ARP warden organisation, uniforms, depots and centres

[Vivienne14]

Possibly an ARP group of male and female wardens at an ARP kitchen in Sparkhill. No date but obviously during WW2 - might have been autumn given there's a chrysanthemum in a vase on the table!

They all seem to be wearing a standard issue mac. At the beginning of the war, ARP wardens had no uniform. They wore their own clothes, a steel helmet (early ones were unmarked), Wellington boots and an armband. Hard to tell if they're wearing the ARP uniform under the mac, later in the War a uniform was issued.

Or could they be other war services men and women ?

Wouldn't it be lovely to put names to some of these faces ?

 

[Donbogen]

An ARP group of male and female wardens at an ARP kitchen in Sparkhill. No date but obviously during WW2 - might have been autumn given there's a chrysanthemum in a vase on the table! They all seem to be wearing a standard issue mac. At the beginning of the war, ARP wardens had no uniform. They wore their own clothes, a steel helmet, Wellington boots and an armband. Hard to tell if they're wearing the ARP uniform under the mac, later in the Aar a uniform was issued.

Wouldn't it be lovely to put names to some of these faces ?

View attachment 216755

Nice Photo
They are all wearing Anti Gas Hoods & Capes

 

[Vivienne14]

Thanks. I started to wonder if they were ARP personnel given the Red Cross on the helmet. Wondered if ARP wardens had a helmet marked with the cross ?

 

[Donbogen]

Thanks. I started to wonder if they were ARP personnel given the Red Cross on the helmet. Wondered if ARP wardens had a helmet marked with the cross ?

It looks like a small works canteen
companys had there own Teams
Fire Watcher etc
sometimes the Company Logo was on the Brodie helmet as well

 

[Dinger]

Maybe an ARP "Light Rescue Party". The ARP had both "Light" and "Heavy" rescue squads. The Light Rescue Parties were basically first-aiders who would also attempt to rescue people if it didn't involve heavy equipment to do so. - The "Heavy Squad" would be called in if buildings had to be propped up or demolished. - As Donbogen says, most big companies had their own teams. - Having said that, from what I can see the Rescue Squads had the letter "R" on their helmets. - Although that might have been standardised later. The St Johns Ambulance volunteers in WW2 did have a cross on their helmets, but it was the St John's "Maltese" cross . {EDITED] The Red cross on a white Shield was the symbol of the British Red Cross society who organised their own first aid parties - Like the St Johns ambulance. Again - Sometime they were within companies. - That seems most likely.

British Red Cross Society badge

Sally Bosleys Badge Shop

Sally Bosleys Badge Shop

www.sallybosleysbadgeshop.com

St Johns Ambulance Helmet from the Rubery & Owen firm...

CS Militaria

CS Militaria

www.csmilitaria.co.uk

Some equipment used by the Light Rescue Parties is featured on this webpage.

Civil Defence & ARP First Aid Boxes & Bags

WW2 ARP & Civil Defence first aid equipment including boxes, blanket bags and haversacks.

www.ww2civildefence.co.uk

 

[Vivienne14]

There was an ARP canteen in Court Road Sparkhill, opened in October 1939.

Must be Herbert Manzoni, City Engineer, in the photo.


Source: British Newspaper Archive

 

[Vivienne14]

Found a detailed caption for the canteen photo in post #23 on Facebook - see quote below. This suggests they were ambulance drivers. Doubtless the ARP canteen was made available to various support services during the War. The photo is dated 26 October 1939 (Source: Media Storehouse).

"Ambulance Drivers with Tea at A.R.P. Depot, Sparkhill, 26th October 1939
A nice cup of tea. Ambulance drivers have a cup of tea at a canteen for A.R.P. workers at the Court Road depot, Sparkhill, which is open day and night. 26th October 1939. © Mirrorpix
Staff
Birmingham Post and Mail Archive Mirrorpix"

 

[Vivienne14]

Apparently the Court Road depot, Sparkhill canteen served tea and food to ARP personnel and ambulance drivers, all day and night.

 

[Vivienne14]

Was wondering where it was on Court Road. It's mostly pre-1930s residential property along tgat road. There's a small 1930s building (now part of St John's School) near the junction with Stratford Road. If Manzoni attended the opening in 1939, perhaps it was a model for ARP canteens (with him being City Engineer).

I'm guessing about it's location. The Streetview below is my guess. Maybe it's listed in directories?

 

[mikejee]

As that was then the fire station, then it is very probable

 

[Vivienne14]

For those researching ancesters who served in ARP roles in WW2, here is some useful background info about the ARP Divisions/addresses, Birmingham depots, uniforms and helmet markings indicating their role.

ARP DIVISIONS

Every local council was responsible for organising ARP wardens, messengers, ambulance drivers, and rescue parties. Here are the Divisions :

Divisions in 1941


DEPOTS
Depots served as administrative centers and storage areas for general equipment.

• Central Car Park Depot: Located at an unspecified central car park, this depot was the location where ambulance drivers received instruction in new uniforms in April 1940.
• Court Road, Sparkhill: This location housed an ARP depot with a canteen that was open day and night for workers and ambulance drivers.
• Dudley Road: An ARP Service parade was documented as taking place on Dudley Road after an exercise in 1939.
• Piers Road, Handsworth: This location had an ARP depot that included dispatch riders.
• Station Road, Stechford: One of the shops on Station Road was converted into ARP premises, with underground shelters nearby.

The following three depots were bombed during a significant air raid, with substantial casualties among personnel.

• Kings Road, Tyseley
• Montgomery Street, Small Heath
• Anthony Road, Saltley:

UNIFORM

1939 start of WW2 - ARP wardens had no uniform, wore own clothes (wardens wore helmets, arm bands and badges on their civilian clothes)
October 1939 issued with overalls, a red on black ‘ARP’ badge. Initially, badges were of solid sterling silver, crescent-shaped buttonhole attachment for men and a pin style brooch for women.
1940 badges were of a base metal.
May 1941 full-time and regular part-time wardens had dark blue battledress and beret. Women had 4-pocket dark blue serge tunic with skirt.
ARP service personnel had Mk. II British helmets.- often inferior metal to soldiers helmets - less resistance to ballistic impact. They had small holes drilled in the rim to indicate not for front line use. Helmets were marked with a letter or letters to show their role

HELMET MARKINGS
W - wardens (some warden/fire guards had W/FG). Rank of warden denoted by a white helmet and black bands.

R - rescue services (later HR, heavy rescue and LR, light rescue parties)

FAP - first aid parties

SP - stretcher parties (to carry injured from incidents)

A - ambulance drivers

M - messenger/runner