BOMB CENSUS SURVEY RECORDS 1940-1945

There are three useful sets of records held at The National Archives:

• Air raid damage files - series HO192
• Bomb census maps – series HO193
• Bomb census reports – series HO198
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• Some local archives hold records which were collated locally including incident maps, registers and ARP wardens’ logs. There are also various online resources about Second World War bombing.

A search for documents is not always straightforward. All the records are original documents and are not online so you will need to visit The National Archives. Planning your research should include the Discovery page on TNA website because it gives a description and the document reference. The best strategy for searching isusing keywords.

Enter one or more of the following keywords in the search fields.

• - name of a town or London borough
• - civil defence region
• - map sheet number.
• - topic - factory, shipyard etc.
• - types of bomb dropped.
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You can also search by region (as shown above). This is useful if looking for air raid damage files.

For most family historians a search for an ancestor will be paramount. Because the census does not usually mention casualties by name, try searching the published volumes of Civilian War Dead 1939-1945, by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. These records are organised by county and are available in the National Archives library. They include:

• - full name of the casualty
• - age
• - names of parents and/or spouse
• - when and where injured and died.
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Unfortunately, it was quite common that if someone was injured by bombing at their house or place of work, they would subsequently have died in hospital.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website also has a section for civilian war dead.

Many of our ancestors would have been involved in the civilian services in World War two. For the first couple of years firefighting was undertaken by locally run Auxiliary Fire Services. In 1941 these local services became part of the National Fire Service.

In most instances the personnel records for both the National Fire Service and the Air Raid Wardens have not survived but you may well find memorabilia and records of service within your family archive. Some records may well be held locally together with administrative papers; the National Archives also holds collections of central government policy files which may occasionally mention names.

Air Raid Precautions had existed well before the begnning of World War Two but obviously the numbers of personnel increased dramatically when the war started. The ARP wardens had several responsibilities and they worked closely with the civil defence units and the fire service. These duties included:

• -maintaining and policing the blackout
• - issuing gas masks
• - air raid shelters
• - helping to record the bomb damage
• - rescue of casualties.

Key points were the strategic targets including factories, public utilities, service establishments and buildings of national importance. The directorate maintained and distributed information about bomb attacks and damage sustained by such establishments to help improve defence measures. The reports were issued on a regular basis sometimes daily. Surviving records are at The National Archives within series HO201.

The London Metropolitan Archives holds records for London and many borough archives hold records of local events and maps. In the provinces local archives may well hold information about events occurring in their area of operation. Many hold photographs and rough maps as well as individual diaries and notebooks kept by people who were members of the civil defence force, fire services and air raid wardens.

The Imperial War Museum holds a good archive of personal papers and oral reminiscences as well as photographs of air raid damage. Most tend to relate to the London area which of course suffered extensive damage in the Blitz.