Lydia Howard de Roth collection

Lydia Howard de Roth (1891-1971) dedicated her life to civil service, working as an air raid warden in London, teaching air raid safety in the United States, and eventually aiding in the start-up of a Civil Defense in Brazil.

De Roth, nee DeFord, was born and raised in Baltimore to a wealthy family, related to Francis Scott Key and John Eager Howard. An active society member, she and her sister, Nancy, garnered many articles in the society papers of Baltimore newspapers. She attended Bryn Mawr School, and her talent in sculpture allowed her to attend the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute, where she won several awards for her work.

Post-graduation, she worked as a clerk at two Baltimore companies before beginning at the monograph section of the Military Intelligence Department. Soon after starting there, she married Herbert C. de Roth, who worked for the First National Bank of Boston. His position took the de Roths across the globe.

While stationed abroad with her husband, she continued her civil defense work. During World War II, she worked as an air raid warden in the Chelsea neighborhood in London, England from 1939 to 1941, and experienced the blitz by the Luftwaffe first hand. She later wrote a training handbook for air raid wardens and was appointed to Civil Defense consultant to Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in 1941 upon her return to the United States. She taught seminars on air raid safety and precautions in New England and Maryland and advised local governments on what to do in the event of an attack. After some years of living in Boston and New York City, her husband was assigned to represent the bank in Brazil. There she found that no civil defense system was in place, so she worked with officials in Rio de Janeiro to build one.

She returned to New York City, where she died in 1971. She is buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore.