The man’s stiff, starched collar was worn by our grandfather, Sidney Elkins, on the morning of Wednesday 13 June 1917 when London was attacked by German aircraft in a daylight raid on the City. He worked for the British and Bennington Tea Company as a clerk at their stores in Sumner Street, Southwark in the south of the Capital. He had gone outside their building, to watch the aircraft that were flying overhead at a great height, in defiance of the instruction to take cover by the building lift shaft at the centre of the premises. The building was struck by a 50 kg bomb that entered the lift shaft where three female members of staff had gone as instructed. They were killed in the consequent explosion. The blast blew the plate glass windows at the front of the premises out into the street and Sidney Elkins received superficial injuries to his head and face and a 6.2 cm long shard of the glass was lodged in the side of the collar. If he had not been wearing this type of collar he would have been killed by the consequent serious injury to his neck. He was one of the six men, thirteen women and five children that were injured at Sumner Street on that morning. The attacking force of twenty-two twin-engined Gotha bombers of Kagohl 3, led by Hauptmann Brandenburg, had taken off from Melle Gontrode and St Denis Westren airfields in Belgium at 09h00 that morning. Four of the force had to turn back after take-off with engine troubles and the remainder reached the British coast and bombs were dropped on Margate and other places in Kent and Essex. The remaining eighteen aircraft set course for London. One aircraft returned to Belgium leaving seventeen to reach the Capital by 11h35. The British defences reacted to information passed on from early warning stations on lightships and ships in the English Channel and at the coast. The attacking force was engaged by anti-aircraft guns and land based aircraft took off to intercept them. However the Gothas were flying at an altitude of around 4300 m and a speed of about 110 km/h which made interception by the defending aircraft virtually impossible because their climbing rate and speed were insufficient to allow them to engage the enemy. In all 92 defence sorties were flown by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), which had primary responsibility for Home Defence, and some training squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). None of the attacking force was brought down and all returned to their bases in Belgium. There was one British casualty, Captain C.H.C.Keevil, an observer in a Bristol F2B Fighter of 35 Squadron, RFC. There were 10 bombs dropped on Kent and Essex and 118 dropped on London with an estimated total weight of 4000 kg. This resulted in 162 people being killed and 426 persons being injured and the total monetary value of the damage to property was estimated to be £129,468 in 1917 values. Many of the injured were hurt by flying debris when they had gone outside their buildings to watch the aircraft flying high above. The greatest loss of life by one bomb was at Upper North Street Schools in Poplar, East London where 18 children were killed and 30 children and four adults injured. The aerial attack on London of the 13 June 1917 had been the first to be carried out by the German air force in daylight by aircraft, previous attacks on the capital had been carried out by airships during the night. The aim of the attack was to crush the British will to fight by disruption of war industries, communications and supply in south-eastern England to affect the war on the Western Front, which had reached a stalemate, and to provide some positive propaganda to a beleaguered German population. The raid had brought the war to the civilian population and brought them into the front line of the war. It was the first time a major centre of population had been attacked in daylight by aircraft. The war had been brought to the civilian populace that had been deliberately attacked and thereby treated as a factor of war economy and production. The raid caused great consternation in the British Government. The War Cabinet met in the aftermath of the raid and it was agreed that a committee should be established to examine the consequences of it and to make recommendations to address daylight raids. It was decided to double the size of RFC squadrons and to increase engine and spare supplies to accommodate the change. In the short term RFC squadrons were brought back from the Western Front to counter the raids. 56 Squadron was relocated to Bekesbourne in Kent and 66 Squadron was sent to Calais. The subsequent Smuts Committee made recommendations regarding the air defence of Great Britain which caused measures subsequently to be put in place that resulted in the defences of Britain in 1940.
Two photographs of collar with glass, photograph of Sydney Elkins in Territorial Army 1917

Sydney Elkins
Our grandfather, Sydney Elkins' shirt collar
51.506485,-0.09864100000004328
Memorabilia
Cpl Sydney F Elkins Territorial Army 1917 Centre row, left end (as viewed)
Home Front
Recruitment and Conscription
Cpl Sydney F Elkins Territorial Army 1917
Our grandfather Sydney Elkins
51.49221370000001,-0.06465130000003682
Photograph