Evacuees - millions evacuated from their homes at the start of the Second World War
Preparing for war - the terrors of air-power
Evacuee children on their way out of London, September 1939
As tensions in Europe mounted, and Hitler’s territorial ambitions became ever more clear, the British government started to prepare for war in the late 1930s.
The bombing of Guernica by German and Italian aeroplanes during the Spanish Civil War, in 1937, caused large-scale damage and death, and the consequences of air attacks on British targets was very worrying indeed.
The government feared tens of thousands of deaths from bombing raids within days of the war starting.
In the summer of 1938, therefore, the Anderson Committee drew up plans to re-locate, or evacuate, millions of vulnerable British people (mostly children) from at-risk areas, such as cities, ports, and military areas, to safer countryside places.
Operation Pied Piper
Starting on 1st September 1939, when the Declaration of War appeared imminent, millions of British people were evacuated from the areas thought to be at particular risk.
A poster urging people to take in evacuees
Operation Pied Piper involved the movement, in 3 days, of an astonishing 3.5 million people. 830,000 of these were school children, 525,000 were mothers and children under school age. The rest were teachers, carers, pregnant women, and disabled people.
Children made up a lot of the evacuees, and were joined by mothers with young babies, and people who were very elderly or seriously disabled.
It was a massive undertaking. The children were accompanied by 100,000 teachers, an absolute miracle of organisation and coordination.
The whole operation began with the Government order, “evacuate forthwith” on Thursday, 31st August 1939.
Essential kit for an evacuee child
Many children didn’t understand what was happening. All they knew is that they were being ripped away from their parents.
Neither children nor parents knew where they were being evacuated to until they arrived. Parents had to wait to be notified as to where their children were.
The receiving areas were just told to organise the evacuation, and to, “do their best”.
There were many cases of large groups of children arriving in the wrong area without enough food and not enough homes to put them in.
Allocation of evacuees was often done by putting the children in a group in a church hall, and inviting receiving families to help themselves.
This led to a lot of humiliation and upset on behalf of those who were chosen later.
In so-called “receiving areas”, organisations such as the WVS had the power to assess households for the number of empty bedrooms, and to billet children upon them.
An allowance was paid to the host families to cover the costs of feeding, clothing and caring for the children.
Another 2 million people evacuated themselves, mostly to the countryside, some to Ireland, America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Those children sent abroad often didn’t see their homes or families until 1945 /1946.
Schools evacuated together
Poster warning mothers to leave their children in relative safety
Whole primary schools and secondary schools were evacuated together, with the schools then doing their teaching in country schools and their pupils being housed round and about.
This sharing of school buildings often meant that the two schools operated at different times of day, one in the early morning until lunchtime, and the other after lunchtime until the evening.
The Phony War (Sept. 1939 to May 1940)
Nothing much happened in the War in Britain until May 1940, the so-called “Phony War”.
Many families therefore brought their children and other vulnerable relatives back into the cities, and about 60% had returned home by Easter 1940.
A second evacuation started in mid June 1940 after the fall of France, and approximately 150,000 children were evacuated, many for the second time.
Equipping and identifying evacuees
Each child carried a small case, with a few clothes, and necessities such as a ration book.
They also had their gas masks in a box, and a label was tied to younger children with their name and school on it.
The experience of being evacuated
What was happening at home
The experience of evacuees was very different. A minority were ill treated, and some even suffered from physical or sexual abuse.
Others had a much better time, and many very poor children who’d never been properly clothed or had enough to eat were given a whole new lease of childhood.
But the wrenches were enormous. Children as young as 5 or 6 were taken away from their homes, parents, and the whole world they knew, and sent to live in a completely different area, with strangers, not seeing their parents for months or even years.
And the children knew why they were evacuees - to keep them safe from bombs. And they therefore also knew the risks to their parents, grandparents, other relatives, and friends, who stayed behind in the cities.
What trying times for all! Amazing, though, that so many people were evacuated in a matter of days (the first time).
