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Jan 7, 2021 · The first Anderson shelter was erected in a garden in Islington, London, on 25 February 1939. By the time the war broke out in September, around 1.5 million shelters were in place in areas expected to be bombed by the Luftwaffe. During the war a further 2.1 million were erected. The shelters were made of six curved panels of corrugated steel ...
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- Anderson Shelters Were Named After The Minister of Home Security
- The Shelters Could Fit Up to 6 People
- Anderson Shelters Were Free For Some People
- Anderson Shelters Were Initially Pre-Emptive
- People rebelled Against The Use of Anderson Shelters
- Anderson Shelters Were Tough to Endure During Winter
- Decoration Competitions Were Held
- Anderson Shelters Were Not Ideal For Urban Areas
- Anderson Shelters Were Not The Most Effective Option Available
- Anderson Shelters Were Replaced by Morrison Shelters
In November 1938, while serving as Lord Privy Seal and Minister of Home Security, Sir John Anderson was asked by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to prepare Britain for defense against bombing raids. The resultant shelters Anderson commissioned were named after him.
Anderson commissioned engineers William Patterson and Oscar Carl Kerrison to find a viable structure. Their design consisted of 14 steel panels – 8 internal sheets and 6 curved sheets bolted together to cover the structure. The structure was to be buried over 1m into the ground and covered with soil. Just 1.4m wide, 2m long and 1.8m tall, the shelt...
Anderson shelters were provided free of charge for people with household annual incomes of less than £250 (equivalent to approximately £14,700 today). They cost £7 (roughly £411 today) to buy for everyone else. At the end of the war, many local authorities collected the corrugated iron, though people who wished to purchase their shelters could pay ...
Britain’s preparations for air raid shelters began in 1938, and the first Anderson shelter was set up in Islington, London, in February 1939. By the time Britain and France declared waron Germany on 3 September 1939, 1.5 million Anderson shelters had already been constructed. While Britain’s pre-emptive approach had prepared them well, the substant...
After heavy bombing raids in early September 1940, thousands of Londoners flocked to underground stations against government advice, rather than using Anderson shelters. The police didn’t intervene, and some station managers provided additional toilet facilities. On 21 September, government policy was changed and 79 stations were fitted with bunks ...
While the corrugated steel sheets provided protection from bomb blasts, they offered little protection from the elements. Anderson shelters were bitingly cold during the winter months while rainfall often led to flooding and sometimes the collapse of structures. As a result, many people would defy government instructions to spend the majority of th...
People were free to decorate and where possible add comfort to their shelters as they pleased. Bunk beds could be purchased but were often built at home.As a way of boosting wartime morale, some communities held competitions to determine the best-decorated shelters in the neighbourhood. People also took advantage of the fact that shelters require a...
Given the requirement for garden space to accommodate an Anderson shelter, they were not a particularly viable option in built-up urban areas. Around a quarter of the population did not have gardens. A 1940 survey found that only 27% of Londoners stayed in an Anderson shelter, while 9% slept in public shelters, 4% used underground stations, and the...
During World War Two, Spain utilised the shelter model of engineer Ramón Perera. Larger and sturdier than Anderson shelters, Perera’s shelter proved effective: Barcelona only suffered around 2,500 casualties from 194 bombing raids, earning Perera the nickname ‘the man who saved Barcelona’. The British government ignored Perera’s expertise and rejec...
When it became common knowledge that the public preferred to stay in their homes and would generally avoid using their Anderson shelters, a new, indoor version was prioritised. This arrived in 1941 in the form of the Morrison shelter, named after Herbert Morrison who had replaced Anderson as the Minister of Home Security. The Morrison shelter was e...
Nov 5, 2005 · 05 November 2005. Life as a child in an Anderson Shelter. In 1941 at the age of 4 wih the escalation of World War 2 my world changed. The most dramatic change was the family’s nightly routine ...
The first ‘Anderson’ shelter was erected in a garden in Islington, London on 25 February 1939 and, between then and the outbreak of the war in September, around 1.5 million shelters were distributed to people living in areas expected to be bombed by the Luftwaffe. During the war a further 2.1 million were erected, making a total of 3.5 million.
Using an Anderson shelter. Anderson shelters were sent out, free of charge, to all homeowners in the United Kingdom who earned less than £250 (around £17,000 in today’s money) a year. Anyone whose income was higher than this was also able to get a shelter, but they had to pay a fee of £7 (around £470 in today’s money).
It was built in a garden in Islington, London on February 25, 1939. Over 1.5 million Anderson shelters were given out before the start of WW2. They were distributed between February 1939 and the start of the Second World War that September. The shelters were given to people in areas that were at risk of being bombed by the Germans.
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View full image. Photograph inside an Anderson Shelter, 1941-1943, Catalogue ref: HO 207/469. Experts said that bombing would kill hundreds of thousands of people. So new plans were made for mass evacuation, the construction of large public shelters, and the erection of small units in private gardens (“Anderson” shelters) and inside houses ...
