of the most
serious incidents in the War occurred during the night of
Wednesday November 27th 1940. At about 7.30pm an enemy aircraft
dropped four flares over the Turnchapel/Mount Batten district.
Almost immediately one of the hangars at RAF Mount Batten
was set alight by a high explosive bomb. A Sunderland Flying
Boat caught fire and was burned out, and ten people were killed
at Oreston alone, where four houses were demolished. Within a
short while another bomber, while aiming for the Air Station,
managed to get a direct hit on one of the oil tanks in the
nearby Admiralty Oil Fuel Depot, which was adjacent to
Turnchapel Railway Station.
However, the fire
spread from one tank to another until the flames so illuminated
the night sky that people on the Barbican and Hoe could easily
read their watches and newspapers. The blaze around the tanks
continued the next day, when two Auxiliary Fire Service
personnel lost their lives (Mr Thomas J Callicot, aged 30, and
Mr Robert W Widger, aged 33, both of Plymouth) and four others
were injured. The fire spread from tank to tank but there was
only one explosion, which showered blazing oil on the railway
station setting alight to the buildings and also set light to
Hooe Lake. The people of Plymouth lived in fear of further
attacks as Plymouth was now such a brightly lit target. The
people of Turnchapel were all evacuated to Plympton. The fires
lasted for four nights and everyone was greatly relieved when
they were finally put out on Sunday December 1st.
|
| |
|
| Sunday December 8th 1940 |
|
|
On Sunday December 8th
1940 gangs of men were to be seen relaying railway track and
repairing the station and bridge at Turnchapel. Trains started
to run again on December 16th 1940. |
| |
|
| Sunday December 15th 1940 |
|
|
During an air raid
on Sunday December 15th 1940 the
Great Western Railway Company's tender
"Sir Walter Raleigh", was damaged and eight members of the crew
were injured. |
| |
|
| Monday December 23rd 1940 |
|
|
Plymouth
Corporation Transport Department converted two of its
single-deck buses into mobile canteens for use in air-raid
emergencies. They were inspected in Guildhall Square by the
members of the Emergency Committee on Monday December 23rd
1940. Running water was obtained from a tank on the roof and
there were a gas cooker to provide hot meals and three large
gas-heated urns which could be used to hold soup or tea. It was
fully equipped with plates, cups and stainless steel cutlery.
Upwards of 1220 cups of hot drinks could be served at a time.
The two ladies representing the Women's Voluntary Service, Lady
Hollely and Mrs Wordley, 'were loud in their praise of the
very practical organization of the canteen'. |
| |
|
| December 1940 |
|
|
At the end of
December 1940 Mrs Gwen Howarth, of 16 Leigham Terrace, Plymouth,
won the "Venus" Competition at the
New Palace Theatre. |
| |
|
| 1940 |
|
|
At some pint
during 1940 the City Council began collecting kitchen waste for
processing into pig food, as part of the war effort.
Communal collection bins were placed in the streets. The
scheme continued until October 1959. |
| |
|
| Monday January 6th 1941 |
|
|
Meat rationing was
reduced from 1s 10d to 1s 6d on Monday January 6th 1941. |
| |
|
| January 1941 |
|
|
In January 1941
Plymouth City Council was renting the Tothill Recreation Ground
out to the Ministry of Mines for use as a coal dump. The rent
was £150 per annum, which the Council refused to lower. |
| |
|
| Friday January 10th 1941 |
|
|
The 247th alert
occurred on Friday January 10th 1941. Although the press
reported that two people were killed in Portland Place,
Devonport, only one, 17-years-old Mr George Cyril Finch, the son
of Mr Sydney C and Mrs Winifred E Finch, of 9d Cannon Street,
Devonport, is listed in the civilian casualty list. He was
injured during the raid and died later the same day at the
Prince of Wales Hospital in Plymouth. |
| |
|
| Saturday January 11th 1941 |
|
|
An unexploded bomb
was removed on Saturday January 11th from Wolsdon Street. |
| |
|
| Sunday January 12th 1941 |
|
|
Three women were
the only casualties in a raid on Sunday January 12th 1941. They
were Mrs Mary Anne Hooper, aged 71, and Ms Margery Hurst, aged
29, both of 6 Verna Road,
Saint Budeaux; and their next door neighbour, Mrs Ellen Jane
Pomery, aged 59, the wife of Mr John Pomery. |
| |
|
| Monday January 13th/Tuesday
January 14th 1941 |
|
|
During the night
of Monday January 13th/Tuesday January 14th 1941 there was an
air raid on Plymouth, described by
Mr Twyford
as a "nightmare".
It was the City's 256th alert. The raid lasted for three hours
from 6.30pm and killed 24 people, seriously injured 55 and
slightly injured 62. Most of these came from an air raid
shelter in Madeira Road, opposite
Phoenix Wharf, which received a direct hit. Four members of
the Edgerton family died: Mrs Sarah Agnes Edgerton, aged 40, the
wife of Mr Albert Edward Edgerton of the
Royal
Citadel; their two daughters, Miss Ida Edgerton, aged 19,
and Miss Grace Edgerton, aged 14; and their 9-years-old son,
William Edgerton.
At 11pm, while the
raid was at its height, the decision was taken to abandon trying
to print the following morning's
"The Western Morning News"
at Frankfort Street and transfer the type to the "Express and
Echo" building in Exeter. The type that had already been set
and the remaining "copy" was loaded into a fleet of cars and
rushed up the main road to Exeter, where production resumed
shortly after Midnight.
It was in this
raid that the first of Plymouth's places of worship
was seriously damaged, an honour befalling
Sherwell
Congregational Chapel
in Tavistock Road, Plymouth. The gas works
at Coxside was badly damaged and the Corporation's electricity
works
at Prince Rock put out of use. Electricity supply was restored
during the afternoon of the 14th, thanks to the national grid,
but the Plymouth end of the City remained without gas for some
three weeks (SEE January 27th 1941). The railway lines at
Friary, Devonport and Turnchapel
were damaged.
Two members of the
Auxiliary Fire Service won George Medals during this raid. An
unspecified oil tank caught fire and 29-years-old Patrol Officer
George Henry Wright, of 71 Neath Road, Lipson, and Leading
Fireman Cyril George Lidstone, aged 28, of 54 Durham Avenue,
Lipson, were detailed by Divisional Officer R M Easton to deal
with it. If it had exploded it would have burned for days and
provided a target for the German raiders. The roof of the tank
was quite low in the frame that surrounded it and the fire was
in the sealing ring between the roof and the tank itself. Ro
get at it, the two men had to haul their apparatus up the
external stairway and then clamber down 32 feet to the top of
the tank. Patrol Officer Wright went down first but the water
supply failed and he had to climb back out again because of the
heat. All this time there was a risk of the tank exploding.
Once a water supply had been restored, he once again climbed
down and started to play foam on the fire. Leading Fireman
Lidstone then followed to assist him. High explosive bombs were
falling all falling all around them as the air raid was at its
height. The two men were ringed by a wall of fire from the the
seal but they did eventually manage to extinguish it.
Half-blinded, they then were able to clamber out again, a very
serious disaster having been averted. As Mr Wright put it
afterwards: 'I simply took the job in my stride.' In
April 1941 Patrol Officer George Henry Wright, who had been a
house decorator before the War, and Leading Fireman Cyril George
Lidstone, a plasterer by trade, were awarded the George Medal
for gallantry.
In the same raid
the City Hospital
at Freedom Fields was damaged, killing one young patient,
9-years-old Miss Lilian Rose Stephens, the daughter of Mr Alfred
and Mrs Priscilla Frances Stephens of 88 Warleigh Avenue, Keyham
Barton. Two of the wards at Greenbank Hospital
were also damaged, injuring two nurses. Island House
on the Barbican was also damaged. Cinema performances were
suspended.
Amongst those
killed during the raid on the night of Monday January 13th 1941
was Mrs Joan Dorothy Bickford (nee Le Masuriere), aged 18, who
had only three weeks before married Mr Leslie G Bickford. She
was a member of Miss Geraldine Lamb's ENSA concert party and the daughter of Mr E P and Mrs K S Le
Masuriere of 7 Kensington Gardens, Mutley, Plymouth. She was
buried at Efford Cemetery on Saturday January 18th 1941.
|
| |
|
|
Two days later the
Lord Mayor (Lord Astor)
gave a statement of the statistics relating to this raid. 106
high explosive bombs had been poured on the City, three of which
were delayed action ones. Twenty-six people had been killed, 60
houses demolished, 400 houses seriously damaged, and 2,000 homes
slightly damaged. |
| |
|
| Sunday January 19th 1941 |
|
|
As an experiment,
it was decided to provide hot meals for 1,000 people at the
Guildhall
on Sunday January 19th 1941. Tickets, costing 9d for adults and
6d for children, could be bought at any warden's post. The
meal consisted of soup, a joint and a sweet and there were two
sittings, at Noon and 1.30pm. |
| |
|
| Monday January 27th 1941 |
|
|
On Monday January
27th 1941 there was a terrific explosion of a different type,
when an attempt was made to restore the gas supply
from the gasworks
at Coxside. Three men were killed in the gas works and five
injured. Several ominous bulges in the roadways were noted at
Sutton Road, Notte Street, Exeter Street, Bedford Street and
Union Street,
caused by broken gas mains. |
| |
|
| January 1941 |
|
|
During the month
of January 1941 Number 247 Squadron RAF, based at RAF Roborough,
received its first Hawker Hurricane aircraft. However, there is
no evidence that the Squadron played any part in the defence of
Plymouth from aerial attacks, reliance being made entirely on
anti-aircraft batteries both ashore and afloat.
