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Southend Home Guard
By Chris Poole - November 2008
During WW2, like all the other EKCO factories, a home guard detachment was formed at Southend when Winston Churchill made the call to arms although initially these volunteers were called the 'LDV', which was the abbreviation for Local Defence Volunteers.
From the beginning, given the size of the company, the number of men available meant that EKCO had their own platoon named the 1st Battalion Essex Home Guard - B company Number 9 (EKCO) platoon.
Operationally the company headquarters was an office within the main office building and from here the members were allocated their duties.
All of the following is the disposition and structure as of March 1942 as recorded by Charles Faithful, who has left an excellent record of his wartime Home Guard with the Essex Record Office – from where the 'roll call' was extracted.
At that time the EKCO platoon was under the command of Lieutenant George R Busby who later in the war became Major Busby. His second in command was 2nd Lieutenant H.W. Thornycroft and they were supported by Platoon Sergeant E.W. Shepard, Other Ranks Sergeant Tim Dixon and Quarter Master Stores Sergeant Fred Coe.
The platoon was split up into 4 sections, namely a HQ section, a Vickers Machine Gun Section, a Spigot Mortar (bombard) section and an other ranks - general duties section.
The HQ section had 4 sub-sections, namely Watch Sub Section, Stores Sub Section, Clerical Staff Sub Section and Supernumeries. The number of men in this section was nominally 20.
The Vickers Gun section was under the command of Sergeant P.M. Stiddig and split into 3 teams of 4 people each lead by a Lance Corporal namely 'A' team L/Cpl A Allsop, 'B' team L/Cpl H Wood, 'C' team L/Cpl C Higgs. The number of men in this section was 12.
The EKCO Spigot Mortar section consisted of 16 men split into 4 teams - namely Bombard L - subsection, Bombard M - subsection, Bombard N - subsection and Bombard O - subsection. This section was almost certainly formed in 1942.
The General duties section was subdivided into 4 subsections, which themselves were made up of 3 teams. The subsections were identified as Section 33 (section commander Sergeant J.H. Endruweit); section 34 (section commander Sergeant R.C Smart); section 35 (section commander Sergeant G.A. Richardson) and section 36 (section commander Sergeant A White). Each of the 4 subsections nominally comprised of 25 men.
Together this means that the No. 9 (EKCO) Platoon as of March/April consisted of circa 150 men whose names are listed in appendix 1.
The main duty of the EKCO Platoon was patrolling and guarding the main works, which was doing 'military' work and this meant that surrounding the perimeter of the whole site (including the playing field) rolled coils of barbed wire fencing was erected and all the gates into and out of the site were guarded where everybody had to show their identity/works pass.
Home Guard on duty at main staff entrance 1943
In addition to ensuring the safety of the works, the EKCO detachment also liased with other Home Guard units in Southend and went out on patrol around the town.
One known EKCO patrol line being the sea front between the Pier head all the way along to the 'Shore House' pub. This patrol line was split into 4 small areas so that each section had only a small distance to cover.
There is a record showing that these patrol lines operated at night between 9.00pm and 5.00am. Interestingly the prime duty of the patrol was to watch for enemy landings on the foreshore (looking seaward), to see that no person is walking or damaging the defences and that no person is acting in a suspicious manner. People walking on the opposite side of the road were NOT to be stopped unless acting in a suspicious manner.
Each patrol group patrol consisted of 6 men and an NCO and while on patrol the men had to wear their steel helmets, have their respirators at the 'alert', have their 'gas capes' in position, carry their rifles with bayonets fixed and each man had 5 rounds of ammo, which was to be carried in a pocket.
The Vickers Machine Gun section had a prime roll in assisting in the defence of the airfield by manning a Anti Aircraft post on or near 'Warners bridge', which is adjacent to the airfield although the exact location is not known. Later in the war it is reported that 2 'Hispano' cannons were added to the complement and one was positioned at each end of the airfield.
These cannons were on a wheeled trolley, which when it needed positioning required one man to lift the rear while two other men would remove the wheels and then all three men would lower it to the ground. This always caused problems since the man holding the rear invariably needed to change hands and this meant that unless the person was careful, as often as not it slipped taking a chunk of the persons leg with it, but at least the first-aider's got some well needed practice!
