Britain's Wartime Evacuees: The People, Places and Stories of the Evacuations Told Through the Accounts of Those Who Were There

by Gillian Mawson

Overview

With the declaration of war in September 1939, the Government Evacuation Scheme was implemented, in which almost one and a half million civilians, mostly children, were evacuated from the British cities thought most likely to be the targets of aerial bombing. The fear of invasion the following year resulted in another mass evacuation from the coastal towns.

Hundreds of thousands of school children, and mothers with babies and infants, were removed from their homes and families, and sent to live with strangers in distant rural areas and to entirely unfamiliar environments. Some children were also sent to countries of the Commonwealth, such as Canada and Australia. The evacuations had an enormous impact upon millions of individuals, both those that were evacuated and those that had to accommodate and care for the displaced multitude.

Over the course of eight years research Gillian Mawson has interviewed hundreds of evacuees from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Families have also allowed her access to the testimony of those who have passed away. Coupled with the extensive newspaper coverage of the day and official documents Britain’s Wartime Evacuees provides not just a comprehensive study of the evacuations, but also relates some of the most moving and emotive stories of the Second World War.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526781512
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	07/28/2020
Series:	Voices from the Past
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Gillian Mawson has made a particular study of the evacuations of the Second World War. She has organised evacuee reunions, provided research to radio and television documentaries on the subject of evacuation and run a community group for evacuees. She is also the author of two other books on the evacuees. Gillian lives in Whalley Bridge, Derbyshire.

Table of Contents

Introduction vii

Chapter 1 'The Bomber Will Always Get Through' - Plans for Evacuation 1

Chapter 2 'A Huge Decision to Make' - The Parents' Dilemma 7

Chapter 3 'Evacuation Begins' - The journey 19

Chapter 4 'We Will Find You a Nice One' - The Evacuees' New Homes 35

Chapter 5 'It Was Like Another World' - First Impressions 55

Chapter 6 'I Hope You are Safe and Well' - Contact With Home 76

Chapter 7 'God Keep You Safe From Harm' - The Kindness of Strangers 101

Chapter 8 'She Was Supposed to be Sent to Safety' - Out of the Frying Pan 117

Chapter 9 'The Most Wicked Woman we Had Ever Met' - Mishaps, Misdeeds and Murder 131

Chapter 10 'We Will Take Care of Them' - The Wartime Foster Families 151

Chapter 11 'I Had Mixed Feelings' - Saying Goodbye 161

Chapter 12 'It Shaped My Life' - The Aftermath of Evacuation 179

References and Notes 195

Bibliography 208

Index 210

Editorial Reviews

"Gillian Mawson has spent eight years researching this subject, interviewing hundreds of evacuees from all parts of the United Kingdom, as well as the Channel Islands and Gibraltar. In this volume of Pen & Sword's Voices From The Past series, she skilfully blends narrative and these first-hands testimonies of lives impacted by evacuation, and her skill is in allowing these voices to be heard in depth, rather than attempting to paraphrase; it is the interviews that provide emotion."

Your Family History

"It is immediately apparent that this book is the result of extensive research."

Eric Brett

"Gillian Mawson has spent eight years researching this subject, interviewing hundreds of evacuees from all parts of the United Kingdom, as well as the Channel Islands and Gibraltar. In this volume of Pen & Sword's Voices From The Past series, she skilfully blends narrative and these first-hands testimonies of lives impacted by evacuation, and her skill is in allowing these voices to be heard in depth, rather than attempting to paraphrase; it is the interviews that provide emotion."

Your Family History magazine

"It is immediately apparent that this book is the result of extensive research."

Guernsey War-Time Evacuee Eric Brett