Civil Defence Department
- Reference:GB 243 D-CD
- Dates of Creation:1938 - 1965
- Language of Material:English
- Physical Description:4.20 Linear Metres (45 files; 14 volumes; 1 box)
Scope and Content
Registers and other records of persons killed or injured in air-raids, 1940-1941; files, memoranda, circulars, regulations, etc., 1939-1944; messages and reports, including air raid incidents and situation reports, 1939-1944; statutory instruments and memoranda, 1949-1965.
Administrative / Biographical History
In March 1939 the Home Office recommended to the Corporation that Glasgow should appoint an officer to co-ordinate measures under the Air-Raid Precautions Act 1937 (1 & 2 Geo. VI, c.6). The Town Clerk was appointed Chief Co-ordinating Officer, and was to have a specially appointed Co-ordinating Officer subordinate to him. The Co-ordinating Officer was appointed in April and the new post (as Co-ordinating Officer for Civil Defence) remained in being until the end of the war. His functions mainly concerned air raid precautions and evacuation.
Civil defence was reorganised after the war. Local authorities were required to maintain civil defence forces, train and equip members of the public, and maintain buildings and stores necessary for the purpose (Civil Defence Act 1948, 12 & 13 Geo.VI, c.5). By the 1960s, however, official interest had waned. The volunteer Civil Defence Corps was disbanded in April 1968, and a government circular of 1969, which remained the basis of civil defence until local government reorganisation, prescribed its functions as essentially contingency planning for the maintenance of local government services in wartime (Civil Defence (Scotland) Circular No.4/1969). A Civil Defence Planning Officer was still in post in 1975, when the function transferred to Strathclyde Regional Council as part of a new Emergencies Planning Department.
[Description taken from Scottish Archive Network]
Access Information
Open
Access restrictions may apply. Please contact the Archives for further information.
Other Finding Aids
Descriptive list available at Glasgow City Archives.
Conditions Governing Use
Application for reproduction should be made to the Archivist.
Related Material
The National Archives, (various references within HO), Air Raid Precautions Department, Ministry of Home Security, Civil Defence and Common Services Department and Emergency Planning Department
Glasgow City Archives, CO2/14/1, Renfrewshire County Council, Police ARP Letter Books
Glasgow City Archives, D-HE4/8, Records of the Glasgow Public Health Department relating to Civil Defence
Glasgow City Archives, TD1129, 22nd (Kelvinside) Ward ARP Wardens
Corporate Names