It’s astonishing that over 3 million people could be moved in that time.
Never having experienced war, I find this very difficult to comprehend.
My surname is Grace My father was born on the Wirral, Cheshire. I have read it means having the right to graze one’s cattle on the common ground. Any information would be appreciated.
I’ll get back to you.
It’s amazing to think what kind of impact this had on the geography of the world. Interesting read.
Glad you found it interesting.
Hi,
I remember learning about this in my school days, and have seen documentaries on the subject of the evacuee children of the second world war.
I can’t begin to imagine just how scary that must of been for them and their families.
I think some of those children never saw their families again, especially if their parents died in the war. very sad.
Paul.
I agree - my son is 4, and the idea of sending him off on a train, not knowing where he might end up, is horrific!
I was evacuated from Ilford in Essex to Midsomer Norton in Somerset. When we arrived we were assembled at the town hall then columns of us were marched off in different directions and people came out and chose which child they fancied. My first billet was with a couple who sold parrafin and other such items. I was then moved to another billet, a Mrs Hughes who was a miners widow with 4 young daughters, the eldest being Jeannie who I just didn’t get on with. I next moved to live with two old people Jack and Winnie? Head who had a mobile greengrocers business. I consider that I was then the luckiest evacuee ever as they really looked after me extremely well. I always had a block of dates to take to school along with my sandwiches (Brawn or Tongue, homemade of course). Jack Head had a field with an old abandoned Austin 7 which we made to run so that I learned to drive at the age of 10! I also learned much from the local boys about nature including how babies were made. I had to pay 6d for that information and thought that it was such a load of bull that I gave the boy a good hiding and took my 6d back. I still owe him that 6d as I later found out that his information was correct. Hapy, happy days. (Oh, by the way there was not enough room in the normal school so 12 of us boys were put in the Ursulian School for Girls where we were always in trouble as the female teachers didn’t know how to handle boys. Ex. punishment for a girl was a hit on the palm of the hand with a ruler, we used to ask if we could have another hit on the other hand as well.)
Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed time of your evacuation. My son is just learning about that time and yours was a real positive story to relate.
Many thanks again and best wishes.
Thanks, I’m glad he found it useful.
I am from Canada and am looking for an adult summer school university/college course in England (preferably in the London area but not a deal breaker) to study WWII history.
Any suggestions, advice, etc. would be very much appreciated.
KC
Hi, Just wondering where I could to find out more information on where my Mother was evacuated to from London. She remembers it was Dog Kennel Cottages Summerset, and how she helped on the farm.
Of course there is going to be great uncertainty and confusion as war approaches, and mistakes will be made. But at least you can be certain that everything done for the vulnerable people of London (mostly children) was meant in their best interests.
I have become morbidly fascinated by the reclassifying of recently arrived German-speaking refugees as Enemy Aliens. Mainly teenage boys and mainly Jewish, they were locked into camps on the Isle of Man and other sites. See (http://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2009/11/isle-of-man-internment-camps-1940.html).
As you noted about the children, many German-speaking refugees in Britain were imprisoned on ships to British Commonwealth nations. Arandora Star left for Canada in July 1940 carrying German and Italian internees, but it was torpedoed and sunk with huge loss of life. 2,542 men were taken to Australia on the Dunera. See http://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2009/11/dunera-and-its-jewish-internees-in-1940.html
Thanks for Preparing For War. There is a lot to be written!
I don’t doubt that it must have been well-meant, and being bombed could certainly have ruined anyone’s whole day. Overall, the programme was a success, but it still must have been absolutely terrible for the children and their parents, separated from each other.
Fantastic post - It must have been frightening for everybody concerned - children, parents and host families alike. It is an often forgotten part of the war effort, yet the evacuation showed that, on the whole, the British know how to pull together.
My grandmother was evacuated from Salford to the depths of the Lancashire countryside. There, she met my grandfather, so evacuation did have the odd positive!
Glad you enjoyed it! There certainly were some very positive experiences.