How accurate would it be to say that for children, during World War Two in Britain, evacuation was a miserable and unhappy experience?

AS and A Level Psychology

Bilal Yasin

10 elgar

History Mr Pyke.

How accurate would it be to say that for children, during World War Two in Britain, evacuation was a miserable and unhappy experience?

Most children had to leave their members of their families behind to go and live in the country away from the bombing. A mother of four, Charlotte, had not seen her children for seven years which meant that not only a miserable time for the mother but her children had to live without a mother for seven years which would have been a terrible experience. Most people miss their mothers after a week going away but imagine not seeing your mother for seven years. Rodger Stanley said that evacuees were blamed for everything that happened in the villages. For example if something had been stolen or had gone missing people would stereotype the evacuees as thieves. Children were sometimes often beaten or mistreated. Terry McNeil was locked in a bird cage and given chunks of bread and little water. John Abbot was beaten and starved until found by the police. It was also a fact that 12% out of 450 children were abused psychologically, physically and mostly sexually. This must have been a terrible time for the children, being sexually abused could scar someone mentally for life and not only is disgusting is also degrading. The children were only allowed to take one small bag of clothes and were often kept in the same outfit for 7 – 10 days.

It was not always an unhappy time for the evacuees in the countryside for some were treated very well indeed. Many of the children were treated as members of the family as a huge number of people wanted to help with the war and do ‘their bit’. Rita Glenister Said that she was taken into a caring home and was treated like a member of the family which was a nice gesture as the children would be very vulnerable at this time. Some children were taken into very rich homes and were given things that they had never before ...

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It was not always an unhappy time for the evacuees in the countryside for some were treated very well indeed. Many of the children were treated as members of the family as a huge number of people wanted to help with the war and do ‘their bit’. Rita Glenister Said that she was taken into a caring home and was treated like a member of the family which was a nice gesture as the children would be very vulnerable at this time. Some children were taken into very rich homes and were given things that they had never before had. Norma Reeve came from a lowly background and was taken into a very rich home and was given things that were luxurious items were she had come from. The family that she stayed with had butlers and servants. The children were also much safer in the country which would have probably made them a little happier to know that they were away from all the danger of the bombs. Brian Flook said that people were kind to the children and two anonymous boys said that they were allowed to play with toys and when they broke them the people looking after them would buy them new ones. John and Kevin said that they were cleaned, de-liced, had birthday parties and had a bath every night. Cliff Douthwait said that he stayed in a large house and he never went hungry.

There seems to be a clear difference in what the children had experienced but if they had stayed in the large cities they maybe have had experienced a different time. The children that were saying that they had stayed with people that were very rich may have had houses at home that were nowhere as near as luxurious as what they experienced. John Brasier said that for him it was a tremendous adventure as it was his first time on a train. Maybe if he had stayed at home he may never have ever gone on a train in his life.

In my opinion it would have been quite accurate if one is to say that it was a miserable time for children being evacuated in World War Two. I think this because the children would not have seen their families a lot, in fact most children did not see their children at all! If I was evacuated I know that I would have found it a miserable time because I would have missed my family. Of course there were the good points as well but families are an important part of life and children would miss their parent a lot on evacuation.