Maddock's Civil Defence Act 1939

With Europe heading towards war in the summer of 1939, the Civil Defence Act was enacted on 13 July 1939. The key elements of the act included how local authorities should (further) prepare for the imminent outbreak of the Second World War.

Several key provisions were covered:

• Public Air Raid Shelters: local authorities were given authority to designate the basements of existing buildings as shelters as well as construct underground and street air raid shelters.
• Private Air Raid Shelters: large factories and commercial buildings required to build air raid shelters and train employees
• Black-out: adoption of regulations to enforce the black-out
• Evacuation: details about evacuating children, the sick and elderly out of cities
• Medical: how casualties of air raids were to be managed
• Public Utilities: government-funded grants to undertake protective measures to maintain operations of gas, electricity, sewage and telephone connections following air raids

See a PDF copy of the full act on legislation.gov.uk.

Maddock's Civil Defence Act 1939

Maddock's Civil Defence Act 1939 contents