GCSE History Coursework
Britain in the Second World War: The Evacuation of British Children.
Question 2.
There would be many differing reactions from people in Britain to the evacuation policy during the Second World War. The first group of people would be the children who were actually being moved away from their homes and everything they know to live in the country, away from there mothers and fathers and family to stay with people they do not know and have not met. I have two letters from to explain how children felt.
These are actual wartime letters from two different children. It shows two points of view. The first letter says about seeing all the farmyard animals and making new friends, it shows the fact that it would be an adventure for the children. They would learn new skills in the country and discover new things. Many of the children would be well looked after and treated just like children of their own, but others would be beaten and abused, forced to do work on their farms and houses. Often where the children lived would be nicer then in London. For example they had running warm water and baths, they had lots of things that most families did not have in the city. Many of the children did had never been in clean houses like the ones in the country before, also they often had clean beds to sleep in, a lot of them had never even cleaned their teeth before and given tooth brushes for the first time. There were mixed experiences for the children who were evacuated. Some were very happy, helping on the farms and eating better than they had ever done.