Confirmed by the late Mr David Penberthy from
research done at The National Archives, 2010.
|
| |
|
| February 1941 |
|
|
There were by
February 1941 about twelve girl porters working at
Plymouth
Station and
North Road Plymouth Station.
They worked in half-day shifts, loading and unloading trains. |
| |
|
| Saturday February 1st 1941 |
|
|
On Saturday
February 1st 1941 a new TOC-H hostel, for 47 men, was opened at
46 Union Street,
Plymouth. The cost was in the form of a gift from the British
War Relief Society of America. |
| |
|
| February 1941 |
|
|
Between 150 and
160 bus conductresses were now working for the Plymouth
Corporation Transport Department and the
Western National Omnibus Company in Plymouth. |
| |
|
| February 1941 |
|
|
It was reported in
February 1941 that many ancient documents housed in solicitors'
offices were being sent to the waste paper collection. |
| |
|
| Monday February 10th 1941 |
|
|
The Post Office at
Turnchapel, Plymstock, reopened at 9am on Monday February 10th 1941 as a
result of protests about its closure back in July 1940. |
| |
|
| Thursday February 13th 1941 |
|
|
Plymouth
experienced its 272nd alert between 3.40am and 4.20am on the
morning of Thursday February 13th 1941. Sadly, however, the
bombs had already been dropped and destroyed three houses in
Alfred Road, Ford. Mrs Violet Susan Trotman, aged 32, plus her
7-years-old daughter, Pamela Violet Trotman, and 2-years-old
son, Leonard Alfred Trotman, all of 23 Alfred Road, Ford, died
in that raid. Her husband, Able Seaman Alfred Ernest Trotman,
was presumably away serving aboard ship somewhere. Three others
at the same address, Mr Richard Shears, aged 64; 66-years-old
Emmaline Shears, and Mr Henry Reginald Baker, aged 41, also
perished. |
| |
|
| February 1941 |
|
|
Black-out blinds
cost from 1s 11d in February 1941. |
| |
|
| Wednesday February 19th 1941 |
|
|
Wednesday February
19th 1941 saw the City's 278th air raid alert, between 7.15pm
and 10.50pm. The German bombers were actually on their way to
South Wales but dropped a few high-explosive bombs in the area
of Valletort Road at Stoke and Stonehouse Town Hall. |
| |
|
| Tuesday February 25th 1941 |
|
|
The War Damage
Bill passed its final stage in the Houses of Parliament on
Shrove Tuesday, February 25th 1941. |
| |
|
| February 1941 |
|
|
Disused bakeries
in Commercial Road,
Treville Street and West Hoe were to be taken over by the
City Council in order to provide cooked meals to residents
bombed out of their homes. Ex-naval cooks and unemployed bakers
were to be recruited at the rate of 1s 3½d per hour, plus a war
bonus of six shillings per week. There was double pay on
Sundays. |
| |
|
|
At
Messrs
Spooner's premises on the corner of
Bedford Street and
Old Town
Street
fourteen fire-watchers patrolled the building every night. Each
person did one night in eight and there were also four
full-time, paid, fire-watchers. |
| |
|
|
The cost of a
gents' haircut had risen from 1s to 1s 3d. |
| |
|
| March 1941 |
|
|
In March 1941,
just before the Plymouth Blitz, the
Great Western Railway
Company and the
Southern Railway Company
laid in a link between their lines at Saint Budeaux. This enabled
GWR
trains to and from London to use the lightly-used
Southern
main line to get to Exeter if their own main line was damaged.
It also meant that
Southern
trains had an alternative route into and out of Plymouth if
required. |
| |
|
| Friday March 7th 1941 |
|
|
On Friday March
7th 1941 the Lord Mayor of Plymouth,
Lord Astor,
accepted a mobile canteen from the English Speaking Union. It
had been donated to them by Miss Clara Harrington, of the USA,
in memory of Mr Joseph Riter. The canteen was painted in the
Women's' Voluntary Service (WVS) colours of sea green and
maroon. |
| |
|
| March 1941 |
|
|
"Blitz Soup" was
being served in local restaurants. It comprised beans, lentils,
peas, carrots and macaroni. |
| |
|
| Monday March 10th 1941 |
|
|
The Duke of Kent
arrived in Plymouth on Monday March 10th 1941 for a four days
visit.
|
| |
|
| Friday March 14th/Saturday
March 15th 1941 |
|
|
Between 8.30pm on
the night of Friday March 14th and 12.37am on the morning of
Saturday March 15th 1941 there were three raids, during which
five people were killed. Six bombs fell in the Royal Navy
Avenue area of Keyham, where seven houses were demolished and 50
seriously damaged. Some 300 more were slightly damaged. Six
bombs fell in Central Park,
two near the Southern Railway at Devonport,
five in Beaumont Terrace and a few odd ones in various parts of
Stoke, Saint Budeaux, Crownhill, Plympton, Plymstock and Hooe. Incendiary bombs were also dropped and started some
27 fires.
Those killed in
these raids were: Mr Francis John Beare, aged 76, his wife, Mrs
Emily Elizabeth Beare, 65, and their son, 36-years-old Mr
Francis William Beare, all of 22 Royal Navy Avenue, Keyham.
With them that fateful night were their daughter, Mrs Olive
Blades, 29, and her 2-years-old son, Derrick Albert Blades, of
15 Watts Park Road, Peverell, both of whom also died in the
raid.
|
| |
|
|
Thursday March 20th/Friday
March 21st 1941
Then, as now, a visit from
Royalty can attract the wrong sort of attention and so it was on Thursday
March 20th 1941. HRH King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrived by Royal
Train at 10.30am that morning at
North Road Plymouth Station, where they
were greeted by Lady Astor, deputising
for her husband, and other high ranking service officers. They visited
the Royal Marine Barracks, the
Royal Naval Barracks, the
Royal Dockyard, and Her
Majesty even called in on the patients and staff of the
Royal Naval
Hospital,
before taking tea with
Lady Astor at No. 3
Elliot Terrace on the Hoe. During this there was an air raid alert but it
came to nothing. After tea, the party visited the YMCA in Union Street before
embarking on the Royal Train again, ready for departure at 5.45pm.
It had been a good day but
rumours were apparently circulating around the Royal Air Force operational
room at Saint Eval in Cornwall that 'Plymouth
was due to catch a packet tonight'.
In preparation, according to Gerald Wasley in his book "Blitz", they made
ready four Gloster Gladiator biplanes for the defence of Plymouth.
At just after 8.30pm the alert
was sounded and at 8.39 the attack started. First came a group of Heinkel
III bombers flying at between 9,900 and 11,500 feet. Included in the load
of bombs that they dropped were 34 delayed action high-explosive ones. The
pathfinder force, who should have arrived first and dropped flares to light
the target, arrived at 8.41pm, flying at an altitude of 19,000 feet. Their
shower of flares was followed by 12,500 incendiaries and other
high-explosive bombs.
Once they had turned away to
go back home to their airfields in France, two further squadrons dropped
their bomb loads, which included 17 blockbusters, each weighing a ton. To
add further hell to that which was raining down on the City, a squadron that
had been sent to bomb the Westland Aircraft factory at Yeovil, diverted to
direct their bombs on Plymouth when bad weather prevented them from finding
their original target.
To quote Gerald Wasley: 'There
was no running away for those caught in this air raid, there was no escape,
perhaps worst of all there was no way of retaliating'.
During this raid the premises
of Messrs Spooner and Company Limited, directly across from
Saint Andrew's
Church,
was the first to suffer. It so quickly spread that it became obvious within
a very short space of time that Plymouth's own Fire Brigade could not
cope. At 8.55pm the first and second stages of a Regional Reinforcement
Scheme was put into operation and additional water pumps from Plympton, Saltash, Torpoint, Kingsbridge, Tavistock, Launcedston, Bodmin, Wadebridge,
Fowey, Liskeard, Lostwithiel, Yelverton, Looe, Torquay, Exeter, Bridgewater,
Barnstaple and Yeovil had arrived in the City by 11pm. Between 9.20pm and
11.47pm 21 pumps from the various naval and military establishments in the
area were also at the Fie Service's disposal.
Soon numbers 1 to 13 Bedford
Street were engulfed in flames, which then spread to the
Municipal Offices,
the Guildhall, and the General Post Office in Westwell Street. Properties in Union Street, The Octagon,
East Stonehouse and Millbay also suffered.
The raid lasted until 12.20am
in the early hours of March 21st. The centre of Plymouth was aflame. When
the other fire brigades did arrive in Plymouth - their sole navigational aid
being the bright orange glow in the night sky which indicated where Plymouth
was - they found they could not assist in putting out the fires because
their equipment was not compatible with that used in the City. Many of the
fires were left to simply burn themselves out.
At 4.35am on the Friday
morning the fires were declared to be under control. A total of 796
firemen, using 158 appliances, were then on duty.
During this air raid, when the
Synagogue was
threatened with destruction like the rest of the City Centre, the sacred
Torah scrolls were removed by the minister, the Reverend Wilfred Wolfson,
and with the aid of a Mr Widdicombe, placed in an adjacent cellar for
safety.
Confirmed by E-mail correspondence with the Reverend Wolfson's
grandson, Mr Ellis Pearlman, 2009.
The worst casualties were at
the City Hospital Maternity Ward, which received a direct hit. Four nurses
were killed during the raid: Emily Hellen Kelly, aged 37 years; Winifred May
McGuirk, aged 19 years; Lydia Rebecca Walters, aged 16 years; and
Probationary Nurse Monica White, aged 17 years.
Nineteen children died in the
Maternity Ward that night: Michael John Birdman, aged 21 months; Derek
Blatchford, aged 2 years; John Blatchford, aged 3 years; Angela Earle, aged
4 months; Philip Eve, aged 2 years; Terence Michael Fox, aged 23 months;
Peter Hamlyn, aged 4 months; Leslie Frank Hogg, aged 10 days; Alan John
Jones-Burnell, aged 2 years; twins Maureen and Nicholas John
Lowndes-Millward, aged 10 months; Albert Michael McManus, aged 21 months;
Charles Burnard Matthews, aged 18 months; Susan Peacock, aged 3 months;
Pauline May Sharland, aged 1 month; Winifred Valerie Shears, aged 23 months;
Shirley Short, aged 2 years; and Phyllis Taylor, aged 11 months. However,
the saddest loss was that of one-week-old Harold Santilla, who died with his
mother, 24-years-old Mrs Dorothy May Santilla.
Another mother died in that
raid, Mrs Beatrice Rosina May Parker, aged 19 years, but her daughter, Miss
Gwen Parker and born only four days previous, survived and now lives on
Vancouver Island, Canada. In January 2011 she visited her Mother's
unmarked grave in
Ford Park Cemetery for the first time.
Also destroyed was Hyde Park
School.
Thanks to the research efforts
of the late Mr David Penberthy, who before he passed away had scrutinised the Operations
Records of number 247 Squadron, RAF, based at Roborough Airfield, it can be revealed that all our protecting aircraft
were safely tucked up at Roborough during this air raid. Two Hurricane
aircraft were despatched at 3pm, 4pm and 5.05pm to carry out air raid
patrols but the last two, 7016 piloted by Sergeant McKay and 6622 by
Sergeant Doherty, had both returned to base by 6.10pm. It would appear
that nothing took off to intercept the bombers engaged in that night's raid
on Plymouth.
|
|
|
|
It was during this
raid that Police Constable Alan John Hill earned a British
Empire medal for gallant conduct in an incident at the
Southern
Railway Company's
goods yard adjacent to Friary Station.
Confirmed by E-mail correspondence from PC Hill's daughter, Mrs
Julie Jackson, 2008.
|
| |
|
|
Friday March 21st/Saturday
March 22nd 1941
If Plymothians thought that
that was it, they were wrong. At 8.50pm the following night, Friday March
21st, it started all over again. Apparently there was no warning and the
sudden appearance of the raiders coming in from the north-east caught the
City by surprise. The target was the area adjoining the one hit the
previous night and the pathfinder planes circled the City for some twenty
minutes positioning themselves before dropping their flares on the chosen
area. The bombers soon followed. They encountered no resistance from the
Royal Air Force.
Fires raged over a wide area,
from the timber yards and tar distillery at Coxside in the east to the
Royal
Naval Barracks at Keyham and the
Royal William Victualling Yard
in the west. One man was killed and two injured on
Drake's Island.
Saint Andrew's Church,
spared the night before, was gutted, as were the
Guildhall and the
Municipal Offices.
The Westminster and Hacker's Hotels in the Crescent were destroyed, as also
was the fate of the Plymouth Co-operative Society's emporium. Five
servicemen were killed at Osborne Place, The Hoe, by an unexploded bomb.
Only two buildings survived in
the City Centre that night, the
National Westminster Bank in
Bedford Street and the
the
offices of The Western Morning News Company in Frankfort Street. Neither
received a direct hit and both were modern buildings constructed of more
fire-resistant materials. Unfortunately the newspaper's photographic
department at the rear was destroyed and with it went pictures of old
Plymouth.
As there was no City Centre
left for its buses to serve, the
Western National Omnibus Company Limited
moved its terminus from Saint Andrew's Cross to Sherwell Arcade, just north of the
City Museum and Art Gallery in Tavistock
Road.
Gerald Wasley points out that
the only politician to visit the City after these two terrible nights was Mr
Herbert Morrison, the Minister of Health. The rest, including the Home
Secretary, stayed away. The King and Queen sent a message of sympathy
to Lady Astor.
However, the Australian nation
was unlikely to be left in any doubt how badly Plymouth was suffering during
the War: the Australian Prime Minster, Mr Robert Gordon Menzies, was staying
in the City that night.
This was the second night of
the Blitz that the Hurricane's of number 247 Squadron were safely tucked up
for the night when the raid came, the last two, Flight-Sergeant Makins in
7016 and Sergeant Fowler in 7020 being the last to land at Roborough at
7.10pm after completing a one-hour convoy patrol.
In the lull that followed
those two nights, Plymouth buried its dead. Naval ratings from HMS "Raleigh",
across the water at Torpoint, were given the task of recovering bodies from
the ruins.
|
| |
|
| Sunday March 23rd 1941 |
|
| A fourth Day of
National Prayer was held on Sunday March 23rd 1941. |
| |
|
| March 25th 1941 |
|
|
On March 25th 1941 some of the boys
from Hyde Park School were
transferred to Montpelier School, where they attended on a split-shift basis from
1.30pm until 5.15pm, and the girls were moved to Laira School. |
| |
|
| Monday April 7th/Tuesday
April 8th 1941 |
|
|
Between 9.30pm on
Monday April 7th and 3.35am on Tuesday April 8th 1941 there were
three alerts. During the third one, bombs fell at Hartley,
Mannamead, Mutley, Lipson, Mount Gould and Friary and also at
Swilly. |
| |
|
| Monday April 21st/Tuesday
April 22nd 1941 |
|
|
The evening of Monday April
21st was fine and cloudless, ideal weather for a piece of accurate bombing.
Plymothians were enjoying the spring evening, totally unaware that on the
airfields of France the Germans were preparing 120 aircraft for an attack on
Plymouth.
How people must have dreaded
8.30pm in those days. Although Pat Twyford claimed that the
sirens went off at about 9.30pm, Gerald Wasley says the raid started at
8.39, when the pathfinders arrived over the City and dropped their flares
and incendiaries. This time the Devonport end of the City was the main
target.
The Royal Navy suffered that
night, when ninety-six sailors were killed when a bomb penetrated the
basement of Boscawen Block at the
Royal Naval Barracks. Only
seventy-eight bodies were ever recovered, the remainder burnt beyond
recognition.
Johnston Terrace School
was totally destroyed.
A seven vehicle "Queen's Messengers" convoy arrived in the City on Tuesday
April 22nd 1941 and parked up in the car park at Home Park, Plymouth Argyle's football
ground. Members of the Women's Voluntary Service (WVS) provided the
drivers. Donated to Britain by the American Red Cross, the convoy
consisted of three vans carrying food, one van holding kitchen equipment,
and three travelling kitchens, could
provide 2,000 hot meals an hour. Each of the food vans can provide a
meal for 6,000 people. The canteens havwe a driver and a helper and
can feed between 500 and 600 people at one loading. A Mr Milner of the Ministry of Food
was in charge of the convoy and there was a woman quartermaster.
The following morning,
"The
Western Morning News"
appeared as usual. It was only six pages but it was up-to-date. It was
also something of a miracle as it had been produced in the
Leicester Harmsworth building in
Frankfort Street, encircled by buildings on fire and with bombs crashing
down all around it. Once again the building survived a terrible onslaught,
but luckily no direct hit. The raid had lasted for six hours, yet the
BBC
that morning announced that the raid had been 'short
and sharp', a
statement they were later forced to amend. |
| |
|
|
Tuesday April
22nd/Wednesday April 23rd 1941
An even heavier raid, if it
were possible, took place the following night, Tuesday April 22nd-23rd, and
once again Devonport was the main target. At around 11.30pm the Devonport
Telephone Exchange was hit and the Air Raid Precaution's control centre
beneath Devonport Market
was destroyed, severely hampering communications. But bombs did fall
elsewhere in Plymouth. That night, for example, saw the City's major
disaster, when an air raid shelter at Portland Square, just opposite the
City Museum and Art Gallery, sustained a
direct hit. Seventy-two people were killed outright.
The Roman Catholic Church of
the Most Holy Redeemer
at Keyham was destroyed during this raid.
|
| |
|
| Wednesday April
23rd/Thursday April 24th 1941 |
|
|
Devonport suffered yet again
during the night of Wednesday April 23rd and it was remarked at the time
that a fire could spread down a street as fast as a man could walk.
That night saw the last effort
to publish "The Western Morning News" in
Plymouth. At midnight it became clear that this would no longer be possible
and the staff and printing plates were immediately transferred by road to
the Exeter office of "The Express and Echo".
