‘… the little island in the silver seas was at the end of its immunity…’ H. G. Wells, The War in the Air (Middlesex, 1973), p. 140.
How did London civilians respond to the German airship raids of 1915?
Comments on this website to adrienne_barthram@hotmail.com
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All material copyright © Adrienne Barthram. All rights are reserved. No part of any material on this web site may be reproduced, or stored in a database or retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Adrienne Barthram. Individual students and scholars are permitted to use material on the website for the purpose of personal study and scholarship provided that the foregoing strictures are not violated and the proper acknowledgements are given.
Comments on this website to adrienne_barthram@hotmail.com
Website design by www.blueenginewebdevelopment.co.uk Copyright 2008
All material copyright © Adrienne Barthram. All rights are reserved. No part of any material on this web site may be reproduced, or stored in a database or retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Adrienne Barthram. Individual students and scholars are permitted to use material on the website for the purpose of personal study and scholarship provided that the foregoing strictures are not violated and the proper acknowledgements are given.
Unpublished Primary Sources
The National Archives, London
AIR 1/543/16/15/4, Reports on air raids, various districts: Zeppelin or aircraft, April - June 1915 and June - November 1917.
AIR 1/552/16/15/38, Police reports and correspondence: air raids on England, January - June 1915.
AIR 1/563/16/15/69, British and foreign press cuttings about Zeppelins, April 1915 - December 1916.
AIR 1/567/16/15/120, Record of Zeppelin attacks on England, carried out before 9.30pm, January 1915 - November 1916.
AIR 1/605/16/15/247, Miscellaneous reports on various air raids, 1915.
AIR 1/1259/204/9/1, Home defence: action against Zeppelin raids, October 1915 - April 1916.
AIR 1/1259/204/9/1A, Home defence: reports on Zeppelin raids, October 1915.
AIR 1/1363/204/22/16, Zeppelin attack reports, May - June 1915.
AIR 1/2148/209/3/171, Four maps showing tracks of Zeppelins when raiding England, August - October 1915.
AIR 1/2557, Methods of destroying Zeppelins, 5 June 1915.
MEPO 2/1650, Zeppelin Raid on London: May 31 Divisional reports, 1915.
Imperial War Museum, London
ID Number: Q 80366, The First World War 1914-1918 Poster Collection, 1914 - 1918.
ID Number: Misc 208 (3020), Letter describing the Zeppelin Raid on London 17 August 1915, August 1915.
Serial Publications
British Library Newspapers, Colindale
Daily Mail
27 July 1909
12 May 1915
13 May 1915
14 May 1915
1 June 1915
2 June 1915
3 June 1915
5 June 1915
18 August 1915
19 August 1915
21 August 1915
8 September 1915
9 September 1915
10 September 1915
11 September 1915
13 September 1915
14 September 1915
15 September 1915
16 September 1915
14 October 1915
15 October 1915
16 October 1915
18 October 1915
19 October 1915
30 January 2007
Daily Sketch
1 June 1916
2 June 1915
3 June 1915
18 August 1915
19 August 1915
20 August 1915
8 September 1915
9 September 1915
10 September 1915
11 September 1915
14 October 1915
15 October 1915
16 October 1915
Hackney & Stoke Newington Recorder
4 June 1915
11 June 1915
18 June 1915
Lewisham Borough News
10 September 1915
17 September 1915
24 September 1915
Lewisham Journal
10 September 1915
17 September 1915
24 September 1915
London Mail
5 June 1915