With regard to the Spigot Mortar section, it is believed that 2 Spigot Mortars were allocated to this section together with 150 rounds of 20Lb (anti-tank) and 100 rounds of 14Lb (anti-personnel) munitions since this was very much general issue across the Southern command Home Guard at that time.
The Spigot Mortar shown on the right was properly known as the Blacker Bombard.
While these could be deployed as shown, they were normally deployed mounted on a concrete post where the weapon was affixed to a stainless steel spigot - hence the name 'spigot mortar.
Some clue to the disposition of this weapon and the Vickers Machine Gun can be gleaned from the sketch map below, which shows the defence lines to be adopted at Cuckoo Corner Southend, which is adjacent to the EKCO works in Priory Crescent.
This road junction was a strategic site being at the junction of 4 major roads into and out of the town.
On this map can be seen the location and fields of Arc of fire for the Spigot Mortars and the Vickers Machine Guns. The map also shows that there was a 'Observation Post' built in the middle of the roundabout and a concrete block 'choke point' in Priory Crescent leading to/from the roundabout. These 'choke points' were quite common and occurred at many road junctions in the area since they could easily be made into a full barricade using steel sections normally kept by the roadside.
It is almost certain that the EKCO Home Guard would have manned this 'Observation Post' and this map would have formed the basis for their positions of defence should the need have arisen.
EKCO Home Guard defence line sketch map Click to enlarge
From the collection of Charles Faithfull at the Essex Record Office
File reference D/DS 505/1/12
Among their normal duties, the EKCO platoon also assisted the ARP, Police and Civil Defence in rescue, attending numerous incidents in the vicinity of the EKCO works including 'Thornford Gardens' and Sherbourne Gardens (both adjacent to the rear of the works), where H.E. Bombs damaged property with fatalities – notably number 29 Thornford Gardens, which was destroyed by a H.E. bomb on the 9th July 1943.
In 1944, men from the EKCO platoon assisted when an American Air Force Liberator bomber crash landed short of the airfield when returning from a mission, just clearing the last house in Sherbourne Gardens before hitting waste ground with wreckage ending up on Warner's Bridge – shutting the road to/from Rochford for a few days. One lady living nearby remembers going over to sightsee and finding a couple of chocolate bars, which she consumed with relish since chocolate was hard to come by at that time.
In a classic case of fiction mirroring fact, the EKCO platoon had quite a few 'dad's army' moments, a few of which are recounted here.
One story relates to the erection of the coils of barbed wire around the perimeter of the sports field where one of the members of the platoon who apparently had been a very good 'high jumper' in his youth suggested that the wire was no defence at all since anybody who was good at jumping could easily leap over the wire, whereupon of course he was challenged to prove this remark. Needless to say he failed to clear the barrier and had to be extracted with some difficulty, cuts, abrasions and some loss of dignity to say nothing of the tears to his uniform, which did not go down well with the Quarter Master Stores Sergeant Fred Coe.
Another story relates to Lieutenant Busby (later Major) who at that time had a rather battered Austin 12 saloon, which had seen better days. He suggested that this car could be used by the Home Guard and therefore arranged that the car had its original body taken off in the company carpentry shop and rebuilt from the chassis upward to resemble an armoured car although all the panel work was in 3/8-inch plywood camouflage painted since there was a shortage of steel plate, which was a blessing since the engine was already knackered and even with the plywood sheets, the top speed was probably no more than 15 mph and if steel had been used it probably would have been quicker to walk.
The platoon received instructions in making 'Molotov' cocktail petrol bombs and one member of the HG remembers throwing these against the wall of the 'lamps building' for practice completely oblivious of the fact that there could have been people working inside!!
Whenever the weather was good on a Sunday morning, a favourite route march would be to the Rose Inn in Wakering (about 5 miles away) where 'refreshments' would be enjoyed before the march home.
A favourite exercise was to mount sorties attacking the airfield and one former member remembers his younger brother, who was only 16 at the time having just joined the platoon, being blacked up and sent off to hide on the airfield with the rest of the detachment then being sent to find him. Unfortunately they did not find him so they gave up and all went home leaving the poor chap to go home on his own.
