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Evacuation Of Children World War 2

  • Thread starter Thread starter Beryl M
  • Start date Start date
Shall do Lyn. This is why I especially like to post any images of people, groups etc as you never know when someone you're searching for might pop up. Viv.
 
There must be more about out why babies were sent to Lancashire. Many mothers would reluctant to part with their babies although the photo does show some older children as well.
Were the children from homes, having no or single parents or just uncaring parents? Or was it a knee jerk reaction. Did the children stay there for most of the war or did many return once the intensive bombing had ceased.
I wonder if Members, or readers of BHF, were one of those children, or knew someone who was.
 
Radiorails said:
There must be more about out why babies were sent to Lancashire. Many mothers would reluctant to part with their babies although the photo does show some older children as well.
Were the children from homes, having no or single parents or just uncaring parents? Or was it a knee jerk reaction. Did the children stay there for most of the war or did many return once the intensive bombing had ceased.
I wonder if Members, or readers of BHF, were one of those children, or knew someone who was.
Click to expand...
I dont believe that you should read something in the event that wasn't really there...wartime was a great coming together of our generation. While true that we did not question decisions that were made requiring evacuation, most of the people I knew felt it was a good and necessary thing. My brother and sister, who were twins, were evacuated, but I stayed with our mom. My dad was in the army, like many other fathers at the time, and he felt it was a good thing. I know of no one that was traumatized or suffered any long term negative effects from being evacuated, in fact, many of the kids I knew, talk fondly about being evacuated to the country side, it was a little like being on vacation. There may be other tales of woe, but I never heard any.
Dave A
 
I was not reading anything in to the article I was asking questions which may or not be answered. These children were not billeted with adults but in some form of home or hospital. That was not the usual way as far as I recall. Even in the latter part of the war young children were billeted with people due to their being homeless after bombing. As their were spare rooms in my home, just Nanny and myself, we got two young boys from Walthamstow billeted with us. Their home was bombed beyond repair.
It might have been a coming together for many, however it was not for me. I lost my mother due to WW2 when I was four and it took my father, a soldier, away from me for six years - my formative years. Not much togetherness there! My father returned from Norway at the end of 1946.
Evacuation. for many children, was good as it introduced lots of children to the countryside and small towns rather than densely populated grimy cities. I lived in the country, so stayed there, but I did have an uncle, just a few years older, that was evacuated to Herefordshire from Birmingham. I guess he liked it so much that not long after his marriage (in the Yardley area) he moved to North Devon.
My future mother-in-law (South Devon) had two brothers from London. They liked her and the place so much that they came here on holiday until their deaths in recent years.
There are, without doubt, many evacuees who had a hard time - their problems are recorded in books and on tv documentaries - for many it could have been a culture shock. But, by and large, children are fairly resilient - well they were then because they had to be.
 
Movie "Hope and glory" worth watching. We had a dear friend from London, that went with his Dad to a boy scouts meet, leaving his Mom and sister home. Came home and all was lost, the house a direct hit from a German bomb. Many many tales like this during the war. My self in Yardley Brum I never knew of any nippers been sent away during the war, We went to school everyday and carried on in true British fashion with a stiff upper lip.
 
Radiorails said:
I was not reading anything in to the article I was asking questions which may or not be answered. These children were not billeted with adults but in some form of home or hospital. That was not the usual way as far as I recall. Even in the latter part of the war young children were billeted with people due to their being homeless after bombing. As their were spare rooms in my home, just Nanny and myself, we got two young boys from Walthamstow billeted with us. Their home was bombed beyond repair.
It might have been a coming together for many, however it was not for me. I lost my mother due to WW2 when I was four and it took my father, a soldier, away from me for six years - my formative years. Not much togetherness there! My father returned from Norway at the end of 1946.
Evacuation. for many children, was good as it introduced lots of children to the countryside and small towns rather than densely populated grimy cities. I lived in the country, so stayed there, but I did have an uncle, just a few years older, that was evacuated to Herefordshire from Birmingham. I guess he liked it so much that not long after his marriage (in the Yardley area) he moved to North Devon.
My future mother-in-law (South Devon) had two brothers from London. They liked her and the place so much that they came here on holiday until their deaths in recent years.
There are, without doubt, many evacuees who had a hard time - their problems are recorded in books and on tv documentaries - for many it could have been a culture shock. But, by and large, children are fairly resilient - well they were then because they had to be.
Click to expand...
I'm sure we have much in common...I did not lose my mom in the war but like you,I never saw my dad until 1946. It goes without saying that most moms would be reluctant to give up their children for an unspecified number of days, months or even years to an unknown environment. However, it does seem to me that it was quite acceptable at the time to put our children out of harms way, children were our future...my contention was, and please forgive me if I got the wrong impression, that you were questioning whether the children were mainly from (like many of today's children) broken homes, single moms and / or uncaring parents.
Dave A
 