21 August 1915
11 September 1915
16 October 1915
London Opinion
5 June 1915
21 August 1915
11 September 1915
16 October 1915
Public Opinion
22 January 1915
4 June 1915
11 June 1915
18 June 1915
20 August 1915
27 August 1915
10 September 1915
17 September 1915
15 October 1915
22 October 1915
Punch Vol. CXLVIII
6 January 1915
13 January 1915
20 January 1915
27 January 1915
3 February 1915
10 February 1915
17 February 1915
24 February 1915
3 March 1915
10 March 1915
17 March 1915
24 March 1915
31 March 1915
7 April 1915
14 April 1915
21 April 1915
28 April 1915
5 May 1915
12 May 1915
19 May 1915
26 May 1915
2 June 1915
9 June 1915
16 June 1915
23 June 1915
30 June 1915
Punch Vol. CXLIX
7 July 1915
14 July 1915
21 July 1915
28 July 1915
4 August 1915
11 August 1915
18 August 1915
25 August 1915
1 September 1915
8 September 1915
15 September 1915
22 September 1915
29 September 1915
6 October 1915
13 October 1915
20 October 1915
27 October 1915
3 November 1915
10 November 1915
17 November 1915
24 November 1915
1 December 1915
8 December 1915
15 December 1915
22 December 1915
29 December 1915
The Borough of West Ham, East Ham and Stratford Express
2 June 1915
5 June 1915
9 June 1915
12 June 1915
The City of London Illustrated
September 1915
October 1915
The City Press
11 September 1915
18 September 1915
16 October 1915
23 October 1915
The Daily News & Leader
2 June 1915
4 June 1915
15 October 1915
18 October 1915
The Docks Gazette
September 1915
October 1915
The Eastern Mercury
1 June 1915
8 June 1915
24 August 1915
The East London Observer
5 June 1915
12 June 1915
21 August 1915
11 September 1915
The Evening News
1 June 1915
2 June 1915
3 June 1915
4 June 1915
18 August 1915
19 August 1915
20 August 1915
21 August 1915
14 October 1915
15 October 1915
16 October 1915
18 October 1915
19 October 1915
20 October 1915
21 October 1915
22 October 1915
The Evening Standard and St. James’s Gazette
1 June 1915
2 June 1915
3 June 1915
4 June 1915
5 June 1915
7 June 1916
8 June 1915
18 August 1915
19 August 1915
20 August 1915
21 August 1915
8 September 1915
9 September 1915
10 September 1915
11 September 1915
13 September 1915
14 September 1915
15 September 1915
14 October 1915
15 October 1915
16 October 1915
20 October 1915
21 October 1915
26 October 1915
The Globe and Traveller
20 January 1915
21 January 1915
1 June 1915
2 June 1915
3 June 1915
18 August 1915
19 August 1915
20 August 1915
8 September 1915
9 September 1915
10 September 1915
11 September 1915
14 October 1915
15 October 1915
16 October 1915
The Hackney & Kingsland Gazette
2 June 1915
4 June 1915
7 June 1915
9 June 1915
16 June 1915
The Holborn and Finsbury Guardian
10 September 1915
16 October 1915
The Illustrated London News
5 June 1915
12 June 1915
21 August 1915
11 September 1915
18 September 1915
16 October 1915
23 October 1915
The Leytonstone Express & Independent, etc
5 June 1915
21 August 1915
The London Illustrated Weekly
14 October 1915
The New York Herald
15 October 1915
The New York Times
4 June 1915
15 October 1915
The Shoreditch Observer, Hackney Express, Bethnal Green Chronicle and Finsbury Gazette
20 August 1915
27 August 1915
The South Eastern Herald
10 September 1915
17 September 1915
The Times
4 January 1915
20 January 1915
21 January 1915
22 January 1915
25 January 1915
28 January 1915
10 February 1915
15 February 1915
26 February 1915
2 April 1915
12 May 1915
17 May 1915
1 June 1915
2 June 1915
3 June 1915
4 June 1915
7 June 1915
10 June 1915
23 June 1915
18 June 1915
18 August 1915
