WIREDGOV

Records containing fascinating and often heartbreaking details of more than 5,000 awards for civilian gallantry during the Second World War have been published online for the first time by Ancestry, in association with The National Archives.

The UK WWII Civil Defence Gallantry Awards, 1940-1949 collection (file series HO 250) reveals the names of those who risked, or even lost, their lives to save others while protecting the home front. The records contain details about the civilians, such as their place of residence and date of birth, and date of the award received.

Civilian Defence awards could be given to men, women and children who carried out or supported Civil Defence duties on the home front. The youngest award recipient, at just 10 years of age, was Royston Newman, a boy scout from Tonbridge (HO 250/18/750). Newman acted as a human shield to protect his baby brother from bomb explosions after seeing a neighbour killed in front of his eyes.

Records reveal the gallant actions of more than 200 children, including 11-year-old Raymond Hawley from Amersham, Buckinghamshire (HO 250/23/967). When a bomb penetrated the roof of his home, Raymond ran upstairs to investigate, seized a pair of trousers, smothered the bomb with them then carried it downstairs and threw it into the garden. His actions protected his disabled mother and four siblings who were in the house at the time.

The oldest person who appears in the records is 95-year-old Lillian Halle from Kensington (HO 250/11/578), a ‘tiny, frail-looking woman’ who put out a fire from an incendiary bomb in her house by herself, tearing down burning wallpaper with her bare hands.

You can read more stories from the records and learn about the work that goes on behind the scenes to make these records available online in our blog.

Ancestry is offering free access to the UK WWII Civilian Defence Gallantry Awards, 1940-1949 collectionas well as more than 200 million other military records from Friday 6 November to Wednesday 11 November.