The close proximity of Stepney to the great docks system of London made it inevitable that when the bombing of London (during World War II) took place the area should be a prime target. In all there were some 1300 air raids and every sort of bomb and rocket fell on the area destroying one third of the buildings in Stepney.

It was remarkable that Roland House should have survived but to be expected that it should have suffered damage. A bomb destroyed the garage and caused damage to the roof and a "near miss" which fell in Stepney Green might well have flattened the house had the ground not been softened by heavy rain!

But the house did survive and carried on as best it could keep, the admittedly low, flame of scouting alight.

Charles Elmitt, who had been a tower of strength to Stanley Ince, took over as warden for the difficult war years to be succeeded by a Leslie Millett in 1946.