19 August 1915
20 August 1915
21 August 1915
9 September 1915
10 September 1915
14 September 1915
18 September 1915
24 September 1915
25 September 1915
1 October 1915
14 October 1915
15 October 1915
18 October 1915
19 October 1915
20 October 1915
21 October 1915
22 October 1915
1 November 1916
6 November 1915
8 November 1915
10 November 1915
15 November 1915
20 November 1915
10 December 1915
The Walthamstow, Leyton and Chingford Guardian
20 August 1915
The Woolwich Herald
15 October 1915
22 October 1915
Walthamstow Sentinel
January 1915
Westminster & Pimlico News
15 October 1915
22 October 1915
Westminster Gazette
14 August 1916
Woolwich Gazette & Plumstead News
19 October 1915
26 October 1915
Published Primary Sources
Hedin, Robert (ed.) The Zeppelin Reader: Stories, Poems, and Songs from the Age of Airships (Iowa City, 1998)
Jones, Michael Wynn The Cartoon History of Britain (London, 1971)
Published Secondary Sources: Books
Banks, Arthur A Military Atlas of the First World War (London, 1989)
Botting, Douglas Dr. Eckener’s Dream Machine: The Great Zeppelin and the Dawn of the Air Travel (New York, 2001)
Brown, Malcolm The Imperial War Museum Book of the First World War: A Great Conflict Recalled in Previously Unpublished Letters, Diaries and Memoirs (London, 1993)
Cross, Wilbur Zeppelins of World War One (Lincoln, 2001)
de Syon, Guillaume Zeppelin! Germany and the Airship, 1900-1939 (Maryland, 2002)
Fegan, Thomas The ‘Baby Killers’: German Air Raids on Britain in the First World War (South Yorkshire, 2002)
Hammerton, J. A. (ed.) The Concise Universal Encyclopedia (London, 1929)
Hammerton, J. A. (ed.) The War Illustrated: A Pictorial Record of the Conflict of Nations Volume 1-4, (London, 1914-1918) Kenyon, J. P. The Wordsworth Dictionary of British History (Hertfordshire, 1994)
Massie, Robert K. Castles of Steel (London, 2004)
Morison, Frank War on Great Cities (London, 1937)
Morris, Joseph German Air Raids on Britain 1914-1918 (Sussex, 1993)
Pankhurst, E. Sylvia The Home Front (London, 1987)
Poolman, Kenneth Zeppelins over England (London, 1975)
Rimell, Raymond. L. Zeppelin! A Battle for Air Supremacy in World War One (London, 1984)
Robinson, Douglas The Zeppelin in Combat: History of the German Naval Airship Division 1912-1918 (England, 1966)
Toland, John The Great Dirigibles: Their Triumphs & Disasters (Toronto, 1972)
Wells, H. G. The War in the Air (Middlesex, 1973)
Williams, John The Home Fronts 1914-1918 (London, 1972)
Published Secondary Sources: Articles
Bryant, Mark ‘The Man with the Poison Pen’ in History Today, Volume 56, Issue 11, November 2006, pp. 60-61.
Fowler, Simon ‘War Charity Begins at Home’ in History Today, Volume 49, Number 9, September 1999, pp. 17-23.
Jourdain, Margaret ‘Air Raid Reprisals and Starvation by Blockade’ in International Journal of Ethics, Volume 28, Number 4, 1918, p. 542-553.
Paris, Michael ‘Fear of Flying: The Fiction of War 1886-1916’ in History Today, Volume 43, Number 6, June 1993, pp. 29-35.
Roberts, Stephen ‘Did the British People Welcome the Declaration of War in August 1914?’ in History Review, Issue 52, September 2005, pp. 48-52.
Spaatz, Carl ‘Evolution of Air Power: Our Urgent Need for an Air Force Second to None’ in Military Affairs, Volume 11, Number 1, Spring 1947, pp. 2-16.
Ward, Paul ‘‘Women of Britain Say Go’: Women’s Patriotism in the First World War’ in Oxford Journals, Volume 12, Number 1, 2001, pp. 23-45.
Winter, Jay ‘A Taste of Ashes’ in History Today, Volume 48, Number 11, November 1998, pp. 8-13.