"The Western Evening
Herald"
continued to be printed in
Frankfort Street as the work was carried out
during the more peaceful daytime. Eventually new duplicated offices
were brought into use at Tavistock and production and distribution continued
from there until October 1944. |
| |
|
| Saturday April 26th 1941 |
|
|
A month after the
War Damage Act 1941 received the Royal Assent, an article
entitled "What to do if your house is bombed"
appeared in
"The Western Evening Herald". |
| |
|
| Monday April 28th 1941 |
|
|
As from Monday
April 28th 1941 housewives in Plymouth had to pay
cash-on-delivery for their milk. Mr P Waldron, representing the
Plymouth dairymen, told the press that it was being done because
of the risk of records being destroyed and because so many
people had now been evacuated and left no forwarding address. |
| |
|
| Monday April 28th 1941 |
|
|
On the afternoon
of Monday April 28th 1941 the victims of the April raids were
laid to rest in an extension to the mass grave at Efford Cemetery.
The grave was draped with Union Jacks and floral tributes
ranging from humble posies of primroses to official wreaths and
crosses. Those taking part in the service included the
Anglican Bishop
of Exeter, the Bishop of Plymouth, the Roman Catholic Bishop of
Plymouth and the Reverend W D Campbell representing the
Nonconformist congregations. Brigadier A Gye from the
Salvation Army was also present, as were Officers from the three
Services. The
Lord Mayor of Plymouth,
Lord Astor,
and the Deputy Lord Mayor, Alderman W J W Modley, were prevented from attending by illness
so the City was represented by the Lady Mayoress,
Lady Astor, the Deputy Lady Mayoress, Mrs Modley, and the
Town Clerk, Mr C Campbell.
As
"The Western
Evening Herald" put it: 'Here,
in a setting of beauty and peace, which looks out over a
wonderful panorama of the Devon hills, this company of
Plymothians who were called on to make the supreme sacrifice
rest together - men, women, and children.'
The "Western Morning News"
reported the following morning: 'A pathetic figure was an
Army corporal who had lost his wife and six children. As
the mourners walked away
Lady Astor moved alongside the Corporal, and, holding his
hand, walked some distance along the cemetery path with him,
offering words of sympathy and comfort.'
|
| |
|
| Monday April 28th/Tuesday
April 29th 1941 |
|
|
There was then a short respite
until the by now familiar pattern of events took place on the night of
Monday April 28th. The enemy planes were actually over the City when the
alarm was sounded and on that night the main targets were the
North Yard of
the Royal Dockyard, Saint
Budeaux, Camel's Head, and Torpoint, where forty-three sailors were killed
at HMS "Raleigh".
At the
Royal Naval Armament
Depot, Bull Point,
six laboratories, a small arms ammunition store and many other buildings
were damaged. The main office building received a direct hit from an high
explosive bomb, resulting in the deaths of 46-years-old Mr Alexander
McMillan McHutcheon, an Armament Supply Officer who came from Argyllshire in
Scotland, and 42-years-old Mr Joseph Wilson, a Messenger who lived at
Somerset Place, Devonport, who were both on fire watching duty.
Saltash also became a target
that night and twelve fire engines were taken across on the
Saltash Ferry to assist the
small, local brigade. |
| |
|
| Tuesday April 29th/Wednesday
April 30th 1941 |
|
|
Devonport, Milehouse, Keyham
and Saltash were the main targets the following night, Tuesday April 29th.
Devonport High School for Girls
received a direct hit, the gasometer at Keyham Gas Works was set
alight, the Great Western Railway Company's
locomotive number 4911, "Bowden Hall", took the blast of a bomb that landed
nearby at Keyham Station, which
brought rail services into and out of Cornwall to a halt, and over 100,000
books were destroyed by fire at the
Central Library in
Tavistock Road, Plymouth.
|
| |
|
| Wednesday April 30th 1941 |
|
|
By the end of
April 1941 there were 19 food centres open in Plymouth. At
three of them a two-course meal was available between Noon and
2.30pm and again between 5.30 and 7.30pm for the price of 9d:
Treville Street School; Number 40 Portland Square and Plymouth High Schools for Girls.
At a charge of 4d
per person, a meal consisting of bread, soup, tea and potato
stew, was available between the hours of 8am, Noon to 2.30pm and
5.30 to 7.30pm at: 30-31 Ker Street and Morice Town School.
A similar meal was available between the two latter times at
Oxford Street School;
Frederick Street School; Keyham Roman Catholic School; Saint
James the Great School; North Prospect School; York Street
School; Sutton Road School; King Street School, Devonport;
Salisbury Road School; and Prince Rock School.
In addition, or
perhaps alternatively, people made homeless by the bombing could
obtain temporary accommodation at Salisbury Road Baptist Chapel;
Saint Gabriel's Crypt; the Methodist Central Hall;
the Victory Hall, in Victory Street, Keyham; Hope Baptist Chapel;
and Compton Methodist Chapel.
Held in reserve
and not at that time in use were the Presbyterian Church at
Hartley; Mount Gould Methodist Chapel; Mutley Methodist Chapel;
Peverll Park Methodist Chapel; Saint Budeaux Methodist Chapel;
and Keyham Methodist Chapel
Hall, Admiralty Street.
The YMCA
and some 30 other organisations were also operating mobile
canteens, some of which ventured out on to Dartmoor to search
out those taking shelter away from the City. It was reported by
"The Western Evening Herald"
that to ensure a steady supply of milk to the City, farmers were
calling their cows to milking much earlier than they used to.
Traders who had
lost their stock could get advice and immediate financial
assistance from the Board of Trade and the Chamber of Commerce
at a new emergency centre in
Cobourg Street, opposite the
Education Offices. Retailers and catering establishment owners
were able to get similar facilities from the Saint Aubyn Masonic
Hall at Stoke.
|
| |
|
| Wednesday April
30th/Thursday May 1st 1941 |
|
|
However, the worst was now over.
Pat Twyford recorded in
his diary for May 1st: 'A
raid-free night -- and blessed sleep. Was that sleep good!'
The raids continued but the Plymouth Blitz was over. |
| |
|
| Friday May 2nd 1941 |
|
|
Mr Winston
Churchill, the Prime Minster, visited Plymouth and toured the
blitzed areas on Friday May 2nd 1941.
|
| |
|
| Saturday May 3rd 1941 |
|
|
It was not until
Saturday May 3rd 1941 that children were evacuated from the
City. Some 650 school children left
Friary Station
on a special train bound for North Cornwall. |
| |
|
| Sunday May 4th 1941 |
|
|
On Sunday May 4th
1941 Double Summer Time started. |
| |
|
| Monday May 5th 1941 |
|
|
A party of
children from Keyham Barton Roman Catholic School left for
Camborne, in Cornwall, on Monday May 5th 1941, under the evacuation
scheme.
Notes extracted by Debbie Watson, formerly of the
Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, from the Log Books of Keyham Barton Roman Catholic Primary
School, which are in private ownership. |
| |
|
| Saturday May 10th 1941 |
|
On Saturday May
10th 1941 some 2,000 youngsters between the ages of 5 and 16 met
at their respective schools and bade farewell to their parents
and families. Then 41 Corporation motor buses transported them
to North Road Plymouth Station
to board trains for Cornwall and safer places in Devon. Some
parents bought Platform Tickets and were able to see their
children off on the Station. Every ten children had a helper to
look after them and the whole event was presided over by Mr E
Stanley Leatherby, who had been Lord Mayor in 1933-34. Included
in this group were children from the Keyham Barton Roman
Catholic School, under the leadership of Miss Duggan.
Notes extracted by Debbie Watson, formerly of the
Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, from the Log Books of Keyham Barton Roman Catholic Primary
School, which are in private ownership. |
| |
|
| Tuesday May 13th 1941 |
|
Another 400
children were evacuated on the following Tuesday, May 13th 1941
and a further group from the Keyham Barton Roman Catholic School
left on the morning of May 16th 1941.
Notes extracted by Debbie Watson, formerly of the
Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, from the Log Books of Keyham Barton Roman Catholic Primary
School, which are in private ownership. |
| |
|
| Thursday May 22nd 1941 |
|
|
Compulsory fire
watching orders were made on Thursday May 22nd 1941 covering
Plymouth, Exeter and Penzance.
|
| |
|
| Monday June 2nd 1941 |
|
|
War coupon trading
commenced on Whit Monday, June 2nd 1941. |
| |
|
| Tuesday June 17th 1941 |
|
|
HRH the Duke of
Kent arrived in Plymouth for a three-day visit on Tuesday June
17th 1941. |
| |
|
| Tuesday July1st 1941 |
|
|
The Clothes
Rationing Order came into operation on Tuesday July 1st 1941.
Also on that day HRH the Princess Royal arrived in the Westcountry for a three-day visit that included Plymouth. |
| |
|
| Friday July 4th 1941 |
|
|
On Friday July 4th
1941 Britain's reconstruction
chief, Lord Reith, advised Plymouth to 'plan
boldly and plan now'. |
| |
|
| Saturday July12th 1941 |
|
|
Mr Vincent Massey,
the High Commissioner of Canada, visited Plymouth on Saturday
July 12th 1941 followed a few days later, on the 14th, by the
Honourable Peter Fraser, Prime Minister of New Zealand, who
visited local service stations. |
| |
|
| Sunday July 20th 1941 |
|
|
The "V for
Victory" Campaign opened on Sunday July 20th 1941. |
| |
|
| Monday July 21st 1941 |
|
|
On Monday July
21st 1941 the Lord Mayor opened a new pavilion on the Hoe to replace
the one destroyed in the Blitz.
