Evacuations of civilians in Britain during the Second World War

The UK Ministry of Health advertised the evacuation programme through posters, among other means. The poster depicted here was used in the London Underground.

The evacuation of civilians in Britain during the Second World War was designed to save civilians in Britain, particularly children, from the risks associated with aerial bombing of cities by moving them to areas thought to be less at risk. Operation Pied Piper, which began on 1 September 1939, officially relocated more than 3.5 million people. Further waves of official evacuation and re-evacuation occurred on the south and east coasts in June 1940, when a seaborne invasion was expected, and from affected cities after the Blitz began in September 1940. There were also official evacuations from the UK to other parts of the British Empire, and many non-official evacuations within and from the UK. Other mass movements of civilians included British citizens arriving from the Channel Islands, and displaced people arriving from continental Europe.

Child evacuees from Bristol arriving at Brent in Devon in 1940

The Government Evacuation Scheme was developed during summer 1938 by the Anderson Committee and implemented by the Ministry of Health. The country was divided into zones, classified as either "evacuation", "neutral", or "reception", with priority evacuees being moved from the major urban centres and billeted on the available private housing in more rural areas. Each area covered roughly a third of the population, although several urban areas later bombed were not classified for evacuation. In early 1939, the reception areas compiled lists of available housing. Space for a couple of thousand people was found, and the government also constructed camps which provided a few thousand additional spaces.

In summer 1939, the government began to publicise its plan through the local authorities. They had overestimated demand: only half of all school-aged children were moved from the urban areas instead of the expected 80%. There was enormous regional variation: as few as 15% of the children were evacuated from some urban areas, while over 60% of children were evacuated in Manchester and Belfast and Liverpool. The refusal of the central government to spend large sums on preparation also reduced the effectiveness of the plan. In the event over 1,474,000 people were evacuated.

Evacuation

Evacuees from Bristol boarding a bus at Kingsbridge in Devon en route to their billets in 1940
Evacuees in Montgomeryshire, 1939

Almost 3.75 million people were displaced, with around a third of the entire population experiencing some effects of the evacuation. In the first three days of official evacuation, 1.5 million people were moved: 827,000 children of school age; 524,000 mothers and young children (under 5); 13,000 pregnant women; 70,000 disabled people and over 103,000 teachers and other 'helpers'.[1]Children were parted from their parents.

Goods as well as people were evacuated. Art treasures were sent to distant storage: the National Gallery collection spent the war at the Manod Quarry near Ffestiniog, North Wales.[2] The Bank of England moved to the small town of Overton, Hampshire and in 1939–40 moved 2,154 tons of gold to the vaults of the Bank of Canada in Ottawa.[3][4] The BBC moved variety production to Bristol and moved senior staff to Wood Norton[5] near Evesham, Worcestershire. Many senior Post Office staff were relocated to Harrogate. Some private companies moved head offices or their most vital records to comparative safety away from major cities.

Government functions were also evacuated. Under "Plan Yellow",[6][7] some 23,000 civil servants and their paperwork were dispatched to available hotels in the better coastal resorts and spa towns. Other hotels were requisitioned and emptied for a possible last-ditch "Black Move"[6][7] should London be destroyed or threatened by invasion. Under this plan, the nucleus of government would relocate to the West Midlands—the War Cabinet and ministers would move to Hindlip Hall, Bevere House and Malvern College near Worcester and Parliament to Stratford-upon-Avon.[8] Winston Churchill was to relocate to Spetchley Park whilst King George VI and other members of the royal family would take up residence at Madresfield Court near Malvern.[9]

Some strained areas took the children into local schools by adopting the World War I expedient of double shift education—taking twice as long but also doubling the number taught. The movement of teachers also meant that almost a million children staying home had no source of education.

Evacuation Centres

Marchant's Hill School was an evacuation camp of wooden buildings built at Hindhead in Surrey. This is the dining hall in use in 1944.

In 1939 the British Government passed the Camps Act 1939[10] which established the National Camps Corporation as a body to design and build residential camps for young people that could provide opportunities for outdoor learning and also act as evacuation centres in the event of War. The architect T.S. Tait was responsible for the design of the buildings which included accommodation for over 200 children and staff, recreational halls, washblocks and a dining hall/kitchen complex. These camps were replicated in over thirty different rural locations around the country. During the war years, these acted as safe refuges for city children from Nazi bombing raids. After the war the ownership of the sites was transferred to the local authorities. Over the years most of these sites have been lost, but the best preserved example today is Sayers Croft which is located at Ewhurst in Surrey. The dining hall and kitchen complex is protected as a Grade II listed building because of the importance of Tait's work, and because of the painted murals depicting the life of the many evacuees.

Overseas Evacuation

The Children's Overseas Reception Board approved 24,000 children for evacuation overseas. Between June and September 1940, 1,532 children were evacuated to Canada, mainly through the Pier 21 immigration terminal; 577 to Australia; 353 to South Africa and 202 to New Zealand. The scheme was cancelled after City of Benares was torpedoed on 17 September, 1940, killing 77 of the 90 CORB children aboard. However, in 1940 and 1941 about 14,000 children were evacuated privately to overseas relatives or foster families, including 6,000 to Canada and 5,000 to the United States.[11]

Other evacuations

Some parents who missed their children were tempted to bring them back from evacuation. This Ministry of Health poster was published to discourage them.