Internet Website Addresses
Archives of Ontario ‘Canadian Posters of the First World War’, http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/ENGLISH/exhibits/posters/index.html.
Georgetown University ‘Special Collections: WW1 Posters - The Posters’, http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/britpost/posters.htm.
Mass-Observation ‘A brief history of Mass-Observation’, Archive http://www.massobs.org.uk/history.html.
Television Programmes
BBC Timewatch ‘Zeppelin: The First Blitz’ on BBC 2, 2 February 2007.
The National Archives, London
AIR 1/543/16/15/4, Reports on air raids, various districts: Zeppelin or aircraft, April - June 1915 and June - November 1917.
AIR 1/552/16/15/38, Police reports and correspondence: air raids on England, January - June 1915.
AIR 1/563/16/15/69, British and foreign press cuttings about Zeppelins, April 1915 - December 1916.
AIR 1/567/16/15/120, Record of Zeppelin attacks on England, carried out before 9.30pm, January 1915 - November 1916.
AIR 1/605/16/15/247, Miscellaneous reports on various air raids, 1915.
AIR 1/1259/204/9/1, Home defence: action against Zeppelin raids, October 1915 - April 1916.
AIR 1/1259/204/9/1A, Home defence: reports on Zeppelin raids, October 1915.
AIR 1/1363/204/22/16, Zeppelin attack reports, May - June 1915.
AIR 1/2148/209/3/171, Four maps showing tracks of Zeppelins when raiding England, August - October 1915.
AIR 1/2557, Methods of destroying Zeppelins, 5 June 1915.
MEPO 2/1650, Zeppelin Raid on London: May 31 Divisional reports, 1915.
Imperial War Museum, London
ID Number: Q 80366, The First World War 1914-1918 Poster Collection, 1914 - 1918.
ID Number: Misc 208 (3020), Letter describing the Zeppelin Raid on London 17 August 1915, August 1915.
Serial Publications
British Library Newspapers, Colindale
Daily Mail
27 July 1909
12 May 1915
13 May 1915
14 May 1915
1 June 1915
2 June 1915
3 June 1915
5 June 1915
18 August 1915
19 August 1915
21 August 1915
8 September 1915
9 September 1915
10 September 1915
11 September 1915
13 September 1915
14 September 1915
15 September 1915
16 September 1915
14 October 1915
15 October 1915
16 October 1915
18 October 1915
19 October 1915
30 January 2007
Daily Sketch
1 June 1916
2 June 1915
3 June 1915
18 August 1915
19 August 1915
20 August 1915
8 September 1915
9 September 1915
10 September 1915
11 September 1915
14 October 1915
15 October 1915
16 October 1915
Hackney & Stoke Newington Recorder
4 June 1915
11 June 1915
18 June 1915
Lewisham Borough News
10 September 1915
17 September 1915
24 September 1915
Lewisham Journal
10 September 1915
17 September 1915
24 September 1915
London Mail
5 June 1915
21 August 1915
11 September 1915
16 October 1915
London Opinion
5 June 1915
21 August 1915
11 September 1915
16 October 1915
Public Opinion
22 January 1915
4 June 1915
11 June 1915
18 June 1915
20 August 1915
27 August 1915
10 September 1915
17 September 1915
15 October 1915
22 October 1915
Punch Vol. CXLVIII
6 January 1915
13 January 1915
20 January 1915
27 January 1915
3 February 1915
10 February 1915
17 February 1915
24 February 1915
3 March 1915
10 March 1915
17 March 1915
24 March 1915
31 March 1915
7 April 1915
14 April 1915
21 April 1915
28 April 1915
5 May 1915
12 May 1915
19 May 1915
26 May 1915
2 June 1915
9 June 1915
16 June 1915
23 June 1915
30 June 1915
Punch Vol. CXLIX
7 July 1915
14 July 1915
21 July 1915
28 July 1915
4 August 1915
