Our latest “Document of the Week” was chosen by our Senior Curator, Dr Charlie Hall. It comprises multiple copies of the pamphlet, Some Things You Should Know If War Should Come, which was distributed throughout Britain in July 1939, when another major European conflict seemed extremely likely.
At just four pages long, it gave the public succinct advice on a wide range of civil defence measures that would be necessary should war break out, ranging from lighting restrictions and air raid warnings to gas masks and evacuation.
The copies selected here are particularly interesting, because they were returned to the government by their recipients, usually with messages handwritten on the front cover, as a form of protest at the looming war. The nature of that protest varied significantly, however.
Some were returned by supporters of the British Union of Fascists, who sought peace with Nazi Germany, and signed off with “Hail Mosley”. Others were more explicitly antisemitic, blaming the war on Jewish influence within British government. And some took a religious line, arguing that civil defence measures wouldn’t be necessary if Britain had not strayed from “God’s word”.
Taken together, these returned pamphlets serve as a useful reminder that civil defence initiatives were not universally welcomed and could prove highly controversial.
Where to find this document
This item comes from our primary source collection, Britain Under Threat: Civil Defence in the Era of Total War, 1914–1989. Comprising over 100,000 images drawn from files at The National Archives (UK), this collection explores various aspects of British civil defence throughout the twentieth century. As civilians became increasingly vulnerable to enemy action in this period, thanks to developments in technology and strategy, the British government was forced to take innovative and wide-ranging action to keep its people safe. Visit the collection page to learn more.