Waiting to Go into the Tube

This watercolour by Edward Ardizzone ( 1900-79) depicts a family group of three generations waiting to enter an Underground station air raid shelter. The family sit on the pavement resting on folded mattresses. With the intensification of bombing, in the summer of 1940, groups began to gather outside tube stations in the late afternoons, ready to go below for the night. Entry was controlled by ticketing to avoid overcrowding. Only local residents were issued with tickets and this guaranteed a space on the platform. Whilst the authorities eventually provided some facilities such as hammocks, toilets and food trains, most Londoners brought their own bedding and mattresses.

Born in Vietnam to a French Algerian/ Italian father, Edward Ardizzone was one of the 20th century's best-known book illustrators.He was appointed an official war artist in 1940.

This drawing is one of twenty images of wartime London allocated to the London Museum by the War Artists Advisory Committee in the late 1940s.