IN January 1937 the Government declared that in time of war, every citizen ought to have a gas mask.

This striking picture dates from June that year, when the public was shown how to use the masks, at an open day staged by the Highland and Light Infantry at its Maryhill Barracks, Glasgow.

By October 1938, some 40 million gas masks had been manufactured, the House of Commons was told, with further supplies arriving weekly.

By early September 1939, after the declaration of war, gas masks had become a familiar sight. On September 7th, the Glasgow Herald, welcoming the increasing number of gas masks on the streets, noted that when rain fell, some people tucked the masks in their cardboard containers under their raincoats; others let the rain do its worst.

On the ninth, we reported that “safety helmets”, as gas masks for children under school age were described, would be distributed: “The Lord Provost appeals to citizens not to bombard head wardens and A.R.P. centres with demands for the helmets. Their availability will be announced.”

On the 11th, our Editorial Diary said that when football was allowed to resume, “spectators will not be admitted to the enclosures unless they have their gas masks with them. Referees and the more thin-skinned players might like to insist they also be made to wear them.” And the following day, a contributor to our letters page wrote that the carrying of gas masks, even to weddings, was “a duty imposed by the State.”