The Home Guard on Mersea
West and East Mersea were covered by F Company of the 18th Essex Home Guard Battalion during the Second World War. Captain T. D. Scott commanded the company. A contemporary company photograph reproduced by the Lexden History Group identifies Scott seated at the front.
Local Defence Volunteers, then Home Guard
The force began in May 1940 as the Local Defence Volunteers and was renamed the Home Guard in July. Its members largely kept their civilian jobs, undertaking training, watches and patrols in their spare time. Early shortages meant that equipment and weapons varied; the force became better supplied as the war continued.
For Mersea, the coastline, landing places and the only road crossing at the Strood made local observation and road defence particularly significant. The company was part of an organised county force, not a separate island army. It worked alongside, but was distinct from, the regular military units responsible for larger coastal installations.
The 18th Essex Battalion
The battalion covered Lexden and Winstree districts and had headquarters at Ball Farm, Blackheath, near Colchester, under Colonel C. G. Mangles. Its other companies covered Tollesbury and surrounding villages, Tiptree and Messing, Stanway and Birch, Peldon and the Wigboroughs, and Fingringhoe and Rowhedge. Mersea was designated F Company.
This organisation is recorded in the Lexden History Group’s March 2021 newsletter. Its reproduced photograph is evidence of the company’s identity and command, though it does not establish where every island patrol took place.
Other wartime defences
The West Mersea coastal artillery battery was a separate defended gun position. The island’s Second World War history covers a wider range of civilian and military experiences.