Civilian’s War

3Mar.

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The Second World War also affected those who did not serve in the forces. Men, women and children in many countries experienced unprecedented changes to their lives and their memories of this time are a vital element of the Centre’s collections. Biographies, photographs and other documents illustrate the impact this conflict had on the civilian way of life from evacuees to internees, factory workers and the Women’s Land Army. Please take time to visit our History Timeline pages, where some of our Home Front holdings are also featured.

Allied : British and Commonwealth

The men, women and children of Britain experienced great changes to their lives during the Second World War, including the absence from the family of key members, loss of loved ones, food shortages and rationing, bombing and mass movements from homes. Of course people at home were greatly involved in the war effort by way of farming, munitions, industry and mining, nursing, scientific research and weapon development as well as teaching, shop work and clerical jobs. A number of organisations also played an active role, including the WVS (Women’s Voluntary Service), the AFS (Auxiliary Fire Service), ARP (Air Raid Precautions) and Local Defence Volunteers, or Home Guard. In these pages we feature examples of personal experiences of British civilians in the form of biographies, photographs and documents from the Centre’s extensive collection.

During the Second World War, the civilian population of the Commonwealth countries supported the efforts of the armed forces fighting far from home in many ways, while anxious for the safety of their loved ones. This is a newly developing section of our archive and we would welcome donations of new material in the form of memoirs, photographs and documents.
Should you wish to contribute memories or memorabilia please click on Donate Material.

Allied : Europe

The men, women and children of Europe experienced great changes to their lives during the Second World War, including mass movements from homes, the loss of friends and family, living under Occupation, Allied bombing, perhaps involved in forced labour, resistance activities and facing reprisals. The Centre holds personal experiences encompassing these life-changing events but would welcome more memories and memorabilia. Should you wish to contribute memories or memorabilia please click on Donate Material.

ASSOCIATED LIVES...

Alfred Crisp - Letters from Home

The sight we most enjoyed was to see a letter bringing news from home, which arrived in one of these illustrated envelopes, painted by my father Alfred Crisp. My father's letters included more small humorous drawings of things that had happened.

Anna Golesworthy ( nee Valk)

Anna was born in 1922 to Jan and Marie Valk, and was the eldest of three children. Although her nationality was Dutch her father was working in Indonesia before Anna was born and this is where she spent the majority of her life until after the war.

Barbara Davies - Aircraft Factory Worker

Although keen to become a nurse, as the eldest daughter of a widow, Barbara was expected to supplement the family income and could not support herself for the unpaid 10 - 12 weeks probationary training period for a trainee nurse... As she was just 19, Barbara needed her mother's written permission. In late January 1942, she travelled by train from Sowerby Bridge to Coventry.......

Celia's Story - POW in Burma

I have written this because I feel it should be told, I owe it to my grandparents, my uncle, and my brother who all died at the hands of the Japs. I owe it to my father, who died some years after the war, broken in health and spirit, and who never recovered from the cruelties and privations meted out to him by our captors

Dennis Vernals

Dennis was born in July 1925 in Sheffield. His father, Leonard Henry Vernals, had served in the Great War as a gunner in the Royal Artillery and met Dennis' mother, Bertha, whilst on home leave. He died when Dennis was four. At age 16 Dennis was serving with the National Fire Service, and despite repeated attempts to join the army his reserved occupation and eventual ill health ( due to scarring

Frank Colenso - Local Defence Volunteer

Frank Colenso was involved in the civil defence of Cornwall from the early days of the Second World War. He kept three diaries, in 1939, 1940 and 1942 and has kindly loaned these to the Second World War Experience Centre. They give a fascinating insight into the Home Guard and how it became such an important part of British wartime life.

Godfrey Talbot - War Correspondent

From the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 to the fall of Rome in June 1944, War Correspondent Godfrey Talbot was among the half-dozen or so best-known voices on BBC radio. For countless listeners at home he seemed to provide a much-needed link with the men of the Eighth Army in North Africa and Italy.....

J Anne Cloudsley-Thompson

At the outbreak of war, Anne's private physiotherapy practice came to an end, and the British Red Cross asked her to transfer to the Military Hospital at Hatfield House in the winter of 1939/40, as a civilian, to set up a Physiotherapy Department.

Jack's Story

Jack S. was born in March 1925 in South Yorkshire. He lived in a two bedroomed terraced house with his parents, his eight brothers and four sisters. Jack's father was a miner and his sons were expected to work at the Dearne Valley Colliery. Jack started work as a miner as soon as he left school in 1939. At the age of 14, he became a 'motty carrier'. A mott was a small numbered disc which miner

Jeanne Bullard

jeanne Bullard Jeanne was born in 1920 in Kent. Her talent for art led her to Clapham Art School for eighteen months before the outbreak of war, when the art school was closed down. Jeanne moved to Bath with her parents; her father was a civil servant with the Admiralty and Jeanne worked in the hydrographic department, drawing and updating charts. Before the war Jeanne had met her future husban

John Ashmore

Born in 1909, John Ashmore trained as a Lithographic Artist and worked as a Surveyor and Planning Draughtsman in the City Engineers Department in Leeds before the war. During the war, John was a Civil Defence Staff Officer and was a member of the West Riding Special Constabulary from 1936 until 1973.

John Bones

John Bones spent the last week of August 1939, at a boys Sunday school camp on Southwold Common. The boys were well aware of the threat of war and cheered and waved at an RAF aeroplane patrolling low along the coast. However, they were to return home if there were any further developments.

Margaret Halliwell - ATS

Margaret was born in April 1925 in Burley, Leeds and she joined the ATS in 1943. After initial training at Pontefract, her first posting was the Signals Training Centre at Putney

Sadie Hall - neé Greaves - Womens Land Army

Sadie Hall (nee Greaves) was born in Leeds and was 15 at the outbreak of war. When her school was closed and evacuated to Lincoln, her parents were unhappy about the thought of her leaving home at such a young age and for a while she stayed at home and helped in the family business. In 1942 Sadie enlisted in the Women’s Land Army......

Shiela Tolley - Child in Cumbria

Sheila was born in Keswick in the Lake District in 1929. Although her mother cried when she heard that war had been declared, Sheila couldn't help feeling excited and wondered what would happen next.....

Vincent Harrison - Child in the war

Vincent Harrison describes his childhood in a mining village in the North East of England. "Langley Park and its inhabitants went through all the preparations for war dictated by the Ministry of Defence and for a country which was supposed totally unprepared for battle, a surprising amount was achieved. Gas masks were probably my first direct contact with the notion of hostilities"....

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