However, this one, which was a marquee, was to be run by the
YMCA
for the benefit of service personnel only. Mr W G Soper was in
charge. |
| |
|
| Saturday August 2nd 1941 |
|
|
Following the
destruction of the Congress Hall in Martin Street, the Salvation
Army
took possession of the former Baptist Chapel in Portland Villas
on Saturday August 2nd 1941 as a replacement headquarters. |
| |
|
| Saturday August 9th 1941 |
|
|
It was announced on
Saturday August 9th 1941 that the General Post Office had made ready
a fleet of motor vans fitted out as mobile post offices to be rushed
to any location in the South West where the post office had been put
out of action by enemy raids. Also ready for use was a
prefabricated building with more facilities and even spare sets of
post office furniture that could be rushed anywhere it was needed. |
| |
|
| Friday August 15th 1941 |
|
The Royal Air
Force opened Harrowbeer Airfield at Yelverton on Friday August 15th
1941.
The commemorative stone at Harrowbeer states when
it was it was laid on August 15th 1981 it was
the fortieth anniversary of the official opening.
|
| |
|
| Saturday August 16th 1941 |
|
|
A major problem
with writing about events during the Second World War
is that because of news censorship many important incidents did
not come to the public's attention until months after they
happened and with no date specified. One such major event was
first mentioned in the press on Saturday August 16th 1941
although it had clearly taken place during the heavy raids in
either March or April 1941. It was the rescue of 14 scared
horses from the stables of the
Three Towns Dairy Company.
An ARP Warden by
the name of Mr Percy William Lewis Waldron, who was assistant
manager of the Three Towns Dairy Company
and lived at 4 Holdsworth Street, Pennycomequick, Plymouth, saw
a fierce fire burning in the vicinity of the Company's stables
and garage. Although the air raid was still in progress, he
walked to the stables and there found the milk round supervisor,
Mr Walter Nathaniel Arthur Downs, had been able to extinguish
the large fire on the dairy premises but it was still raging
above and alongside the stables. The two men, who were not used
to dealing with horses, led the fourteen, frightened animals to
safety, along with the Company's eleven cats.
|
| |
|
| Thursday September 25th 1941 |
|
|
Lord Halifax, the
British Ambassador to the United States of America, paid a
surprise visit to Plymouth on Thursday September 25th 1941. |
| |
|
| Friday September 26th 1941 |
|
|
The Plymouth
Citizens' Advice Bureau
was opened on Friday September 26th 1941. |
| |
|
| Friday October 10th 1941 |
|
|
At 3.30pm on
Friday October 10th 1941 a parade of tanks left Mutley Plain for
the Octagon, where they went on show to raise funds under the
banner of "Speed the Tanks". The 25-ton "Waltzing Matilda" and
the two 16-ton "Valentine" tanks plus scout cars and breakdown
lorries were under the command of Lieutenant F J Turpin, who
appealed 'for
all the tanks you can give both ourselves and the Russians'.
They were later displayed in Central Park
as well. |
| |
|
| Saturday October 11th 1941 |
|
|
On Saturday
October 11th 1941 King Haakon and Prince Olaf of Norway visited
Plymouth. |
| |
|
| Wednesday October 29th 1941 |
|
|
Chief
Superintendent W T Hutchings was appointed Chief Constable of
Plymouth
on Wednesday October 29th 1941. He took up post on Monday
December 1st. |
| |
|
| Monday November 10th 1941 |
|
|
Lord Astor was
elected
Lord Mayor of Plymouth for the third year running on
Monday November 10th 1941, when the American Ambassador, Mr J G Winant, was guest of honour at a Civic luncheon in the British
Restaurant at the Guildhall. |
| |
|
| Friday November 14th 1941 |
|
|
On Friday November
14th 1941 news arrived of the sinking of the aircraft carrier
HMS "Ark Royal".
Only a few
children living in the Plymstock area had taken advantage of the
evacuation programme, it was announced on November 14th 1941.
Nineteen children had been evacuated from the schools at Oreston
and 17 from Goosewell. Five girls and two boys had been sent
away from Hooe but one had since returned home. |
| |
|
| Sunday November16th 1941 |
|
|
It was reported on
Sunday November 16th 1941 that the first of three new villages for
evacuees and essential war service staff was to be opened
shortly. These were sponsored by the National Service Hostels
Corporation Limited on behalf of the Government. They comprised
brick-built accommodation blocks, with electric lighting,
kitchens, sick bay and even a police station with two cells.
The first one had provision for 3,000 people, with families
accommodated in rooms with four bunks in two tiers and single
women in dormitories of twenty bunks. It had three large
kitchens and eight 'feeding
centres'
that could seat 330 people at one sitting. There was a staff of
80. Accommodation was free for the first two weeks but
thereafter single residents had to pay five shillings per week
and families were charged double. A rest centre for 320 people
was also to be erected on the outskirts of Plymouth. |
| |
|
| Monday November 17th 1941 |
|
|
Rationing of
canned meat, canned fish and canned beans started on Monday
November 17th 1941. |
| |
|
| Friday November 21st 1941 |
|
|
An inspection of
Plymouth's emergency kitchens was carried out on Friday November
21st by Major G Lloyd George, Parliamentary Secretary to the
Minister of Food. |
| |
|
| Tuesday December 2nd 1941 |
|
|
It was announced
in the House of Commons on Tuesday December 2nd 1941 that the age
limit for compulsory military service was to be raised to 50. |
| |
|
| Wednesday December 10th 1941 |
|
|
On Wednesday
December 10th 1941 HMS "Prince of Wales" and HMS "Repulse" were sunk
by the Japanese. |
| |
|
| Thursday December 18th 1941 |
|
|
Unmarried women
were to be conscripted into the Services under the terms of the
National Service Act, which was passed by Parliament on Thursday
December 18th 1941. |
| |
|
| Friday January 9th 1942 |
|
|
Doctor Andrew Scotland was appointed the new Director of Education for Plymouth
on Friday January 9th 1942. |
| |
|
| Monday January 12th
1942 |
|
|
On Monday January 12th 1942 a
start was made in the Mutley area with the collection of the City's
unnecessary railings for iron and steel scrap. Railings of a historical or
ornamental interest were not moved. Compensation was claimable. |
| |
|
| Saturday January 17th 1942 |
|
|
One notable flying boat flight landed at RAF Mount
Batten in the early hours of Saturday January 17th 1942, with
Sir Winston Churchill, Lord Beaverbrook and the Air Chief Marshall, Sir
Charles Portal, on board. Their flight from Norfolk, Virginia, via Bermuda
(to fool enemy aircraft out hunting for the aircraft) in a Boeing 314A named
"Berwick" operated by the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), had
covered 3,287 miles and arrived twelve minutes ahead of schedule. Mr
Churchill had taken over the controls from senior pilot Commander Kelly
Rogers for part of the journey. The flight from Bermuda to Plymouth had
taken 17 hours 55 minutes. They left Plymouth for London by special train
shortly after 11am. |
| |
|
| Monday January 19th 1942 |
|
|
Under the Emergency Powers
(Defence) Acts 1939 and 1940, the requisitioning of unnecessary railings
started on Monday January 19th 1942 in Compton, Crownhill, Saint Budeaux,
Pennycross and Molesworth Wards. |
| |
|
| Saturday January 31st 1942 |
|
|
Princess Marie Louise,
grand-daughter of Queen Victoria, visited the YMCA in Union Street, Plymouth, on Saturday January 31st 1942. |
| |
|
| Monday February 9th 1942 |
|
|
The rationing of soap for
domestic use started on Monday February 9th 1942. |
| |
|
| Saturday February 14th 1942 |
|
|
The Hyde Park Social Centre,
Plymouth, was opened on Saturday February 14th 1942 by HRH the Duke of
Kent. He remained in the City until February 16th. |
| |
|
| Tuesday March 3rd 1942 |
|
|
Tuesday March 3rd 1942 was a
very special day for a number of
City of Police Police and Fire Officers who, on that day, attended an investiture at Buckingham Palace when
HM King George VI presented them with the British Empire Medals (BEM) for
their bravery and gallant conduct during the heavy bombing raids of March
and April 1941. They were: Inspector Herbert Beswick; Police Constable
Robert Eakers; Aircraftman (formerly Police Constable) Alan John Hill; Mr
William Edgecombe; Mr Arthur Larson; and Private Leslie Stephens, who had
been a Messenger in the Fire Brigade and was the youngest person at that
time to have received an award at an investiture. Among those in the
audience were 2-years-old Wendy Hill and 9-years-old Beryl Eakers. |
| |
|
| March 1942 |
|
|
By March 1942 demolition of
those buildings that had been destroyed in the air raids was well under
way. Messrs Charles Griffiths, a London company with experience of the
aftermath of the London Blitz, were given the job and their foreman in
Plymouth was a young man by the name of Mr George Donachy. |
| |
|
| Friday March 20th 1942 |
|
|
