Discover the brave individuals who rescued animals during the Swansea Blitz, providing care and support in a time of crisis.
Even during the hard times, people cared for animals. The Swansea Blitz happened in February and lasted from the 19th to the 21st. Two hundred thirty people died, with three hundred ninety-seven injuries.
The RSPCA Dogs’ Home was fortunate; bombs did not hit the building. They helped people care for pets and supported the war effort. Barbara Brook, J Clarke, and Jim Nash were heroes.
They delivered meat for pets, covering Swansea and Neath, and housed over seventy dogs displaced by bombs in 1941. The Dogs’ Home shared its spring water, as bombs damaged the town’s water supply.
In 1940, they sold pet food from a stall at Swansea Market. They sold horse meat as food, obtained by Chief Inspector Nash from Tomkins yard in Llansamlet. This became crucial after bombings.
The meat was not fit for people, so they dyed it bright green. The branch bought Ms. Brook a knife. She recalled that Nash arrived with meat in bins, at which point Brook found a knife and hat.
They cooked meat for the stall using the Singleton Dog’s Home boiler. Nash lit and maintained the fire. First, he made meat boilers using flue pipes and racks.
Besides the fire, he collected wood from local woods, aided by paraffin. Ms. Brook cooked the meat, using a pitchfork to handle it.
During the summer of 1940, Miss Jackson helped too. She sold meat in Neath, operating at Neath Market on Saturdays, with profits going to the Neath RSPCA Clinic.
Nash drove cooked meat to Neath weekly, with Pugh, a vet and founder, helping when his car broke down. Demand for meat stayed high, with them sometimes running low and adding a sign.
Prices were low so more people could afford pet food. The group still made money, which they used to fund the dog home. The remainder went to buy War Bonds.
They bought a Defence Bond in May, costing ten pounds, which helped pay for a Spitfire plane. The note read “From blitzed Swansea’s dogs and cats”, with a request to “add a tooth and a claw”.
Another Defence Bond went to H.M.S Arethusa; Swansea adopted the ship in 1941. The ship had a cat at the stall. The note asked about kittens and requested a food allowance.
In 1941, came the Swansea Blitz, which destroyed Swansea Market; however, the meat was in Nash’s car, not at the market stalls. Instead, he sold it from his car on Princess Street.
As soon as he opened his trunk, cats appeared from every door on the street, heading straight for the chief inspector’s car. They knew he had food to share.
The dog’s home was a blessing, as Swansea lost water service. People needed the home’s spring, which provided fresh water. Some houses needed evacuating, too.
People sought shelter for their dogs, coming to the dog’s home. Brook remembers the events clearly as people sought water and shelter, with homes bombed and unexploded devices.
The home usually held 24 dogs, but Clarke did not turn anyone away, and they ended up caring for 75 dogs. A war market opened in the bus garage; the RSPCA helped there.
They helped 136 dogs and 298 cats. They also helped a Belgian skipper who bought some dyed meat for himself!
Raw meat cost four pence a pound, and cooked meat cost five pence. The branch had the longest queues, with customers coming from everywhere.
In Neath, people appreciated the meat too. The stall lasted four years, running two days each week. Profits paid off a loan that set up the Dogs’ Home in 1935.
They bought Nash a new car after his car broke down in the war and could not get repaired. After the war, Ray Goldsworthy, an ex-gunner, took over.