Describing the region incorporating Glasgow and Clydeside in her 1920 novel, Open the Door!, Catherine Carswell wrote of ‘the reservoir of human life which gives […] essential character’, thus inextricably intertwining individual subjectivities with geographical location. This chapter will examine the extent to which this relationship was specific and unique to the urban city of Glasgow and also to the wider Clydeside area in wartime; thereby regional in nature.

Despite the widespread belief that a national British unity and togetherness existed during the Second World War, different experiences in Britain's regions in wartime were apparent. Political tensions undermining the British government were arguably caused by the emergence of nationalist elements in Scotland and Wales. Sonya Rose argued that the existence of national cultures other than Englishness within Britain made the idea of a unified ‘British’ wartime identity problematic. Despite such identification of differing regional experiences in wartime, historical research into these experiences has thus far been limited in scope.

General historical works about Glasgow include Irene Maver's study, which traces developments in Glasgow from 1690 to the second half of the twentieth century. Maver's work traces the industrial transformation of the city in the nineteenth century and its growth into a mature industrial economy centred upon heavy industry. The distinctive industrial, working-class, and uniquely radical political culture of Glasgow in the first half of the twentieth century have been extensively discussed. Maver also noted the city's severe social problems, including dilapidated and overcrowded housing and a reputation for violent, anti-social behaviour, symbolised in the ‘no mean city’ legend born from the 1935 gangland novel of the same name. Among historical studies focusing on Clydeside, the work of Ronnie Johnston and Arthur McIvor on Clydeside is particularly insightful, discussing the existence of the Glaswegian ‘hard man’ and the idea of the male ‘breadwinner’. This chapter seeks to go beyond these studies and examine the specific experiences of men in reserved occupations in Glasgow and Clydeside during the Second World War.

Men working in many British regions, including Clydeside, were largely absent from cultural sources and official pronouncements during the Second World War.