The image gave no other information about the nature of the Edgworth home. I’ve found this reference to nursery centres in the.Courier January 1940. Presumably these were to help their mothers go out to work. Maybe mothers who accompanied their evacuated children made use of this provision ? Viv.

F38E1552-E281-4DE1-9DED-7B55530C3ACB.jpeg
 
In another thread there is an interesting account about being evacuated during WW2 and problems which arose as posted by Roy Blakey.
Roy Blakey said:
Re: Birmingham History

THE CODE.

Kingstanding ( 1940 ). Mom's and Dad's gathered to make the decision regarding whether to allow their children to be evacuated or not. The decision in General was made to accept the evacuation.

My Dad suggested to me that when I sent any letter home that I use a simple ( me to him ) code. I think he was concerned that letters sent home by evacuees might be subjected to some sort of censorship. The simple code we agreed on was to draw a picture on the letter as follows : (1) An ' Anti-air craft gun if everything was OK or (2) A ' Spitfire ' if their was any problems.

The story then ran ( from my younger brothers and my own point of view )

Excitement at school on the evacuation day whilst we all waited for the Buses and Train to take us on this adventure.

We eventually arrived at our evacuation destination late in the afternoon and then we sat through to late evening in this strange school hall awaiting ' Selection '. After a very lengthy period my brother and I were eventually put with a local couple and taken to their home.

Things didn't go we'll right from the start. We were transferred to another couples house within the first eight days of the evacuation ( this was a nice couple but this overall situation was not going to be for us ).

I sent a letter home at this time which included the ' Spitfire' drawing code.
index.php

index.php


Mom and Dad arrived within a few days and brought us both back home. On arriving back in Brum there was a full scale
Air Raid in progress . No problem. Just glad to be back. No place like home.
Yet another successful mission accomplished by the old ' Spitfire '.
Click to expand...
 
Birmingham children en route to their new temporary homes.

More evacuees at Snow Hill Sept 1939
0FDAF361-3E21-4EDA-807C-21753E87EC70.jpeg

These were at Aston station Sept 1939. Not such a happy group as the orevious group.
60703AB4-43FF-4936-A4AA-4E02FFA6E787.jpeg
 
Birmingham children settled in Cheltenham getting a visit from the Mayor of Birmingham in October 1939. Viv.
E330DD76-847F-4EF4-80AF-C1845C2F8A30.jpeg
 
Another fantastic picture - BHF is doing well recently. Victor, welcome to the Forum and many thanks for posting the picture.

Maurice
 
Good Morning, I've just recently started researching my Mum's family, the Pollock's. I have some information but am hoping to fill in some of the blanks. I'm hoping someone can help to point me in the right direction to find out more information about the family. My Mum, Jeannie Marie Pollock, lived in Birmingham at 149 Durham St., I guess my Nan, Margaret Pollock, had a boarding house at that address. In 1939 she and two of her sisters (Annie and Helen/Ella) were evacuated. Does anyone know if there was a central location where they left from?All I know is that Annie came back to Birmingham first because of her age and my Mum and Helen/Ella came back when my Nan found out the person they were living with was abusing them. At that time my Mum would have been 11 and Helen/Ella would have been 9. My Mum used to say that they had to"hide" because if anyone found out they were back in Birmingham they would have been sent away again. Is there a list anywhere that tells where they were sent? A cousin recently told me that my parents held their wedding luncheon (April 1954) at the Golden Hillick (sp?) school, would this have been done? My Dad was an American GI so shortly after they were married they left for the states. They ended up in California, where in 1955, during a flood, my Mum helped evacuate and save a number of other war brides and was awarded the British Empire Medal. If anyone knows where I could start looking to see where she was evacuated to in 1939 I would greatly appreciate it.
Have a nice day,
Bonnie Cameron
 