On Friday March 20th 1942, the
first anniversary of the large air raids of 1941, King
Peter of Yugoslavia arrived in Plymouth. He took the salute the following
day at the Plymouth Warship Week parade. It was announced on Monday March
30th that Plymouth had collected £1,396,000, which was £170,000 more than
Portsmouth. |
| |
|
| Sunday April 5th 1942 |
|
|
White bread was available for
the last time on Easter Sunday April 5th 1942. |
| |
|
| Monday April 6th 1942 |
|
|
The Duke of Gloucester made a
private visit to Plymouth on Easter Monday April 6th 1942. |
| |
|
| Thursday April 9th 1942 |
|
|
Mr Herbert Morrison, the Home
Secretary, visited Plymouth on Thursday April 9th 1942. |
| |
|
| Thursday April 23rd 1942 |
|
|
On Thursday April 23rd 1942 a
silver gilt cup that had been given to
Sir Francis Drake by
Queen Elizabeth I was bought at Christie's in London by the National Arts
Collection for £2,100. It was announced that the cup was to be presented to
the City of Plymouth in recognition of the gallantry of its inhabitants. |
| |
|
| Thursday May 7th 1942 |
|
|
The King and Queen made a six
hours' surprise visit to Plymouth on Thursday May 7th 1942, during a
three-days tour of Devon and Cornwall. |
| |
|
| Monday May 11th 1942 |
|
|
Plymouth was held in a state
of siege during the weekend of Monday May 11th when an exercise involving
the Services, Home Guard and Civil Defence was held. |
| |
|
| Saturday July11th 1942 |
|
|
On Saturday July 11th 1942 HRH the Duke of Kent once
again visited Plymouth. |
| |
|
| Sunday July 26th 1942 |
|
|
On Sunday July 26th 1942
sweets and chocolates went on to the "points" system, with a ration of 2
ounces a week. |
| |
|
| Saturday August8th 1942 |
|
|
Double Summer Time ended on
Saturday August 8th 1942, the same day that it was announced that women
between the ages of 20 and 45 were to be called up. |
| |
|
| Wednesday August 12th 1942 |
|
|
The loss of aircraft carrier
HMS "Eagle" was announced on Wednesday August 12th 1942. |
| |
|
| Wednesday August 19th 1942 |
|
| The loss of the
Devonport commissioned destroyer HMS "Foresight" was announced. |
| |
|
| Tuesday August 25th 1942 |
|
|
On Tuesday August 25th 1942
HRH the Duke of Kent, a frequent visitor to Plymouth, was killed on active
service while on a flight to Iceland. |
| |
|
| Sunday August 30th 1942 |
|
|
The President of Poland
visited Plymouth on Sunday August 30th 1942 and met officers and men of the
Polish Navy who had distinguished themselves on convey escort duties. |
| |
|
| Thursday September 3rd 1942 |
|
| A fifth Day of
National Prayer was held on Thursday September 3rd 1942. |
| |
|
| Saturday September 26th 1942 |
|
|
After Saturday September 26th
1942 it was impossible to enjoy an ice cream during the interval in a
Gaumont cinema. The sale of ice creams in their premises was not
restored until March 1945. Chocolates were still available - but only for
six months. |
| |
|
| Tuesday November 3rd
1942 |
|
|
On Tuesday November 3rd 1942
Plymouth-born merchant seaman Duncan Alexander Scott-Ford, aged 21, was
hanged at Wandsworth Gaol for treachery. |
| |
|
| Monday November 9th 1942 |
|
|
Lord Astor was elected
to his fourth term of office as
Lord Mayor on Monday November 9th 1942. |
| |
|
| Thursday November 12th 1942 |
|
|
The Freedom of Plymouth was
presented by Lord Astor to Field-Marshal Smuts at South Africa House in
London on Thursday November 12th 1942.
|
| |
|
| Sunday November 15th 1942 |
|
|
Church bells were rung
throughout the country on Sunday November 15th 1942 to celebrate the success
of the forces of the Empire and Allies in the Battle of Egypt. |
| |
|
| Sunday November 22nd 1942 |
|
|
On Sunday November 22nd 1942
the milk ration for non-priority consumers was reduced to two pints a week. |
| |
|
| Wednesday November 25th 1942 |
|
|
The Archbishop of Canterbury
visited the City on Wednesday November 25th 1942 and opened the Saint John
Centre at
Devonport. |
| |
|
| Friday December 25th 1942 |
|
|
Church bells were rung on
Christmas Day (Friday December 25th) 1942 between 9am and 12 Noon.
|
| |
|
| Sunday February 7th 1943 |
|
|
On
Sunday
February 7th 1943 the Prime Minister, Mr Winston Churchill, arrived back in
Britain from North Africa in the Liberator "Commando". |
| |
|
| Wednesday March 10th 1943 |
|
|
Two
deaths occurred Wednesday March 10th 1943, that of Mr W T Hutchings, Chief
Constable of Plymouth, and Mr Laurence Binyon, author of the words
'They
Shall Grow Not Old'. |
| |
|
| Saturday March 20th 1943 |
|
|
After
Saturday March 20th 1943 it was no longer possible to treat your girlfriend
to chocolates at
Gaumont cinemas. Ice creams had already been withdrawn from sale. The
sale of chocolates was not restored until August 1947. |
| |
|
| Tuesday March 23rd 1943 |
|
|
HRH the
Duchess of Kent started a two-day visit to Plymouth on Tuesday March 23rd
1943. |
| |
|
| Thursday April 1st
1943 |
|
|
On
Thursday April 1st 1943 the Royal Air Force celebrated its 25th
Anniversary. |
| |
|
| Tuesday April 20th 1943 |
|
|
The Prime
Minister announced on Adolf Hitler's 54th birthday, Tuesday April
20th 1943, that the rules were being relaxed and that henceforth
church bells could be rung on Sundays and special days. |
| |
|
| Wednesday April21st 1943 |
|
|
The
Admiralty announced on Princess Elizabeth's 17th birthday, Wednesday April
21st 1943, that HM Submarine "Thunderbolt" was overdue and must be presumed
lost. |
| |
|
| Sunday May 23rd 1943 |
|
|
On Sunday
May 23rd 1943 the first service since its destruction was held in the ruined
Saint Andrew's Church.
Police had to control the crowds as hundreds of people turned up for the
service. |
| |
|
| Monday May 24th 1943 |
|
|
Mr John Fawke Skittery was appointed Chief Constable of Plymouth
on Monday May 24th 1943. He was previously the Sub-Divisional Inspector of
the Metropolitan Police. |
| |
|
| Tuesday June 1st 1943 |
|
|
There was
a march past of women's services on Tuesday June 1st 1943 as part of the
Plymouth Wings for Victory Week. The salute was taken by Miss Pauline
Gower, Commandant of the Women's Air Training Auxiliary. |
| |
|
| Saturday June 5th 1943 |
|
|
On
Saturday June 5th 1943 the Prime Minister returned to England after visiting
America and North Africa. |
| |
|
| Monday June 14th 1943 |
|
|
In the
early hours of Monday June 14th 1943 there was a short but heavy raid on
both Plymouth and Plympton. It only lasted a half hour but
Twyford
describes it as 'one
of the liveliest half-hour's Plymouth citizens spent.'
Between 70 and 80 high explosive bombs of between 250kg to 1,000kg were
dropped but, luckily, about half of them failed to detonate. However, one
of the biggest crashed through the roof of the centre of Greenbank Police
Headquarters,
bringing tons of masonry crashing down, but then lay unexploded on the
landing of the first floor outside the magistrate's court and over the
prison cells and control room. The reserve headquarters at
Widey Court
had to be brought in to use until the bomb could be removed and the damage
repaired.
This raid
was the first big test for the newly constituted National Fire Service and
the first at which the fire-fighters from Canada saw action.
|
| |
|
| Sunday July 4th 1943 |
|
|
General
Sikorski, the Polish Prime Minister and Commander in Chief, was killed on
Sunday July 4th 1943 when the Liberator in which he, his daughter and his
staff were travelling crashed shortly after leaving Gibraltar. His body
was landed at Plymouth on Saturday July 10th 1943. |
| |
|
| Wednesday July21st 1943 |
|
|
Mr Henry
L Stimson, the American Secretary of War, visited Plymouth Hoe with
Lord
Astor
on Wednesday July 21st 1943. |
| |
|
| Thursday July29th 1943 |
|
|
On
Thursday July 29th 1943 Mr Bevin, the Minister of Labour, announced the
extension of the registration of women from age 45 to 50. |
| |
|
| Sunday August 15th 1943 |
|
|
Double
Summer Time was terminated on Sunday August 15th 1943. |
| |
|
| Thursday August 19th
1943 |
|
|
A new
British Restaurant was opened at Geasons, off Ridgeway, Plympton, at 12.15pm
on Thursday August 19th 1943. Mrs G Webber of Plympton was the first
person to enjoy the daily fare of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast or
mashed potatoes, kidney beans and green peas, followed by either baked apple
dumpling and custard or baked rice pudding. The cost was 1s 3d, with an
additional 2d for a cup of tea or coffee. Alongside the brick and
concrete-built restaurant, in a separate building, was the kitchen. In
addition to providing some 1,000 meals daily for the 150-seater Restaurant,
this was also used for supplying 1,000 hot meals a day to the district's 17
schools. The foreman of the workmen who built the Restaurant was Mr V J C
Payne. It remained open until 2.15pm every day. The formal opening took
place on Friday November 5th 1943 (see below). |
| |
|
| Saturday August 28th 1943 |
|
|
Plymouth
suffered a sharp attack on Saturday August 28th 1943. |
| |
|
| Friday September 3rd 1943 |
|
| A sixth Day of
National Prayer was held on Friday September 3rd 1943.