This former member also remembers an exercise where the order was 'fix bayonets' and then charge over a hill. Unfortunately being a new member, nobody had told him this was a pretend order, so he fixed his bayonet and the chap in front of him nearly got impaled when he slipped. He remembers the air was blue for a while.
Like all Home Guard units nationwide, the EKCO Home Guard was stood down in December 1944 their job done.
There were a series of parades to commemorate the roll the Home Guard played in the nation's defence and the stand-down and each member of the Home Guard received a letter or card thanking them for their services.
Below is the card given to Archie Mason - a toolmaker with EKCO Plastics, who as can be seen from the card served with the A.A. detachment of the EKCO Home Guard.
Home Guard Demob Card
Appendix 1 – Roll Call of No.9 (EKCO) Platoon
Known list of names in alphabetical order as of March 1942
Abbott H.W.
Chinnery
Giggins J.
Martin K.M.
Smith W.R.
Adams W.
Christie F.A.
Glenister A.W.
Maskell B.W.
Stonham C.P.
Allsop A.L.
Chrystal A.B.
Gilbert
Matthews G.M.
Stevens R.E.T.
Alderton R.C.
Clements S.J.
Golding W.D.
Matthews S.W.
Swift W.R.
Ayling F.J.
Coe F.
Grimwade W.
McGrath J.P.
Tavener D.J.
Bailey A.
Comte H.
Halliday J.H.
Merrill L.F.
Taylor C.
Baker J.
Conley D.
Hasler E.T.C.
Minney A.
Taylor T.
Baker R.
Conquest F.O.
Hendy A.C.
Minney P.
Thomas R.V.
Balmer G.T.
Cox J.
Heritage
North A.J.N.
Thorndycraft H.W.
Barlow B.
Cox T.J.
Higgs C.N.
Owen C.S.
Thurlow D.
Barlow J.A.
Cox W.R.
Hill L.A.
Pace M.C.
Tomlin J.E.
Bassett L.
Cundey A.R.
Hill S.N.
Parry C.L.
Trumble C.J.
Beale A.L.
Currie H.W.
Hobbs D.W.
Pennack
Vousden E.W.
Beard T.
Craig J.S.W.
Holden B.
Perry C.M.
Warwick K.L.
Beeton R.
Crocker C. B.
Hooker D.
Plumstead L.C.
Weller W.A.
Bennett A.G.
Dansie T.L.
Hooker D.L.
Potter R.R.
Went J.H.
Bennett H.J.
Deer P.W
Humphries A.B.
Pritchett S.R.
White A.
Bennett L.N.
Dickenson
Hurley A.P.
Richardson G.A.
White E.T.
Bradford S.H.
Dixon Tim
Hymas
Sabine A.
Wolfe E.T.
Bradley R.
Elliott G.A.
Izod L.A.
Savory W.G.
Wood H.C.
Bright G.
Endruweit J.H.
Jeffery F.A.
Scraggs S.W.
Wood H.G.
Brooks W.H.
Evans A.J.
Johnson D.E.
Sheperd E.W.
Woodward T.A.
Brown A.G.
Evans J.N.
Johnson H.J.
Sherringham D.
Woodward T.J.
Busby A.K.
Faithfull C.
Kinnerman W.
Sittenbaum D.
Wright W.R.
Busby G.F.M.R.
Fairchild L.S.
Ladd C.J.W.
Sponder F.J.
Young R.
Chandler D.L.
Fisher R.A.
Langridge A.
Smart F.O.
Yorwarth F.A.
Chandler L.C.
Fisher R.J.W.
Lawrence W.G.
Smart R.C.
Chapman J.L.
Fitch L.E.G.
Le Bon E.C.
Smith A.C.
Chapple G.
Flowers C.J.
Lee S.Q.
Smith A.L.
Childs G.P.
Fudge C.D.
Linklater P.G.
Smith H.C.
 
Note: In April 1942, another nine men were added,these being – Ambler G.C., Bradley R, Callow .F., Christie F., Jacobs B., Miller R.H., Phillips E, Potter G. and Wales W.J.
 
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