1940 Collection

WW2 poster, activities of 52 (Lowland) Division
Screen-print poster, published circa 1950, showing the activities of the 52nd Lowland Division during the Second World War, with a map of Northern Europe, and unit badges along the top and bottom

ERROL FLYNN (1909-1959). Australian actor. Flynn in the title role of The Sea Hawk, a 1940 film based on Rafael Sabatinis novel

WW2 poster, We shall not flag, Winston Churchill speech
WW2 poster, We shall not flag, we shall not fail. Winston Churchill speech, 4 June 1940. Date: 1940

Spain. Valley of the Fallen (Valle de los Caidos). 1940-1958. Monumental memorial dedicated by the Franco regime to the dead of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

WW2 Poster -- ATS Eyes Of The Guns
ATS Eyes Of The Guns. Recruitment poster, Auxiliary Territorial Service. Colour photolithograph by Beverley Pick, published by HMSO. Showing women helping with anti-aircraft defence. Date: 1940

Winston Churchill - Giving the V for Victory sign
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) - Giving the V for Victory sign. Churchill was Prime Minister of the United Kingdon from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Date: circa 1940

Churchills praise for RAF Pilots
" Never was so much owed by so many to so few" - Prime Minister Winston Churchill from a speech made on 20th August 1940

W Churchill Gives V Sign
WINSTON CHURCHILL British statesman and author Gives the V-sign in 1940

Leon Trotsky / Iln 1920
LEON TROTSKY or LEV DAVIDOVICH BRONSTEIN Russian Communist leader in 1920, at the height of his popularity as the Peoples Commissar for War

Deserve Victory 1940
Winston Churchill says we Deserve Victory!

Firefighters on a tea break after fire St Katherines Dock
London firefighters (with cork helmets) and Auxiliary Fire Service firefighters (with tin hats and AFS badges on their tunics)

Carl Gustav Jung
CARL GUSTAV JUNG Swiss psychologist in 1940

Full Dress Parade, the Citadel, Charleston, SC
View shows soldiers marching in formation across the parade grounds of the Citadel. Buildings re visible in the background

HMS Exeter arriving at Plymouth, Second World War, 1940
Photograph showing the arrival of the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Exeter at Plymouth Docks, February 1940. Exeter was returning to Britain for the first time since taking part in the Battle of the River

WW2 recruitment poster, Join the Wrens (Womens Royal Naval Service) and free a man for the Fleet. Printed for HMSO. Date: circa 1940

Wartime poster of Churchills famous words: Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few, referring to the pilots of the Royal Air Force, fighting the Battle of Britain

Cunard White Star liner
The Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth sails into New York Date: circa 1940

200-inch observatory at Palomar, drawn by Russell Porter, 1938. ?The glass giant of Palomar? by David O Woodbury. 1940. pp.304-5 Date: 1938

Sixth Column Strategy
Stout patriots dislodge an enemy machine gun post from the dome of St. Pauls using the usual Heath Robinson cunning! Please note

Bbc Broadcasting House
BBC Broadcasting House at Portland Place, London

A Heinkel 111 bomber aircraft of the German Luftwaffe flies over Tower Bridge on the River Thames in London during the Battle of Britain in World War Two. 7th September 1940

Tatler front cover featuring Princess Elizabeth & Margaret o
Front cover of The Tatler featuring the fourteenth birthday picture of Princess Elizabeth (Queen Elizabeth II) together with her sister, Princess Margaret Rose

HMS Jervis Bay attacking the Admiral Scheer, Second Worl
Illustration showing the Royal Navy armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay (centre) steaming towards the German pocket-battleship Admiral Scheer, North Atlantic, November 1940

Ballerina & Snow
View from the Artists Window Romantic depiction of a young blonde ballerina looking at the snowy scene ouside

Catford Evacuees
A group of excited evacuee schoolchildren wait with their nurses on the platform of Catford train station in south east London. (Note the barrage balloon behind them)

Firefighters standing by during the Blitz, London in WWII LFB150
Firefighters standing by during the Blitz, London -- in the early hours of the morning, after a night of bombing

King George VI and Winston Churchill, 1940
Wartime British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill photographed with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in September 1940 after the Palace had been damaged by German bombs during

WW2 Poster -- You are wanted too! Join the ATS
You Are Wanted Too! Join The ATS. Recruitment poster, Auxiliary Territorial Service. Colour photolithograph by unknown artist, published by HMSO

Sandbanks Chain Ferry No. 1 - Entrance to Poole Harbour
The No.1 steam-powered Sandbanks chain ferry. Sandbanks Ferry is a vehicular chain ferry which crosses the entrance of Poole Harbour in the English county of Dorset

A Mass of White Contrails During a Battle-Of-Britain Dog?
A Mass of White Contrails During a Battle-Of-Britain Dog-Fight in the Sky over the Spire of Saint Francis Catholic Church, Maidstone, Kent, UK Date: 1940

Lake Placid, N. Y. USA - Main Street
Lake Placid, N.Y. USA - Main Street Date: 1940

