During the bombing of London in World War 2 Great Portland Street underground station was used as an air raid shelter. In charge of the shelter was warden Ita Ekpenyon who lived at 146 Great Titchfield Street.
After bombs destroyed another air raid shelter nearby, Ekpenyon had to manage the difficult task of accommodating around 300 people who had crowded into the underground station in December 1940.
A 30 minute BBC Radio documentary released in March tells the story of Ekpenyon through his own writing and features his daughter Oku, also a resident of Fitzrovia, who only knew her father for a short time as a young girl due to his early death.
Ekpenyon had come to Britain from Nigeria where he had been a headmaster of a school. He came to London to study law.
When war broke out he was too old to serve in the armed forces but instead he signed up with the air raid warden service, becoming one of the tiny number of black air raid wardens.
His job was to keep watch on the local community, making sure that lights were out at night, finding survivors in the rubble of a bombed building, and to keep order in the increasingly crowded air raid shelters — something his years of teaching helped him to achieve.
Ita Ekpenyon and the Blitz. History’s Secret Heroes: Series 3. After twelve weeks of nightly bombings, tensions are running high in London’s air raid shelters. Can warden Ita Ekpenyon stop a riot from breaking out? Listen on BBC Sounds.
His wartime memoir, Some Experiences of an African Air-Raid Warden, can be read below.
Editor’s note. The above document was originally published at thewestendatwar.org.uk but the website is no longer available.
Discover more from The Fitzrovia News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