11 August 1915
18 August 1915
25 August 1915
1 September 1915
8 September 1915
15 September 1915
22 September 1915
29 September 1915
6 October 1915
13 October 1915
20 October 1915
27 October 1915
3 November 1915
10 November 1915
17 November 1915
24 November 1915
1 December 1915
8 December 1915
15 December 1915
22 December 1915
29 December 1915
The Borough of West Ham, East Ham and Stratford Express
2 June 1915
5 June 1915
9 June 1915
12 June 1915
The City of London Illustrated
September 1915
October 1915
The City Press
11 September 1915
18 September 1915
16 October 1915
23 October 1915
The Daily News & Leader
2 June 1915
4 June 1915
15 October 1915
18 October 1915
The Docks Gazette
September 1915
October 1915
The Eastern Mercury
1 June 1915
8 June 1915
24 August 1915
The East London Observer
5 June 1915
12 June 1915
21 August 1915
11 September 1915
The Evening News
1 June 1915
2 June 1915
3 June 1915
4 June 1915
18 August 1915
19 August 1915
20 August 1915
21 August 1915
14 October 1915
15 October 1915
16 October 1915
18 October 1915
19 October 1915
20 October 1915
21 October 1915
22 October 1915
The Evening Standard and St. James’s Gazette
1 June 1915
2 June 1915
3 June 1915
4 June 1915
5 June 1915
7 June 1916
8 June 1915
18 August 1915
19 August 1915
20 August 1915
21 August 1915
8 September 1915
9 September 1915
10 September 1915
11 September 1915
13 September 1915
14 September 1915
15 September 1915
14 October 1915
15 October 1915
16 October 1915
20 October 1915
21 October 1915
26 October 1915
The Globe and Traveller
20 January 1915
21 January 1915
1 June 1915
2 June 1915
3 June 1915
18 August 1915
19 August 1915
20 August 1915
8 September 1915
9 September 1915
10 September 1915
11 September 1915
14 October 1915
15 October 1915
16 October 1915
The Hackney & Kingsland Gazette
2 June 1915
4 June 1915
7 June 1915
9 June 1915
16 June 1915
The Holborn and Finsbury Guardian
10 September 1915
16 October 1915
The Illustrated London News
5 June 1915
12 June 1915
21 August 1915
11 September 1915
18 September 1915
16 October 1915
23 October 1915
The Leytonstone Express & Independent, etc
5 June 1915
21 August 1915
The London Illustrated Weekly
14 October 1915
The New York Herald
15 October 1915
The New York Times
4 June 1915
15 October 1915
The Shoreditch Observer, Hackney Express, Bethnal Green Chronicle and Finsbury Gazette
20 August 1915
27 August 1915
The South Eastern Herald
10 September 1915
17 September 1915
The Times
4 January 1915
20 January 1915
21 January 1915
22 January 1915
25 January 1915
28 January 1915
10 February 1915
15 February 1915
26 February 1915
2 April 1915
12 May 1915
17 May 1915
1 June 1915
2 June 1915
3 June 1915
4 June 1915
7 June 1915
10 June 1915
23 June 1915
18 June 1915
18 August 1915
19 August 1915
20 August 1915
21 August 1915
9 September 1915
10 September 1915
14 September 1915
18 September 1915
24 September 1915
25 September 1915
1 October 1915
14 October 1915
15 October 1915
18 October 1915
19 October 1915
20 October 1915
21 October 1915
22 October 1915
1 November 1916
6 November 1915
8 November 1915
10 November 1915
15 November 1915
20 November 1915
10 December 1915
The Walthamstow, Leyton and Chingford Guardian
20 August 1915
The Woolwich Herald
15 October 1915
22 October 1915
Walthamstow Sentinel
January 1915
Westminster & Pimlico News
15 October 1915
22 October 1915
Westminster Gazette
14 August 1916
