Civilian Casualty Management in World War II: A Case Study of Plymouth’s Halwell Street Mortuary

On the eve of the Second World War, Britain prepared for the likelihood of civilian mass casualty events by directing Local Authorities to requisition property for mortuaries and to staff these facilities. In Plymouth, a lumber yard on Halwell Street served as the city's principal wartime mortuary. The scale of the German Luftwaffe's aerial assault in the spring of 1941 presented challenges. Plymouth's largest civilian mass casualty incident occurred at Portland Square on 23 April. Although Plymouth followed Ministry of Health guidance in preparing for treating civilian war dead, the intensity of the German campaign overwhelmed those plans and compelled officials to adapt. As part of its oversight, Plymouth also had to facilitate the burial of air raid victims. This paper presents a local case study concerning the treatment of civilian war dead to explore the role mortuaries played in the management of large-scale civilian fatalities on the British home front.