Name/Title
Mark VI gas mask 1952 -1967Entry/Object ID
1232Description
Black rubber Mark VI gas mask, marked "GD MK6 9-67", "L&B 1-52", "PR 559", and "GD 1/64".
This item is pictured with the gas mask bag it came with item 1233. There is an auction house number stuck on the filter for "Toovey's"Use
For use as a respirator during a gas, nuclear or biological attackContext
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. The markings suggest that the mask was made in 1952 by The Leyland and Brimingham Rubber Company and refurbished in 1964 and 1967.
Respirators such as this are thought to have been in use by Sussex Police into the late 1970s and would have been used in the region's pre amalgamation forces in the 1950s and 1960s in the units known as Mobile Columns, teams of officers designed to act as independent units in case of a nuclear strike. The bag associated with this respirator indicates a possible police use and the respirator itself has a label for an auction house in West Sussex, which may indicate a Sussex connection.