FALL / SALUKI / 1940
Three of Mrs Barrs adolescent Salukis. Date: 1940

Blitz - Fire at Surrey Commercial Docks, Rotherhithe
Warehouses ablaze (the left wing of the No.8 warehouse) following the heavy enemy bombing raids on the Surrey Commercial Docks in Rotherhithe

WW2 Memorabilia - Damaged Cafe informing suppliers
WW2 Home Front Memorabilia - Damaged Cafe Colette of Swallow Street, London sending information on a printed card to inform suppliers that (likely due to Bomb damage)

Messerschmitt Bf109E-4 of German Ace Franz von Werra, adjutant of II Gruppe JG3, forced down at Marden, Kent, on 5 September 1940

Cutaway view of a Pan-American Clipper. Boeing 314, c1940
PAN AM CLIPPER, 1940. Cutaway view of a Pan-American Clipper. Boeing 314, c1940

Penzance Station, Cornwall, c. 1940
A view of Penzance station, Cornwall, c.1940, showing Castle Class locomotive No. 5024, Carew Castle, sitting at the platform with the town of Penzance visible in the background

Bomb damage in Kilgour Road, SE London, WW2
Panoramic view of bomb damage in Kilgour Road, SE London, 18 November 1944. Rubble and debris can be seen on both sides of the road

Blitz in London -- ambulance at Ladywell, Lewisham, WW2
Blitz in London -- an ambulance and rescue workers in the Ladywell area of Lewisham, SE13, where houses were demolished by a parachute bomb, 18 September 1940

Bomb damage in Brampton Road, Bexleyheath, WW2
Panoramic view of extensive bomb damage in Brampton Road, Bexleyheath, Kent, 14 November 1944, with ambulances ready to remove casualties from the scene

Blitz in London -- warehouses, Surrey Docks, WW2
Warehouses ablaze following heavy bombing raids on the Surrey Commercial Docks in Rotherhithe, SE London. This raid took place on 7 September 1940

The seat of a hero: Spitfire pilots cockpit, 1940
The cockpit, with its amazing array of dials, is the epitome of intensive mechancial warfare of World War Two. Date: 1940

HMS Jervis Bay, armed merchant cruiser, WW2
HMS Jervis Bay, an armed merchant cruiser which served during the Second World War. Launched 1922 (as a passenger ship), commissioned for war service 1939

Screaming Lord Sutch
DAVID SCREAMING LORD SUTCH British politician, musician and maverick, founder of the Official Monster Raving Looney Party (1983). Sadly, a manic depressive, committed suicide. Date: 1940 - 1999

Trotsky at Desk
LEON TROTSKY Russian statesman, at Brest- Litovsk 1918

Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, Virgin Islands, West Indies
View of Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, Virgin Islands, West Indies. Date: circa 1940

The Windmill Theatre, 1940
Eric Woodburn, seated at the piano, rehearses along with the girls of the Revudeville company at the Windmill Theatre, London. 1940

WW2 Poster -- Back Them Up
Back Them Up! Colour photolithograph printed by Fosh and Cross Ltd, published by HMSO. Showing a British Commando raid on a German-held port in Norway. Date: 1940

Blitz in London -- Whitechapel Fire Station
Whitechapel Fire Station in Whitechapel Road having suffered heavy blast damage following a bombing raid on 8 September 1940

Two Wellington bombers by G. H. Davis
Two Wellington bombers: two outstanding aircraft ready to strike. Equally famous in attack and defence: a Wellington MK 1A and (above) a Wellington Mk II. Date: 1940

White leghorn chicken
UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1940s: White leghorn chicken standing next to egg. (Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts/Retrofile/Getty Images)

Blitz in London -- Balham High Road, WW2
Blitz in London -- a bus in a bomb crater over an underground station in Balham High Road, SW London, 14 October 1940

Poster by James Montgomery Flagg from the 1940 presidential campaign, supporting the re-election of President Franklin
PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, 1940. Poster by James Montgomery Flagg from the 1940 presidential campaign, supporting the re-election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt

ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879-1955). American (German-born) theoretical physicist
ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879-1955). German-American theoretical physicist. At his home in Princeton, New Jersey. Photograph by Lucien Aigner, 1940, digitally colored by Granger, NYC

British tank WWII
British Matilda tank in France during World War II

King and Queen inspecting bomb damage at Buckingham Palace
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth pictured among the rubble at Buckingham Palace following German air raids during the Blitz, September 1940

Cinderella theatre poster
Theatre poster for the pantomime Cinderella, showing Cinders arriving in a glass carriage for the ball, complete with fan and glamorous dress and wig

Trotsky in 1920
LEON TROTSKY Russian statesman, haranguing soldiers in 1920

Churchill / Skipper / 1940
WINSTON CHURCHILL " Our Skipper"

Spitfire Colour Photo
The legendary fighter is seen here in its original format; later it will be modified in various ways to adapt it to specific functions and enhance performance

W Churchill / In Doorway
WINSTON CHURCHILL British statesman and author Stands in a doorway in 1940