Welcome Bonnie60,
below is a link to a large thread here concerning evacuees in WW2. There are others, relevant to certain Birmingham schools as well. I am sure your post will be a good addition.

Evacuation Of Children World War 2

An excerpt taken from my story "When I climbed out of bed Friday September 1 1939, German troops were making their way across the border into Poland! September 3 1939 Britain declared on Germany and the horror of parents listening to the news that Germany had torpedoes the 13,.500 ton...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
Going through some of Mom’s old photos, I came across a couple of snaps that I believe may show the arrival of wartime evacuees. The location is Bredon, Worcestershire, and the viewpoint is outside the Fox and Hounds in Church St. The buses are parked opposite Bredon Hancock’s School.

My Mom was an evacuee there for around two years, and like many, her experience of those times was a bit mixed. Her final billet was with the village school Headmaster, where she was happiest, and she kept in touch with her ‘auntie’ long after the war.

6B1CFD1F-ABC1-4A69-958C-2458D0E2102E.jpegBC442DEA-8E7A-4E65-8568-8CE9A8B42BA6.jpeg
 
Good photos to be sure. And there was the Midland Red buses which took them there it seems. They look rather like SOS IM4's, delivered in the mid 1930's. but the Red is not my speciality, so someone else may know differently.
 
I was speaking to my 91 year old aunt this morning about her evacuation during the War. She says that she was evacuated from the Sacred Heart Scool in Aston to Woodville near Swadlincote. The had arrived at school without any knowledge that they were to be evacuated, and she did not know whether her parents had known beforehand. She says she was sent on a coach with the other children and during the journey they stopped at a village where a spread had been laid out. They enjoyed their cakes and went on their way, later they learned that it was set up for the children from St Joseph.

At first they went to school with Protestants but trouble between the children meant they were subsequently bused to a Catholic school.

The clips from the Birmingham Daily Post of 15 September 1939, and show that the locals were not best pleased with the state of the Birmingham children !



3B681899-EDDE-4264-8373-F6DA57B7546D.jpeg2039B1FF-6241-40D7-BBEC-1BFD75DFEA10.jpeg492B4E8C-6BA6-42DE-927A-8B0AE95991CB.jpeg
 
I think the parents had the final decision on whether their children were evacuated or not, not the Council or Education department. My 2 sisters and I lived in Shirley at the outbreak of war and my parents considered it a reasonable safe spot so we were not evacuated I'm glad to say. Actually they were wrong for our house was bomb damaged in November 1940 but only minor. Eric
 
yes eric i think you are correct about the parents having the final say about their children being evacuated...my dad who lived in hockley was evacuated along with his siblings but our mom was not...never understood why as she lived in paddington st..an area that was hit very badly...mom was lucky

lyn
 
Lyn, it was just a matter of luck, in those days bomb aiming was hardly a fine art, we tried to get our Grand parents who lived in Aston to stay with us but they declined the offer, a wise decision for our house was damaged and theirs was not ! Eric
 
cookie273uk said:
Lyn, it was just a matter of luck, in those days bomb aiming was hardly a fine art, we tried to get our Grand parents who lived in Aston to stay with us but they declined the offer, a wise decision for our house was damaged and theirs was not ! Eric
Click to expand...

hi eric...yes i recall you mentioning this before..must have been awful not knowing if you were going to be spared...

lyn
 
Lyn, I was only 10, I don't think you realise the seriousness of the situation at that age, I didn't for a start. Eric
 
eric i guess to some children it would have been seen as a bit of an adventure and excitement but of course the adults knew differently...

lyn
 
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