Name/Title
Canvass bag for gas mask c1950sEntry/Object ID
1233Description
Green canvas and webbing gas mask bag, marked "Light II", "B12" and handwritten in pen "PS 136".Context
The Mark 6 respirator came into UK military service in 1951. They were subsequently issued to the emergency services, including the police, during the Cold War as part of CivIl Defence preparations in case of a nuclear attack. Bags such as this, many of which were produced during world war two were used to hold such gas masks and would have been issued to the police, when the respirators were.
These bags and the gas masks they were made for would have been used in the 1950s and 1960s across the old police forces of Sussex in units known as Mobile Columns, teams of officers designed to act as independent units in case of a nuclear strike. They are thought to have been used in Sussex Police until the late 1970s. The "PS 136" mark in this bag is most likely the number of a police sergeant this bag and contents were issued to. It is not known whether this would have been in Sussex or not, though given the associated gas mask was purchased in West Sussex this is likely.