Blackout at Tower bridge

B L A C KO U T A I R R A I D R E P O RT

BLACKOUT During the Blitz, when the Square Mile was devastated by high explosive and incendiary bombs, two City of London Police officers, Arthur Cross and Fred Tibbs, rushed out into the aftermath to photograph the damage.

Blackout is an immersive video projection and sound installation that transforms Tower Bridge’s Bascule Chamber. It has been created by students from Guildhall School of Music & Drama in collaboration with the City of London Police Museum, London Metropolitan Archives and Tower Bridge. The show explores the hidden world of the Cross and Tibbs Collection, offering a dramatised narrative that explores the characters, the landscape and the impact of the Blitz across the City.

THE BLITZ The Blitz was the German bombing campaign against British cities in the Second World War. Between September 1940 and May 1941 Britain experienced bombing on most nights and London was particularly badly hit. From 7th September 1940 the capital was bombed for nearly 60 continuous nights by hundreds of planes. The Luftwaffe (the German air force) targeted its attacks on towns and cities, to cause maximum damage to both infrastructure and morale. The images taken by the City of London Police during this period show the extent of the damage.

Sunday 29th December 1940 saw one of the worst attacks on the City of London. The Luftwaffe dropped thousands of incendiary bombs. These were designed to start fires, and soon much of the City was aflame. This spread quickly due to the number of bombs, damaged water mains, and strong winds. Huge areas of the City were destroyed, some buildings such as St Lawrence Jewry were badly burnt, and some, such as Moor Lane Police Station, were completely destroyed. This night became known as the Second Great Fire of London.

The Blitz officially ended with an attack on the night of 10th–11th May 1941, although some bomb attacks still occurred throughout the rest of the Second World War. This attack is also notorious for causing some of the worst damage seen throughout London during the Blitz. Over 500 planes dropped bombs over London. 1436 people were killed, and thousands more injured.

Within the City, the Central Criminal Court (the Old Bailey) suffered damage.

TOWER BRIDGE The Bascule Chamber of Tower Bridge is an operational area that allows for the movement of its huge counterweights when raising the Bridge to river traffic. It is not normally open to the public. Although under the water level of the River Thames, it was never used as an air raid shelter. Tower Bridge had several near misses with high explosive bombs, and was hit on 8th October 1940, causing damage to the high-level Walkways. It has been said that later in the war the Bridge was used by the Germans as the focal point of their 1944-45 flying bomb campaign against London.

CROSS AND TIBBS The impact of the Blitz on the Square Mile was photographed

by City of London Police Constables Arthur Cross and Fred Tibbs. PC Cross was an amateur photographer, and because of his knowledge, he was appointed the City of London Police Force Photographer in 1939. The photographic department was relatively new and one of Cross’s first tasks was taking photographs of every City of London Police officer for identity purposes.

When war came to the City, PC Cross was joined by another amateur photographer, PC Tibbs. Their brief was to photograph the bomb damage that the City of London had suffered and

the casualties of the raids, which became vital in identifying the victims.

The City’s Police stations had purpose-built accommodation for the officers. During the Blitz, Tibbs lived in Bishopsgate Station, his family having been evacuated to Wales. Bishopsgate Police Station became the base for Cross and Tibbs’ work, with a darkroom and basic equipment set up in the basement. After the “all clear” was given, they could both be on the streets and recording the aftermath of the bomb damage within minutes.

PC Cross and PC Tibbs were simply police officers with an interest in photography, and had taken on photographic duties within the Force. They subsequently found themselves producing some of the most iconic images of the 20th century.

PC Fred Tibbs & PC Arthur Cross

THE CROSS AND TIBBS COLLECTION The Cross and Tibbs Collection consists of 371 photographs taken between 1940 and 1945. The majority of the photographs were taken during the Blitz and give us an insight into the life in the City of London in the immediate aftermath. The ones taken after the Blitz, between 1942 and 1945, show us the extensive nature of the raids. The damaged buildings had been cleared revealing huge areas devoid of structures.

One of the most iconic images was taken was by PC Tibbs on Sunday, 11th May 1941. 23 Queen Victoria Street collapsed into the road, whilst still on fire. Tibbs took the photograph in mid collapse.

Their images documented the damage and the work of the emergency services in coping with the aftermath; they assisted in identifying the casualties, but also helped as an aid for rebuilding the City. The pictures are now held at London Metropolitan Archives. A select number can be seen in the City of London Police Museum, or the entire collection online through Collage – The London Picture Archive (collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk).  

AC K N OWL E D G M E N TS A N D T HANKS The Cross and Tibbs photographs are reproduced with kind permission of the Commissioner of the City of London Police.

PC Fred Tibbs photograph reproduced with their kind permission of the Tibbs family.

PC Arthur Cross photograph reproduced with their kind permission of the Cross family.

Cross and Tibbs images courtesy of London Metropolitan Archives (City of London).

WITH THANKS TO THE STAFF AND STUDENTS AT London Metropolitan Archives, City of London Police Museum, Guildhall Library, Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Tower Bridge.

SPECIAL THANKS TO Rebecca Walker, Peter Clarke, Jean Hampton (nee Tibbs), Sally Tibbs, Tom Ridley, Beryl Wheeler, The Cross family.