The Cross & Tibbs Collection

Some of the most evocative photographs of bomb damage in London were taken by City of London policemen Arthur Cross and Fred Tibbs. Appointed just prior to the outbreak of war, Cross was the official police photographer to the police department. In September 1940, Tibbs joined Cross and they took photographs of the aftermath of the Luftwaffe’s bombing of London. 

In total, their collection includes 371 photographs taken between 1940 and 1945; with the majority taken during the period September 1940 to May 1941. They documented the damage inflicted on the city, the work of the Civil Defence services, the clearance work and the later V1 attacks in the summer of 1944.

On 11 May 1941, PC Tibbs captured the iconic photo of the facades of 23 and 25 Queen Victoria Street collapsing into the street. 

Cross and Tibbs photographs can be viewed on the London Picture Archive website.

As an aside, the Tibbs’ photograph was used for the basis of the “Panic in the Streets” painting by Geoff Taylor, used in the booklet that came with the LP of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds, released in 1978.

The facades of 23 & 25 Queen Victoria Street collapse

Panic in the Streets