London in the Second World War

This exhibition explored the experiences of Londoners during the Second World War and the effect it had on the city they knew. Using the London County Council bomb damage maps, personal diaries, rarely seen original artworks and atmospheric photographs we told the story of the people that lived and worked in a city at war. 

What was it like to live through the Blitz, to see your neighbourhood change overnight, or to be a volunteer with one of the city’s emergency services?

The exhibition also examined the way that London sought to rebuild after the war, through the creation of the County of London plan, and how this was put into place at Poplar’s Lansbury Estate for the opening of the Festival of Britain in 1951.

London County Council bomb damage maps charted the destruction at the level of individual properties, and the remarkable photographs taken by City Police photographers Cross and Tibbs, who stepped out into the streets after air raids to capture the scene as the action occurred and as the dust settled.

Arthur Cross and Fred Tibbs were City of London policemen. Cross had been appointed official photographer to the police department in July 1939 with Tibbs assigned to assist him in September 1940 and they worked capturing images of the damage caused to the City of London by enemy action during the Second World War.

You can purchase images on the London Picture Archive.