Plymouth Blitz 1941

[Hollytree]

Hi,

My grandfather lost his house in Devonport early in 1941 to an incendiary bomb. It was rebuilt by 1952 with what I think was a nationwide 'war reclamations' government dept.

I have visited the National Archives at Kew in the hunt for any documentary evidence of the rebuilding of Devonport and Plymouth in general, but wasn't very successful.

Is there any knowledge out there that could point me in another direction? I think that my research may take me to the Devon Record Office in Plymouth, but I just thought to ask this question first.

Thanks, Happy New Year

Anne

[Peter Goodey]

I have visited the National Archives at Kew in the hunt for any documentary evidence of the rebuilding of Devonport and Plymouth in general, but wasn't very successful.

If you wanted policy documents, I think the National Archives would be the place for those.

If you want specific plans for the city. Plymouth and West Devon Record Office is surely the place to go.

Contemporary professional journals may be a good source for overviews.

Are there no local history publications dealing with the subject?

[Lesley Robertson]

Hi,

My grandfather lost his house in Devonport early in 1941 to an incendiary bomb. It was rebuilt by 1952 with what I think was a nationwide 'war reclamations' government dept.

I have visited the National Archives at Kew in the hunt for any documentary evidence of the rebuilding of Devonport and Plymouth in general, but wasn't very successful.

Is there any knowledge out there that could point me in another direction? I think that my research may take me to the Devon Record Office in Plymouth, but I just thought to ask this question first.

Thanks, Happy New Year

Anne

I Googled on "Devonport" and "Blitz" and got over 7000 hits including a couple from the BBC oral history pages where people who came through that particular blitz give their accounts. Adding "rebuilding" to the keywords took the count to 1700 with some very interesting material...

Lesley

[AnnR]

There is an extremely useful map which plots where every recorded bomb fell. I seem to recollect that there is a copy of the map in the Plymouth and South Devon Record Office, but it has also been extensively reproduced. I think it first appeared in a book calle 'It came to our door', by H P Twyford who was the war correspondent of the Western Morning News. It was first published in 1945 and gives a contemporary account of the blitz. There has also been a fairly recent reprint. For the rebuilding, there are lots of books with titles like 'Plymouth Then and Now' or suchlike. There is an excellent collection in the Plymouth Local and Naval Studies Library and a search of the library catalogue available via the Plymouth City Council website should give you lots examples. They also have a copy of Twyford's book.

Ann

[Hollytree]

Thanks to all who replied, I will look up all the leads you have sent me, and once the weather and my energy returns after this 'bug' we have had all over Christmas and New Year, make a pilgrimage to Plymouth and the records offices there..........

Thanks again for all your sensible advice

Anne

[Rove]

I was in Plymouth during 1995 for a 3 months stay.

I bought a book about the Plymouth Blitz.

Its a great book full of pictures.

At the moment I cannot find it, maybe my kids took it. Shall find it and post a photo of it.

I started my Family History research while I was in Plymouth during 1992.

[MarkJ]

There is a little bit on Wikipedia -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Blitz
although not a lot of info there.

One of my family, Alfred John Crapp, was killed in the midst of the heavy bombing on 22 April, 1941. He was an Auxillary Fireman and killed when the fire tender hit an unexploded bomb on the way to fight the fires.

Mark

[Hollytree]

There is a little bit on Wikipedia -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Blitz
although not a lot of info there.

One of my family, Alfred John Crapp, was killed in the midst of the heavy bombing on 22 April, 1941. He was an Auxillary Fireman and killed when the fire tender hit an unexploded bomb on the way to fight the fires.

Mark

That was the time they lost their house. My father was living in Bath at the time and when he heard about the bombing he and my mother (they were engaged) travelled to Plymouth on a small motor bike, my mother said it was a terrible journey, couldn't find them, then went to Brixham where my grandmother's family came from, and then had to sleep on the floor of a attic room in Brixham.

Traumatic, but oh not so bad as being killed. My grandmother had a sort of breakdown, but got over it. They didn't see the inside of their new house until over ten years after it was destroyed. I can just about remember the Avenues in Keyham with the rubble all around. And can remember the new centre of Plymouth, and how posh we thought it. My father never lived in Plymouth after that, he always said that Plymouth wasn't the same place.

Thanks for all your comments

Anne

[AnnR]

Hi Anne

My parents lived in Keyham, too. It was before they got together, which didn't happen until after the war. My mother lived in St Aubyn Avenue and my father in Maristow Avenue, although he was away in the RAF. My mother worked as a clippie on the buses and used to mention how she would be working and watching the bombs fall all around them, not knowing if her parents were safe and her home would still be there when she got back. It must have been very traumatic for them all. Luckily neither house was hit and they are both still there now. I went back to the area a couple of months ago and took pictures of their houses. Lots of the Keyham area is much as it would have been at the time, although there is some post war housing and some low rise flats which is presumably where the bombed areas were. Keyham is, of course, quite close to the Dockyard, and I think much of the Victorian housing was built to house Dockyard workers.

Ann