Skegness Magazine

Gas Mask March

Skegness witnessed one of the weirdest processions it had ever seen in 1936, which left a more vivid impression than anything the Carnivals had ever produced.

Those who took part were members of the St John Ambulance Brigade and they marched through the streets of Skegness wearing gas masks.

The duration of the march was said to be rather short but it was intended as a poignent reminder of  “things to come”.

The Ambulance men had been practicing first aid and the precautions necessary against various forms of poison gas attacks. They marched as they would have appeared in the case of a tear-gas attack – the type used by Mussolini in his Abyssinian campaign – wearing decomtaminating dress which included heavy rubber boots, oilskins – and gas masks!

The picture  (source: St John Ambulance Brigade) gives some indication what the ambulance men would have looked like in the Skegness Gas Mask March. Click the image for more information about gas attack training.