ABSTRACT
The County of London alone covered an area of 117 square miles with a population of more than four million people. On 10th July 1935 the London County Council received a circular from the Home Office which drew the attention of local authorities to the need for precautionary measures for protecting the civilian population from air attack. Men and women were moving out of London to their places in the armed forces, key workers were moving off to their appointed war jobs. At the outbreak of war the service was rapidly developed into one of 10,000 men, mostly recruited from the building industry. During the course of the war the Council was called upon to organise several new emergency services for London. If the Council had waited passively for the directions the preparations for the protection of London’s citizens might have lagged a long way behind.
