Armoured Cars

The records of the London County Council (LCC), the government for the County of London during the Second World War, are a rich source of material for information about the war, and many items from the LCC archives feature in our current exhibition 'London in the Second World War'.

Armoured Cars for the Home Guard

One intriguing photograph from the collection caught our attention.

Further research revealed that this is a photograph of one of the LCC’s two improvised armoured cars.

According to the records of the Council’s Home Guard HG/040, LCC staff constructed two armoured vehicles in 1940. They were built at the LCC’s Wandsworth depot with the approval of the military authorities and the Council, who thought having the vehicles would help to maintain the security of County Hall and other Council buildings.

The car was known as the “Standard” and had the number plate BOM 838. It was a small vehicle, as in another photograph you can see a man awkwardly squashed into the turret!

The second of their cars was a larger affair, a Rolls-Royce with the number plate GP 50. The car originally belonged to the then LCC chairman who donated the chassis to the Council. It was described as an old car, made around 1930, and the Council estimated its value at £50. It is pictured here outside County Hall.

The LCC made these vehicles for the use of the Home Guard. The LCC had two Home Guard Battalions by 1941 and the armoured vehicles were taken on by No 1 Battalion in February of that year. Two Vickers .303 machine guns were mounted to the vehicles. There were several men who were suggested as being capable to drive the vehicles, which were rather challenging to drive, and each vehicle had a crew of three. A Corporal Heatherington and a Corporal Clyde were the two men trained to drive them.

Parades and field days

The cars were used in a variety of ways. They featured in parades and Home Guard field days, and they were part of the public-facing work that the Home Guard (along with the other voluntary services) did to promote their work and encourage recruitment. For example, they appeared at a Salvage Parade in Battersea in September 1941.

They also played a role in Home Guard drills and exercises, for example in June 1941 they participated in a mock attack on St Giles Hospital, Southwark.

The vehicles were thirsty models

There are a number of letters in the file that suggest there were numerous issues in keeping the cars. The Home Guard found it very challenging to get the vehicles licensed, having to seek the help of the War Office. The vehicles were thirsty models, particularly the Rolls Royce, and at a time when fuel was rationed it wasn’t always possible to have fuel available. There was also concern that the vehicles were not getting enough use.

What happened to the vehicles?

There is some discussion in the papers as to the future of the vehicles, but more research needs to be done to find out what happened to them. If anyone knows then we'd love to hear from you! Please contact us via the details at the bottom of the page.

Sources

File titled “Armoured Cars” from the LCC Home Guard papers, HG/40.