Catalogue description Welsh Office and predecessors: Civil Defence Registered Files (CD and CDGEN Series)

These files were largely created by the Welsh Board of Health and were transferred to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government in 1951, acting through their Welsh Office. These functions passed to the Welsh Office after 1964 on the appointment of the Secretary of State for Wales, by which time post-war civil defence arrangements were being wound down.

The files relate to the administration of the Civil Defence Act 1948, and deal with procedures and dispersal plans for the evacuation of the civilian population; the care of the homeless; the provision of emergency rest and feeding centres by local authorities, establishment and training of welfare staff and sections in local Civil Defence corps; the appropriation of land and buildings; and arrangements for the evacuation of schools from Merseyside and Birmingham to South Wales; the role of the Women's Voluntary Service (WVS) in clothing and food distribution using War Office premises; and a Civil Defence exercise held in Wales.

Further material relating to civil defence in Wales can be found in BD 2

Ministry of Housing and Local Government, Wales Office, 1951-1964

Welsh Board of Health, 1919-1969

Welsh Office, 1965-1999