A second evacuation effort started during and after the fall of France. From 13 to 18 June 1940, around 100,000 children were evacuated (in many cases re-evacuated). Efforts were made to remove the vulnerable from coastal towns in southern and eastern England facing German-controlled areas. By July, over 200,000 children had been moved; some towns in Kent and East Anglia evacuated over 40% of the population. Also, some 30,000 people arrived from continental Europe and from 20 to 24 June 25,000 people arrived from the Channel Islands.

One of the speediest moves was accomplished by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway when it transferred its headquarters out of London. The company took over The Grove, on the estate of the Earl of Clarendon in Hertfordshire. This was made ready as offices and a number of huts built in the surrounding park. On 1 September 1939, it was decided to move in and the transfer was completed before war was declared two days later. Within three days some 3,000 of the staff were based at the new headquarters.[12]

Men of German (and later Italian) origin were interned from 12 May 1940. Many interned were refugees from Adolf Hitler. By July, almost all of these men under seventy were held in military camps, mainly on the Isle of Man. At first, unnecessary mistreatment was common, but conditions soon improved. For many interned persons, conditions in the camps were not especially unpleasant.

Evacuee children returning to Southampton from Australia aboard the troop ship Andes in September 1945. Note the wartime anti-aircraft gun mount in the background.

When the Blitz began in September 1940, there were clear grounds for evacuation. Free travel and billeting allowance were offered to those who made private arrangements. They were also given to children, the elderly, the disabled, pregnant women, the ill or those who had lost their homes (some 250,000 in the first six weeks in London). By the combination of all the state and private efforts, London's population was reduced by almost 25%. As bombing affected more towns, 'assisted private evacuation' was extended.

London proved resilient to bombing despite the heavy bombardment. The destruction in the smaller towns was more likely to provoke panic and spontaneous evacuations. The number of official evacuees rose to a peak of 1.37 million by February 1941. By September, it stood at just over one million. By the end of 1943, there were just 350,000 people officially billeted. Still, the V-1 flying bomb attacks from June 1944 provoked a significant exodus from London. Up to 1.5 million people left by September — only 20% were "official" evacuees.

From September 1944, the evacuation process was officially halted and reversed for most areas except for London and the East coast. Returning to London was not officially approved until June 1945. In March 1946, the billeting scheme was ended, with 38,000 people still without homes.

Cultural impact

Evacuee children on a haycart at Chapel Cleeve, Somerset in 1942

The movement of urban children of all classes to unfamiliar rural locations, without their parents, had a major impact. The Evacuees Reunion Association was formed with the support of the Imperial War Museum. It provides opportunities for former evacuees to contribute and share evacuation experiences and for researchers to request information such as the long-term effects of evacuation upon children.

The evacuation has spawned a whole literature of children's and young adult fiction. The convenience of the setting for the writer is clear, allowing the child heroes to have adventures in a strange, new world. Some of the authors, like Nina Bawden, had themselves experienced evacuation.

Boys from Rotherhithe Nautical School in Bermondsey doing boat drill at Ferryside in Carmarthenshire in 1940

Novels for adults featuring evacuation and evacuees are:

Non-fiction:

Other:

See also

Girls from Notre Dame High School in Battersea bathing in the River Towy at Llandovery, Carmarthenshire in 1940

References

  1. ↑ "Evacuation". Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 2010-04-30.
  2. ↑ "Hidden treasures". Retrieved 2012-08-12.
  3. ↑ "Bank of Canada Releases Interim Report 1997 – Press Releases – Publications and Research – Bank of Canada". Bank of Canada. Retrieved 2009-09-01.
  4. ↑ "Bank Of England Archive: Records On Wartime Gold Transactions". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 1997-11-17. Archived from the original on May 8, 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-01.
  5. ↑ Subterranea Britannica: Wood Norton Hall
  6. 1 2 Cox, Noel (1998). "The Continuity of Government in the face of enemy – the British experience, part 1". Forts and Works 6: 17–19.
  7. 1 2 Cox, Noel (1999). "The Continuity of Government in the face of enemy attack – the British experience, part 2". Forts and Works 7: 11–14.
  8. ↑ "Where did the government go?". Retrieved 2007-05-30.
  9. ↑ Tweedie, Neil (2011-01-19). "Madresfield Court: The King's redoubt if Hitler called". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 2012-08-12.
  10. ↑ National Archives. "Camps Act". Retrieved 2012-07-17.
  11. ↑ Calder, Angus (1969). The People’s War: Britain 1939–45. London: Jonathan Cape. p. 139. ISBN 0712652841.
  12. ↑ Williams, Michael (2013). Steaming to Victory: How Britain's Railways Won the War. New York and London: Preface Publishing. p. 54. ISBN 1848093144.
  13. ↑ Paddington Bear 'inspired by evacuees' says author Bond. Accessed 28 April 2015
  14. ↑ "Chrestomanci Castle: Something About the author". Diana Wynne Jones. Retrieved 2009-09-01.

Further reading

External links

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