Records relating to Bath City Council's responsibilities for civil defence

Concerns about possible air attacks in any forthcoming war led the Home Office to set up an Air Raid Precautions Department in 1935, and to issue a circular to local authorities asking them to develop measures to protect the civilian population. In response to this circular, Bath City Council set up the Air Raid Precautions Committee in October 1935. In 1939 government circular 57/1939 instructed local authorities to appoint an ARP controller and to set up a small Emergency Committee to manage ARP organisation in war; this committee was to be given complete control over civil defence. Bath City Council set up an Emergency Committee consisting of three members in October 1939. The ARP Committee continued to exist, but with reduced powers, and was renamed the Civil Defence Committee in October 1941.

After the end of the Second World War, it took some time to wind down ARP activities and dispose of premises and equipment; and the ARP Controller continued in office, although on a part-time basis, and the Civil Defence Committee continued to exist. The Civil Defence Act of 1948 established the Civil Defence Corps, a civilian volunteer organisation trained and equipped to mobilise and take local control in the aftermath of a major national emergency. This Corps was organised by local authorities. It was disbanded on Home Office instructions 1968.

During the Second World War, several departments of the Council were involved with carrying out the work required for civil defence activities, the most important of which were the Town Clerk's Department, the Surveyor's Department, and the Medical Officer of Health's Department. The Civil Defence Department seems to have been set up to administer the Civil Defence Corps after the end of the War. The records in this sub-fonds therefore include records created by a number of departments of the Council; they have been collected together here as they all reflect the work carried out by the ARP/Civil Defence and Emergency Committees, and for the convenience of users.

This description was prepared with reference to:

Katherine Hollingworth, 'Bath Civil Defence 1939-1942: the unfortunate consequences of local authority control', dissertation submitted for MA in Local History, Bath Spa University, 2002 (Record Office reference PP1296)
Eddie Little, 'Manchester City Council and the Development of Air Raid Precautions, 1935-1939' http://www.hssr.mmu.ac.uk/mcrh/files/2013/01/mrhr_02i_little.pdf, accessed 05/06/2015
Internal evidence from the records

The records are arranged in two sections, wartime records and post-war records.

The Second World War records include:
General filing relating to the work of the ARP, Civil Defence and Emergency Committees, 1933-1945
Records of war-damaged buildings
Records of civilian war deaths
Records of personnel and premises
Maps

The post-war records include:
General filing relating to the work of the Civil Defence Committee and the Civil Defence department
Emergency plans
Photographs of civil defence exercises

Note that access to some of the records may be restricted in accordance with UK Data Protection Law

The records have not yet been catalogued in detail. Please contact the Record Office for more information.