In 1944, war artist Eric Kennington was asked to draw six pastel portraits of employees of the London Passenger Transport Board who had displayed great courage during the Londom Blitz of September 1940 – May 1941. Kennington’s pastel drawings were to be produced as a series of posters, incorporating verse by Kennigton’s old friend A.P. Herbert, with the evocative title Seeing it Through. The series was released in April 1944.
The six individuals commemorated included:
Frank Clarke – tube driver whose train was bombed in September 1940 just outside Sloane Square.
Albert Coe – bus driver who helped his passengers to safety after falling into a bomb crater in OCtober 1940.
John Woodage – Constable with Transport Police who tended to wounded passengers after a tube station was bombed.
Mary Morgan – bus conductor based at Athol St. Garage, Poplar, shielded two children from a nearby bomb blast during a daylight raid on London in September 1940.
Elsie Birrell – One of the first female porters employed by London Underground in September 1940. Based at Stockwell Station she helped passengers after the station was bombed and collapsed in November 1940.
Desiree Ellinger – driver of a National Fire Service mobile canteen by the London docks during the Blitz.
Transport For London Posters Commemorating the Blitz
