Children posed by the doorway of a bomb shelter built by a man (a 'City merchant' according to The Graphic) to provide protection for his family during air raids in 1917. The shelter was constructed out of reinforced concrete 3 1/2 feet thick with a roof made of steel girders and further protection from sandbags. It was fitted with electric light and sunk two feet into the ground. It was made for a cost of ?50 at a suburban house in Hither Green, South East London. Although bomb shelters were a familiar feature of the home front during the Second World War, this photograph testifies to the novelty of such an idea during the war of 1914-18.