Woolwich Gazette & Plumstead News
19 October 1915
26 October 1915
Published Primary Sources
Hedin, Robert (ed.) The Zeppelin Reader: Stories, Poems, and Songs from the Age of Airships (Iowa City, 1998)
Jones, Michael Wynn The Cartoon History of Britain (London, 1971)
Published Secondary Sources: Books
Banks, Arthur A Military Atlas of the First World War (London, 1989)
Botting, Douglas Dr. Eckener’s Dream Machine: The Great Zeppelin and the Dawn of the Air Travel (New York, 2001)
Brown, Malcolm The Imperial War Museum Book of the First World War: A Great Conflict Recalled in Previously Unpublished Letters, Diaries and Memoirs (London, 1993)
Cross, Wilbur Zeppelins of World War One (Lincoln, 2001)
de Syon, Guillaume Zeppelin! Germany and the Airship, 1900-1939 (Maryland, 2002)
Fegan, Thomas The ‘Baby Killers’: German Air Raids on Britain in the First World War (South Yorkshire, 2002)
Hammerton, J. A. (ed.) The Concise Universal Encyclopedia (London, 1929)
Hammerton, J. A. (ed.) The War Illustrated: A Pictorial Record of the Conflict of Nations Volume 1-4, (London, 1914-1918) Kenyon, J. P. The Wordsworth Dictionary of British History (Hertfordshire, 1994)
Massie, Robert K. Castles of Steel (London, 2004)
Morison, Frank War on Great Cities (London, 1937)
Morris, Joseph German Air Raids on Britain 1914-1918 (Sussex, 1993)
Pankhurst, E. Sylvia The Home Front (London, 1987)
Poolman, Kenneth Zeppelins over England (London, 1975)
Rimell, Raymond. L. Zeppelin! A Battle for Air Supremacy in World War One (London, 1984)
Robinson, Douglas The Zeppelin in Combat: History of the German Naval Airship Division 1912-1918 (England, 1966)
Toland, John The Great Dirigibles: Their Triumphs & Disasters (Toronto, 1972)
Wells, H. G. The War in the Air (Middlesex, 1973)
Williams, John The Home Fronts 1914-1918 (London, 1972)
Published Secondary Sources: Articles
Bryant, Mark ‘The Man with the Poison Pen’ in History Today, Volume 56, Issue 11, November 2006, pp. 60-61.
Fowler, Simon ‘War Charity Begins at Home’ in History Today, Volume 49, Number 9, September 1999, pp. 17-23.
Jourdain, Margaret ‘Air Raid Reprisals and Starvation by Blockade’ in International Journal of Ethics, Volume 28, Number 4, 1918, p. 542-553.
Paris, Michael ‘Fear of Flying: The Fiction of War 1886-1916’ in History Today, Volume 43, Number 6, June 1993, pp. 29-35.
Roberts, Stephen ‘Did the British People Welcome the Declaration of War in August 1914?’ in History Review, Issue 52, September 2005, pp. 48-52.
Spaatz, Carl ‘Evolution of Air Power: Our Urgent Need for an Air Force Second to None’ in Military Affairs, Volume 11, Number 1, Spring 1947, pp. 2-16.
Ward, Paul ‘‘Women of Britain Say Go’: Women’s Patriotism in the First World War’ in Oxford Journals, Volume 12, Number 1, 2001, pp. 23-45.
Winter, Jay ‘A Taste of Ashes’ in History Today, Volume 48, Number 11, November 1998, pp. 8-13.
Internet Website Addresses
Archives of Ontario ‘Canadian Posters of the First World War’, http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/ENGLISH/exhibits/posters/index.html.
Georgetown University ‘Special Collections: WW1 Posters - The Posters’, http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/britpost/posters.htm.
Mass-Observation ‘A brief history of Mass-Observation’, Archive http://www.massobs.org.uk/history.html.
Television Programmes
BBC Timewatch ‘Zeppelin: The First Blitz’ on BBC 2, 2 February 2007.
Bibliography