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Children in wartime

2. Evacuation

Where have all these children come from?

On Friday the 1st of September Hitler's army marched into Poland. This was the day that thousands of children were sent away from their homes to live in the comparative safety of the countryside. This was known as the evacuation . The children were evacuated from towns and cities most likely to be attacked.

Most of the children who came to Oswestry were from Liverpool. Special trains brought the mothers, children and teachers. Many of residents turned out at Oswestry station to watch them arrive.

Look at their clothes. What sort of day do you think the evacuees arrived on?

Black and white photo of a group children watching evacuees arrive

Spectators watching the evacuees arrive at Oswestry station.
[Reproduced with kind permission of the Oswestry and Border Counties Advertiser]

This long line of children are from Birkenhead, a dockland area of Liverpool. This is just one of the trains which arrived at Oswestry. 4000 children arrived here over a period of 4 days. All of them needed to be found foster homes.

Black and white photo of a line of evacuees led by a schoolmaster

Three cheers for Oswestry.
[Reproduced with kind permission of the Oswestry and Border Counties Advertiser]

One child describes her arrival and billeting in the following way:

"We were herded like cattle around the streets of Oswestry, officials knocking on the doors of those who had put their names down as wanting an evacuee. That person come out of his house and chose whom they like the look of. It was total chaos. Some children were still being walked around the streets at midnight".

(from Our evacuees, Oswestry Heritage Centre)

How do you think the children would have felt about this at the end of a long and very confusing day?

These happy evacuees can be seen carrying their gas masks. They have labels attached to their coats and diamonds sewn on their sleeves. Can you think why this might be?

The labels carried very basic information about where they had come from and which town they were going to.

Do you think your parents would be happy to let you go, on your own, to an unknown destination, to stay with people they did not know?
This is what happened in 1939.

Black and white photo showing a group of young evacuees with their gas masks in boxes hung round their necks

Evacuees from Birkenhead arrive at Oswestry.
[Reproduced with kind permission of the Oswestry and Border Counties Advertiser]

This newspaper cutting from The Borders and Counties Advertiser records the evacuation

Newspaper cutting [Opens in new window: image size 61kb]

Border Counties welcome city children
Larger image and transcript, in a new window [61kb]
[Reproduced with kind permission of the Oswestry and Border Counties Advertiser]

A tremendous amount of work had been done in Oswestry by the organising committee. The organisers can be seen here at work during the evacuation. Not only did they have to find billets for all the children, but one of their major difficulties was finding homes for children from large families who did not want to be split up.

Photograph of a committee standing around a table

The Evacuation Committee
[Reproduced with kind permission of the Oswestry and Border Counties Advertiser]

This was not the only evacuation. In late 1940 bombing of the major cities and ports had begun. Another evacuation was planned and carried out. This leaflet was posted in all the local papers asking for billets.

A billeting poster saying, 'Thank-you Mrs. Ruggles, we want more like you'. A young boy is holding a pigeon. [Opens in new window: image size 60kb]

Thank you Mrs Ruggles.
Larger image, in a new window [60kb]
[Reproduced with kind permission of the Shrewsbury Chronicle]

Later on in the war Germany launched the V2 bombs known as the Doddlebugs on Britain. The Doodlebug was a pilotless plane. The result was another group of evacuees, mainly from London, came to the safety of the countryside.

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How did children find their new lives in the country: Next

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Page created October 2003 and last updated 30 July 2007

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