BEO Building Laindon High Road 1939

Refuge Accommodation

I have come across some plans dated 1939, that my Grandad had drawn up at 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, for refuge accommodation at the back of the BEO building in Laindon High Road.

Please can anyone throw light onto what the BEO building was? 

The refuge accommodation was for two unventilated home style shelters each accommodating 12 people inclusive of 5 BEO staff.

Thank you.

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  • Ann and John Rugg’s list of Laindon High Road shops and public buildings was shown again on 24 April under the listing of ‘what’s new’. Their map shows a Social Security Office approximately opposite Manor Road but address numbers are not shown. I guess that office was 61 High Street.

    By Gerald Jones (26/04/2016)
  • I am clutching at straws here but according to the Basildon History website there was at 61 High Street Laindon a Ministry of Social Security Supplementary Benefits & General Enquiries Office. Perhaps it might have been known as the Benefits Enquiry Office. 

    By Gerald Jones (22/04/2016)
  • Brilliant thank you – that sounds very possible. I’ll check it out with National Archives and keep you posted.

    By valerie manning (22/04/2016)
  • Thank you Gerald, that’s very interesting as we think Grandad had a government role of some description even though he is listed as a “commercial traveller” in the census.

    I shall keep digging!

    By valerie manning (17/04/2016)
  • This has intrigued me and although I do not have an answer I have found something that just might be relevant. In 1939 the HMSO published a Civil Defence document no. 401 being ‘Refuge accommodation in government buildings: memorandum on emergency measures for the guidance of local officers 1939’. So, if the refuge was intended for government staff the “B” in BEO might refer to a Billericay Urban District Council office.

    By Gerald Jones (16/04/2016)

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