ON November 2, 1939, the Duchess of Kent spent five hours on a tour of Glasgow. Her 15 engagements afforded a revealing glimpse of the important role that women were playing in Civil Defence organisations. She met, and chatted with, women A.R.P. (Air Raid Precaution) wardens, nurses, auxiliary policewomen, and members of the Women’s Voluntary Services. She also watched demonstrations by men of the Auxiliary Fire Service, decontamination squads, and A.R.P. rescue parties. At a Red Cross supply depot she even operated an electric cutting machine.

The royal visitor was fascinated to learn, while touring first-aid posts in the East End, that they shared space with a steamie, a public wash-house. The Glasgow Herald said she expressed a wish to see the women at work: “she had never before had the experience of watching so many busy housewives around the mechanical ‘tubs’”The women were delighted to oblige, and to answer her queries about the “washing day.” The Duchess, accompanied by the Lord Provost, Patrick Dollan (above) also dropped in on the School of Art. The L.P. was escorting her into one building when he hurt his finger on a swing door; in pain, he held the door open until the Duchess had passed through. Fortunately, the building housed a first-aid post, and his finger was swiftly bandaged.