Board of Trade

In contrast to the Board of Trade files for WW1, the surviving files for the period relating to WW2 are silent both on details of any staff who died and on the question of a war memorial.  Moreover, several retired staff whose service goes back to this period confirm that they recall neither a WW2 memorial nor any debate about erecting one.  They have reminded us that the immediate post-war period was very difficult at work, with shortages of labour, of power and of food, which resulted in many civil servants working substantial amounts of overtime, much of it unpaid.  There was little time for reflection and the emphasis was on recovery and reconstruction.  Perhaps, in these circumstances, the matter of erecting a war memorial was overlooked. 

In the absence of an official record, we have resorted to personal appeals, through our staff newspaper, DTI News.  This has resulted in details of six Board of Trade staff known to have lost their lives in WW2, which are recorded in the index.  We hope that this website will attract more such details, so that we can begin to piece together an authoritative Roll of Honour.  Such a list for WW2 would be likely include civilian as well as military casualties.   

Ministry of Fuel and Power

The DTI has inherited a plaque to twelve Officers of the Ministry of Fuel and Power who died in 1939-1945, which now hangs in 1 Victoria Street.  The twelve names have been included in our WW2 index but very little has yet been discovered about the individuals.  There is scope for more research and we would be interested to hear from anyone who is knowledgeable about the history of this Ministry and/or intends to start researching it, perhaps using files which have been preserved at the Public Record Office. 

National Physical Laboratory

Also included in our index are the names of five National Physical Laboratory staff who died in WW2.  These names were added to the existing NPL Memorial 1914-1918 outside Bushy House, Teddington.