One of the most widely recognised objects of Britain’s Home Front was the civilian gas mask. Austin J Ruddy looks at the surprisingly wide range of wartime gas masks and gas mask paraphernalia and their associated history.
Gas masks – or, officially, respirators – are one of the most enduring and iconic items of Britain’s Second World War Home Front. Fortunately, they were never actually used for their intended purpose, but, nonetheless, government foresight enabled every British citizen to have some protection against the potential horror of chemical warfare. They were produced in their millions, although the civilian respirator is best-known and most commonly encountered. Several different types were provided on the Home Front and occasionally surface today.
Following the first full-scale deployment of chlorine gas by the Germans during the Second Battle of Ypres, on 22 April 1915, attention – both at governmental and public level – was drawn to what protection the British civilian populace could be provided with in the face of this new threat.
Initially, the national press suggested the use of simple cotton mouth pads, but these were found to be as ineffective as they sounded. In 1917, the governme…
