PRIME MINISTER REVIEWS LONDON'S CIVIL DEFENCE SERVICES" - An original Second World War press photograph of British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill addressing a gathering of London's Civil Defence workers during a Civil Defence demonstration on 14 July 1941

London: Copyright Planet News Ltd., 1941. Photograph. This is an original Second World War press photograph of British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill addressing a parade of civil defence workers at a civil defence demonstration in London on 14 July 1941.

The gelatin silver print on glossy photo paper measures 9.5 x 7.5 in (24.13 x 19.05 cm). Condition is very good plus, with no appreciable wear or soiling. The verso features two ink-stamps, the first indicating that the copyright was held by “Planet News Ltd.” of London, the second showing that the photograph was “Received” on “14 JUL 1941”. A n original, typed caption affixed to the verso is titled “PRIME MINISTER REVIEWS LONDON’S CIVIL DEFENCE SERVICES.” The caption reads: “Mr. Winston Churchill reviewed Britain’s | biggest Civil Defences demonstration in | Hyde Park, when 6,000 A.R.P. workers took | part in the display, which included a | mammoth water carnival of all types of | fire-fighting appliances, and all kinds of | Civil Defence vehicles were on show. | PHOTO SHOWS: Mr. Churchill addresses the parade of Civil Defence workers. | AND. 14th July, 1941 PN-L.”

Air Raid Precautions from the Civil Defence Service were an important part of the civilian volunteer organization which included the ARP Wardens Service as well as firemen, fire watchers, rescue, first aid post, and stretcher parties. During the Second World War, more than 1.9 million people served in the organization and nearly 2,400 lost their lives. This same day, at a luncheon by the London County Council at the County Hall after the review of the Civil Defence Services in Hyde Park, Churchill delivered his “Do your worst – and we will do our best” speech of 14 July 1941.

On 14 July 1941, Churchill was just a little more than a year into his wartime premiership, the United States was still a long five months from entering the war, and Britain’s position was still precarious. Churchill’s first year in office saw, among other near-calamities, the Battle of the Atlantic, the fall of France, the evacuation at Dunkirk, and the Battle of Britain, with both sustained aerial attacks on civilian populations of London and other cities and the real prospect of Nazi invasion of England.

Churchill’s speech of 14 July followed a review in Hyde Park of the “many grades and classes – the wardens, the rescue and first-aid parties, the casualty services, the decontamination squads, the fire services, the report and control centre staffs, the highways and public utility services, the messengers, the police” – of the Civil Defence Services. Churchill acknowledged that the Civil Defence Services “have grown up in the stress of emergency” and “been shaped and tempered by the fire of the enemy”. In his speech, Churchill used this review as a tangible symbol of the preparedness, endurance, and resolve of Britain generally and London particularly. Churchill encapsulated the speech in the line delivered as a direct challenge to Hitler: “You do your worst – and we will do our best.” Far from a passive call for resistance, this line was immediately followed by “Perhaps it may be our turn soon; perhaps it may be our turn now.”

This press photo once belonged to a newspaper’s working archive. During the first half of the twentieth century, photojournalism grew as a practice, fundamentally changing the way the public interacted with current events. Newspapers assembled expansive archives, including physical copies of all photographs published or deemed useful for potential future use, their versos typically marked with ink stamps and notes providing provenance and captions. Today these photographs exist as repositories of historical memory, technological artifacts, and often striking pieces of vernacular art.