Small boats used in the Dunkirk evacuation, WW2
A convoy of small boats which had been used in the Dunkirk evacuation, seen here on 9 June passing Lambeth Bridge, on the River Thames in London. Date: 1940

California: US Battleships at anchor, Long Beach (photo)
5995752 California: US Battleships at anchor, Long Beach (photo) by American Photographer (19th century) (after); Private Collection; (add.info.: US Battleships at anchor, Long Beach)

Lake Placid, N. Y. USA - View across Mirror Lake - Winter
Lake Placid, N.Y. USA - View across Mirror Lake toward Lake Placid Club - Winter Date: 1940

WW2 poster, Per Ardua Ad Astra, Winston Churchill speech
WW2 poster, Per Ardua Ad Astra. Never in the field of human conflict have so many owed so much to so few. Winston Churchill speech, 20 August 1940. Date: 1940

Glenwood Mission Inn, Riverside, California, USA. Date: circa 1940

WWII Poster - Patriotic
Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution, Will Bring Us Victory, Second World War poster. Date: circa 1940

Jaguar SS100 Roadster

Captain Collins of Brighton, with his family
Captain Fred Collins of Brighton, who ran three pleasure boats called the Skylark and was a familiar figure on Brighton Beach for sixty years

This cost a pretty figure by Merlin Enabnit
Pin up girl by Merlin Enabnit (1903-1979) posed provocatively in her underwear while examining a string of pearls. Enabnit was born in Des Moines, Iowa and was a successful commercial artist

Vivien Leigh
VIVIEN LEIGH British actress photographed shortly after starring in " Gone With the Wind"

The High Altar of St. Pauls Cathedral; Second World War, 19
Photograph showing the High Altar of St. Pauls Cathedral, London, after a German bomb had exploded on the choir roof and destroyed a large section of roof, 1940

Neville Chamberlain PM, 1938
Portrait of (Arthur) Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940), British Prime Minister, photographed in 1938

Rudges Cycles Poster
Poster advertising bicycles by Rudge and Whitworth of Nottingham, England showing a young lady from around 1940 perched on one of their models

Ww2 Gas Mask
A man demonstrates how to put on a gas mask

Air Raid Drills at the Windmill Theatre
At the Windmill Theatre, London, the showgirls are given a crash course in fire-fighting and first aid. 1940

John Buchan / Vanity Fair
JOHN BUCHAN Scottish author and administrator Date: 1875 - 1940

Judy Garland (1922 1969), American singer, actress. Date: 1947

HMS Glorious cruiser and aircraft carrier, WW1
HMS Glorious, British Royal Navy Courageous-class cruiser during the First World War, rebuilt as an aircraft carrier in the late 1920s. Launched in 1916, sunk in 1940. Date: circa 1920s-1930s

ELLA FITZGERALD (1917-1996). American singer. Photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1940

Boulton Paul Defiant fighter; Second World War, 1940

Knitting Sweetheart
Sassy wartime woman lounging in a chair knitting while a portrait of her boyfriend or husband smiles from the canvas

Clink Street, London
Close to Southwark Cathedral, Clink Street was the site of the Clink Prison where, in the 16th century, heretics were held; the bridges are used for transportation of goods

Advert / Parker Pens 1940
Parker pens - what does your pen say about you ?

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"1940: A Year of Courage, Resilience, and Triumph" In the midst of World War II, a powerful wave of determination swept across nations. As war propaganda posters adorned walls, one message echoed loud and clear: "We shall not flag or fail. " The world united under this rallying cry, ready to face the challenges that lay ahead. Winston Churchill's resolute speeches became a beacon of hope for millions. His praise for RAF pilots soared through the skies like their courageous planes. With unwavering conviction, he gave the iconic V for Victory sign - a symbol that ignited spirits and inspired perseverance. Meanwhile, on another front line, the 52 (Lowland) Division engaged in heroic activities. Their valor knew no bounds as they fought with unwavering dedication against all odds. Each soldier embodied bravery and sacrifice in their pursuit of freedom. Across continents, HMS Exeter arrived at Plymouth harbor amidst tumultuous times. Its arrival marked yet another chapter in history - a testament to naval strength and resilience during these trying years. Amidst chaos and destruction emerged moments of unity and camaraderie. Firefighters took a well-deserved tea break after battling flames at St Katherines Dock - an example of ordinary heroes finding solace amidst adversity. Beyond warfare's grip stood Carl Gustav Jung; his psychological insights offered understanding amidst turmoil. And while political ideologies clashed fiercely between Leon Trotsky and others in 1920s Russia, it was clear that even within conflict there existed diverse perspectives striving towards change. Music provided solace during these turbulent times too; George Formby's melodies brought smiles to faces amid uncertainty – reminding us all that joy can be found even when darkness looms large. As Full Dress Parades unfolded at The Citadel in Charleston, SC – soldiers marched proudly displaying discipline and honor – embodying values we hold dear today: duty above self-interests. The year 1940 was a crucible of resilience and determination.