The Prime Minster, Mr Winston Churchill, gave authority for those in
factories engaged on war work to join in the BBC's radio service. |
| |
|
| Monday September 20th 1943 |
|
|
It was
announced on Monday September 20th 1943 that the Prime Minister had returned
from the Quebec Conference aboard HMS "Renown". |
| |
|
| September 22nd 1943 |
|
|
In
preparation for running special trains in support of the forthcoming
invasion of Europe (D-Day), the
Great Western Railway
Company and the Southern
Railway Company
installed links between their lines at Launceston Station on September 22nd
1943. This did not affect services to and from Plymouth. |
| |
|
| Wednesday October 20th 1943 |
|
|
On
Wednesday October 20th 1943 a barrage balloon went out of control and
crashed on to land at West Hooe Farm,
Plymstock, where it exploded and caught fire to the farmhouse. |
| |
|
| Friday November 5th 1943 |
|
|
Plympton's British Restaurant was formally opened by Paymaster Rear-Admiral
Sir Arthur Strickland KCB, the Ministry of Food's Chief Divisional Food
Officer, on Friday November 5th 1943. He was accompanied by the chairman of
Plympton Rural District Council, Mr J F Hollow JP, and the Clerk and
Engineer, Messrs Percy T Loosemore and W H Thompson. 8,800 meals had been
served between August 19th and the official opening, with a peak of 1,020 in
one week. |
| |
|
| Saturday November 6th 1943 |
|
|
The Right
Honourable Clement R Atlee, the Deputy Prime Minister, addressed an audience
in the Methodist Central Hall,
Plymouth, on Saturday November 6th 1943. |
| |
|
| Monday November 8th 1943 |
|
|
On Monday
November 8th 1943 the United States Naval Advanced Amphibious Base was set
up in Plymouth to to house and train American service personnel preparing
for the D-Day landings. The head quarters was at Queen Anne's Battery,
Coxside, where the 29th and 81st US Construction Battalions built a ship
repair yard, a dry dock and three marine rail tracks for the repair and
maintain US naval craft. The Commanding Officer, Captain C F M S Quimby
USN, occupied Hamoaze House
at Mount Wise, Devonport. Other locations that formed part of the base were
Victoria Wharf, Martin's Wharf, Commercial Wharf, Baltic Wharf, Cattedown
Quarry, Pomphlett Quarry, Shapter's Field, Richmond Walk, Turnchapel,
Efford, Manadon,
Vicarage Road,
the old Stonehouse police station, Saltash Passage, the grounds of Saltram
House, Edinburgh Street at Devonport, Coypol Depot
at Marsh Mills, Chaddlewood, Raglan Barracks, the Brickfields, Devonport
Park, land at Fore Street,
as well as at HMS Raleigh and Barn Pool at Torpoint, Plaisterdown Camp near
Tavistock, Saltash, Ivybridge, and even far up the river Tamar at Calstock. |
| |
|
| Tuesday November 9th 1943 |
|
|
Mayor
choosing day was Tuesday November 9th 1943, when
Lord Astor
was appointed Lord Mayor of Plymouth
for the fifth year in succession. |
| |
|
| Friday November 12th 1943 |
|
|
On Friday
November 12th 1943 the Prime Minister left England aboard HMS "Renown". |
| |
|
| Sunday November 14th 1943 |
|
|
The film
star, Miss Anna Neagle visited Plymouth on Sunday November 14th 1943. |
| |
|
| Monday November 15th 1943 |
|
|
In
preparation for running special trains in support of the forthcoming
invasion of Europe (D-Day), the
Great Western Railway
Company and the Southern
Railway Company
installed links between their lines at
Lydford Station on Monday November 15th
1943. This enabled Southern
trains to travel via the
GWR
Launceston branch up to
Lydford in order to
regain their own main line in the event that the line between Plymouth and
Tavistock should be damaged. |
| |
|
| Monday November 15th 1943 |
|
|
Devonport's first day nursery was opened by Mr L Hore-Belisha,
the MP for Devonport, at Nelson Gardens, Stoke, on Monday November 15th
1943. |
| |
|
| Tuesday November 16th 1943 |
|
|
Plymouth
suffered its 589th air raid at 5am on Tuesday November 16th 1943. Two
people killed in this raid were Mr Frank Reginald Eglinton (1912-1943), a
Dockyard joiner, of 48 Langstone Road, Peverell, and Mr William George
Johnson (1881-1943), a taxi proprietor, of 41 Langstone Road. |
| |
|
| Thursday December 16th 1943 |
|
|
The new
Education Bill was published on Thursday December 16th 1943, raising the
school leaving age to 15-years-old from April 1st 1945. |
| |
|
| Tuesday December 28th 1943 |
|
|
General
Dwight D Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Allied Commander, British and
American Expeditionary Forces in the United Kingdom, on Tuesday December
28th 1943. |
| |
|
| January 1944 |
|
|
In January 1944 the United
States' army opened a camp at Vicarage Road,
Saint Budeaux, to house forces making preparations for the D-Day
landings. |
| |
|
| Saturday January 15th 1944 |
|
|
General Montgomery paid a
flying visit to Plymouth on Saturday January 15th 1944, the day that the
Plymouth Merchant Navy Week was opened by the Lord Mayor of London. |
| |
|
| Monday January 17th 1944 |
|
|
Alderman Clifford Tozer was
appointed the leader of Plymouth City Council on Monday January 17th 1944. |
| |
|
| Tuesday January 18th 1944 |
|
|
On Tuesday January 18th 1944
the Prime Minister arrived in Plymouth aboard HMS "King George V" on his way
back to London. It was a filthy night, with driving rain, so there were no
onlookers. A special train carried Mr Churchill to London, where he made a
dramatic appearance from behind Mr Speaker's chair in the House of Commons. |
| |
|
| Saturday February 12th 1944 |
|
|
The United States' Army opened
a field hospital at Manadon
Vale on Saturday February 12th 1944. |
| |
|
| Tuesday March 14th 1944 |
|
|
It was announced on Tuesday
March 14th 1944 that Plymouth's rates were to remain at 10s 4d in the £. |
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| Sunday April 2nd 1944 |
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Double Summer Time was
introduced on Sunday April 2nd 1944. |
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| Thursday April 13th 1944 |
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General Montgomery visited the
district on Thursday April 13th 1944, and visited the
Royal Dockyard
and Princetown prison. |
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| Sunday April 23rd 1944 |
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| A seventh Day of National
Prayer was held on Saint George's Day, Sunday April 23rd 1944. |
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| Tuesday April 25th 1944 |
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Plymouth City Council held a
special meeting on Tuesday April 25th 1944 to discuss the constitution of
the new Reconstruction
Committee. |
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| Thursday April 27th 1944 |
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Two days later, on Thursday
April 27th 1944, "A Plan for Plymouth" was
published. |
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| Sunday April 30th 1944 |
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After a break of some six
months the Hun gave Plymouth a sharp reminder during the early hours of
Sunday April 30th 1944 that it was still very much a front line City. The
main target of the attack was the waterfront, with the worst incident being
in the vicinity of Oreston, where 18 people were killed and 7 seriously
injured. An Anderson shelter and a public shelter were both hit, causing
this high toll. Also hit was the depot of the
Western National Omnibus Company at Prince Rock, where three
firewatchers were killed and many of the buses were destroyed by fire.
Browning Road, Fisher Road and Beaumont Street at Milehouse also suffered
much damage. Bombs fell over a wide area, including the Rising Sun Public
House at Crabtree and Laira railway sidings. The more harmless ones fell on
the Tothill recreation ground and the Gas Company's recreation ground.
Plymothians were not to know
it yet but that was the last they were to see of the German bombers. |
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| Friday May 12th 1944 |
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The Plymouth Emergency
Committee was informed on Friday May 12th 1944 that the Admiralty intended
purchasing 230 acres of Devonport for an extension to the
Royal Dockyard. |
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| Tuesday May 23rd 1944 |
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The First Lord of the
Admiralty visited Plymouth City Council on Tuesday May 23rd 1944. |
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| Sunday May 28th 1944 |
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General Montgomery addressed a
meeting of American army officers at the Odeon Cinema on Whit
Sunday, May 28th 1944. |
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| Saturday June 3rd 1944 |
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Plymouth's "Salute the Soldier
Week" was opened on Saturday June 3rd 1944 by Admiral of the Fleet, Lord
Chatfield. |
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| Tuesday June 6th 1944 - D
Day |
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The sun set at 8.20pm on
the evening of Monday June 5th 1944 and it was almost Full Moon that night.
