Novel research: The Home Guard

The declaration of war saw the establishment of the Local Defence Volunteers, familiarly known as the Home Guard. Within 24 hours of its creation, 250,000 had signed up. The Home Guard provided training, often using people’s existing skills. For instance, many car mechanics were trained as aircraft ground crews.

Men often carried out demanding volunteer work, for instance as air raid wardens, in addition to regular jobs. Many of the women volunteers had never before had jobs outside the home.

By the end of 1940, nearly 1.5 million were working full-time in Civil Defence.