It is estimated that some 36,000 troops left Plymouth the following morning
for the beaches of Normandy. The first to leave were 110 ships carrying the
men of the United States VII Corps of the 4th Infantry Division, under the
command of Rear-Admiral D P Moon aboard the "USS Bayfield". After joining
up with more vessels and troops from Salcombe, Dartmouth and Brixham, they
were among the first to land at Utah Beach. The second group to depart for
Utah Beach was the US 29th Infantry Division under Commander C D Edgar. |
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| Tuesday July 11th 1944 |
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The Government decided on
Tuesday July 11th 1944 to lift the ban on access to coastal areas of Devon,
Cornwall, Dorset and part of Hampshire. |
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| Monday July 24th 1944 |
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From Monday July 24th 1944 the
Vicarage Road Camp
at St Budeaux was used as a receiving base for troops returning from
France. |
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| Monday August 28th 1944 |
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Major Glenn Miller and the
American Band of the Allied Expeditionary Force (AEF) performed a concert at
the Odeon Cinema, Plymouth, on Monday August 28th 1944. Queues started
forming at just after 9pm for the concert at 10.15pm and the police and
military police formed cordons to control the crowd. This was largely
because it was announced that Bing Crosby hoped to appear on stage but he
was detained elsewhere making recordings. Only military and naval personnel
were admitted to the concert, anyway, and admirals and ratings, generals and
privates, sat together to listen to the 52-piece orchestra. The vocalist
was Sergeant Johnny Desmond and the Crew Chiefs were also on stage. For two
of the numbers the drummer, Sergeant Ray McKinley, took over the baton.
Earlier in the day Major Miller was given a hurried tour of the places of
interest in the City and was entertained aboard a British naval vessel
prior to the concert. |
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| Sunday September 17th
1944 |
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Double Summer Time ended on
Sunday September 17th 1944, the day that Britain's black-out restrictions
were all but banished.
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| Sunday October 15th 1944 |
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The publication of the local
newspaper "The Western
Morning News" had been transferred to Tavistock in April 1941 after the
big raids of March that year. On Sunday October 15th 1944 staff returned to
the Plymouth office. |
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| Wednesday October 18th 1944 |
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Extra rations for all were
announced by the Minister of Food, Colonel Llewellin, on Wednesday October
18th 1944, as a special "Christmas Box" for the nation. |
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| Wednesday October 25th 1944 |
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On Wednesday October 25th it
was announced that the liquid milk ration for non-priority consumers was to
be reduced from 2½ to 2 pints per week. |
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| Friday November 17th 1944 |
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The Town and Country Planning
Act, which was to have an important effect on Plymouth, became law on Friday
November 17th 1944. |
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| Sunday December 3rd 1944 |
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'Home
Guard Units of the Plymouth Garrison will now "Stand Down"'.
This order, followed by the command "Dismiss", was given on the Hoe by the
Garrison Commander, Colonel G Thomson, DSO, MC, on Sunday December 3rd
1944. |
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| Sunday December 10th 1944 |
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| The
New Palace
Theatre was host to two wartime Service charity concerts: in the
afternoon a tribute to the Devonshire Regiment; in the evening the
137th concert for the Lord Mayor's Services Welfare Fund. |
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| Thursday December 14th 1944 |
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Dim street lighting was
introduced on some Plymouth streets on Thursday December 14th 1944. |
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| December 1944 |
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Prisoners from a German
submarine that went ashore on the Wolf Rock were landed at Plymouth. |
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| Saturday December 23rd 1944 |
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The Order requiring the
masking of headlamps on road vehicles was relaxed from Saturday December
23rd 1944. |
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| Monday January 22nd/Tuesday
January 23rd 1945 |
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The coldest night of
the winter was on Monday 22nd/Tuesday 23rd, when there was 24½
degrees of frost recorded. |
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| Friday January 26th 1945 |
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Heavy snow fell in Plymouth on
Friday January 26th 1945. |
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| Sunday February 11th 1945 |
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Two corvettes and the Steam
Ship "Persier" were sunk in daylight on Sunday February 11th 1945 by a
German U-boat between Burgh Island and the
Eddystone Lighthouse. |
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| Saturday March 3rd 1945 |
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On Saturday March 3rd
1945 ice creams once again went on sale at
Gaumont cinemas. They had been withdrawn from sale in 1942. |
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| Friday March 16th 1945 |
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Mr A V Alexander, First Lord
of the Admiralty, opened a new
NAAFI club on the site of the old Royal Hotel on Friday March 16th
1945. |
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| Monday March 19th 1945 |
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The Minister of Education, Mr
R A Butler, visited the City on Monday March 19th 1945. |
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| Wednesday May 2nd 1945 |
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he air raid warning system was
discontinued on Wednesday May 2nd 1945. |
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| Monday May 7th 1945 |
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On Monday May 7th 1945 it was
announced that Germany had surrendered unconditionally at 2.41am, French
time. |
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| Tuesday May 8th 1945 |
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Tuesday May 8th 1945 was VE
(Victory in Europe) Day. |
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| Friday May 11th 1945 |
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The streets lights went back
on in Plymouth on Friday May 11th 1945, the first time for five and a half
years. |
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| Wednesday May 23rd 1945 |
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On Wednesday May 23rd 1945 the
Prime Minister, Mr Winston Churchill, tendered his resignation to the King. |
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| Saturday May 26th 1945 |
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The Lord Mayor of London
opened the Plymouth Royal and Merchant Navies Week on Saturday May 26th
1945. |
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| Wednesday June 13th 1945 |
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On Wednesday June 13th 1945
public pleasure services were resumed in the Hamoaze when the "Swift" left
Phoenix Wharf for the
Royal Albert Bridge. This return to normality proved very popular and
the "Lively" was put on as a relief boat. Between them they carried about
150 passengers. Permission had been given to run the trips twice daily and
Wednesdays and Saturdays and it was hoped to extend the trips to Calstock,
as before the War. |
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| Wednesday June 13th 1945 |
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At the Plymouth City Council
Works Committee meeting on Wednesday June 13th, it was agreed to reinstate
the automatic traffic signals at the corner of
Frankfort Street,
George Street and
Bedford Street and also at the corner of
Old Town Street and
Treville Street. The estimated cost of the whole scheme was £1,160. |
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| Monday June 18th 1945 |
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Demobilisation started on
Monday June 18th 1945. |
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| Tuesday June 19th 1945 |
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The Royal Mail Lines'
passenger liner "Drina" landed passengers at Plymouth on Tuesday June 19th
1945, the first liner to call for five and a half years. She had taken 16
days to cross from Argentina and carried 25 passengers and 7,000 tons of
meat bound for British troops in Germany. |
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| Sunday July 1st 1945 |
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On Sunday July 1st 1945 HMAS "Australia", flagship of the Australian Royal Navy, arrived at the
Royal Dockyard, Devonport, for a refit. |
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| Thursday July 5th 1945 |
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The General Election was held on Thursday
July 5th 1945. |
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| Saturday July14th 1945 |
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Double Summer Time ended for
the last time on Saturday July 14th 1945, when clocks were put back one
hour. |
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| Sunday July 15th 1945 |
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The milk ration for
non-priority consumers was cut on Sunday July 15th 1945 from 3 to 2½ pints a
week. |
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| Sunday July 22nd 1945 |
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The tea ration was increased
on Sunday July 22nd 1945 from 2 to 2½ ounces. |
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| Thursday July 26th 1945 |
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The General Election results
were announced on Thursday July 26th 1945. It was a sweeping victory for
the Labour Party, with Plymouth returning three Labour Members of
Parliament, Mrs L Middleton, Sutton Division; Mr H M Medland, Drake
Division; and Mr Michael Foot, Devonport Division. Mr Clement Atlee became
the new Prime Minister. |
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| Thursday August 2nd 1945 |
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On Thursday August 2nd 1945,
His Majesty King George VI met with President Truman of the United States
aboard HMS "Renown" moored in Plymouth Sound. |
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| Sunday August 5th 1945 |
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The atomic bomb was dropped on
Hiroshima on Sunday August 5th 1945. |
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| Thursday August 9th 1945 |
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The second bomb being
dropped on Nagasaki at 4am on Thursday August 9th 1945. |
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| Monday August 20th 1945 |
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The Minister of Fuel approved
a decrease of 2d per gallon in the price of petrol on Monday August 20th
1945. |
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| Sunday September 2nd 1945 |
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Japan surrendered
unconditionally on Sunday September 2nd 1945. |
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| Tuesday September 25th 1945 |
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Following the appointment in
August 1945 of a de-commissioning officer, the Vicarage Road United States'
Army Camp at Saint Budeaux
was de-commissioned on Tuesday September 25th 1945. It was probably on that
date the remainder of the United States Naval Advanced Amphibious Base was
closed. |
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| Monday October 1st 1945 |
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On Monday October 1st 1945 the
Great Western Railway Company
re-started the Royal Mail Postal special trains from London Paddington to
Plymouth and
Penzance. It had ceased running in September 1940. The inaugural train was
headed by 6019 "King Henry V" and the Guard was a Plymouth man, Mr B J Yate,
who lived at Long Rowden, Peverell.
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| Sunday December 16th 1945 |
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On Sunday December 16th 1945 as young children of the
congregation were placing dolls, toys and books beneath the Christmas Tree
that had been put up in the tower, the bells were ringing out above them for
the first time since June 1940. |
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