"Some children treated it as a great adventure, others quietly sobbed."
An extract from Children of the Blitz, Robert Westall, the quote comes from a boy aged 10.
Source C is a teacher recalling being evacuated with children from her school its taken from an interview in 1988.
This teacher's recollections are that all children were afraid, so this is a point that evacuation was not successful and the children did not want to go.
"When we got to the station the train was ready", this quote shows that the organisation of the whole process was efficient as there was no waiting for trains. This interview is 49 years after evacuation took place, the teacher therefore could have a selective memory and only remember certain things such as a lot of children were happy and excited. The fact she says all children were distressed is wrong because the happiness of children is evident from other sources. This shows evacuation as a success as the train was on time so the organisation was good.
Once the children had been transported to their destinations they were billeted with host families, some homes were found before the evacuees arrived which shows good organisation, on some occasions children were hand picked by families in the local town hall. The hosts tended to pick the healthiest and cleanest looking children. Some children were split up with their brothers and sisters other were just not picked and spent the rest of day walking round town with the local billeting officer trying to find a home. The fact that some children go left behind shows that it was not as well organised as it could have been. Pre-set places should have been set up to avoid the handpicking of children which shows favouritism towards some children. This points towards evacuation not being a success, as it was not as well organised in finding homes for everyone.
"Villager stood around watching us as we got out of the bus and went into the school. What followed was like an auction. Villagers came in to choose children. "Mr and Mrs Jones would like a nice little boy." Nobody wanted the awkward combination of a girl of eleven and such a small boy, from whom I promised my mother never to be separated. We were left until the very last. The room was almost empty. I sat on my rucksack and cried."
A working class evacuee recalls what happened when she and her younger brother arrived in the country extracted from a History textbook.
As well as children not getting picked there were also scenarios were there were mismatches where evacuees were put with a family of a different religion. This could not really be avoided, as it would mean checking each host family's religious belief and making sure it’s the same as the children. This would take too much time. This shows that evacuation was a success as some mis-matches could not be avoided and that they were few and far between.
"Every Sunday we were asked if we wanted to go to church with them and we said no. Eventually the woman insisted and my sister told her we went to a synagogue, not a church. She was absolutely horrified. She said to us to get out! In the East End no one had ever said anything like that."
Quoted from A People's War, Peter Lewis.
However, many of the billets were successful and the children were a lot happier with their host family and not to mention a lot healthier. A lot of children were shocked at the difference to their normal town life compared to that in the countryside as shown in the quote below.
"Everything was so clean in our room. We were given flannels and toothbrushes, We'd never cleaned our teeth until then. And hot water came from the tap. And there was the lavatory upstairs. And carpets…This was all very odd and rather scaring."
13 years old Bernard Kops came from Stepney to Buckinghamshire and were amazed at their new home. Taken from Bernard's book The World is a Wedding.
Having looked a few sources it is clear that all evacuees had different experiences and some enjoyed it others didn't.
Source D is a contemporary photograph showing evacuees at bathtime issued by the Government during the war. It shows a group of evacuees bathing together. This photo is strange because there are 3 baths and no house of that period would have 3 baths, evacuees were also not bathed in large groups communally. All this photo does is confirm children were evacuated. It is most probably set up by the government to reassure people the children were clean and happy.
Source A comes from a textbook written for British School by David Taylor in 1988. The book is entitled Mastering Economic and Social History. Source A has nothing successful to say about evacuation. It says arrangement did not always go smoothly, this is true as some evacuees struggled to find homes. It also says many evacuees could not settle in the countryside this did happen but what it does not say is that many evacuees loved their time in the countryside. This source gives evidence to suggest evacuation was not a 100% success and it is written to educate so it is likely to be true.
"Micky and I walked home with the odd lift we thumbed. My mum opened the door and nearly fainted. "What you doin' here," she said. "Your Dad'll kill you!""
A quote from a History textbook on Evacuation proving how some children failed to settle in the countryside.
Source E is the mother of a host family looking back, she recalls the evacuees urinating on the walls even though they had 2 toilets within the house. There were reports of children fouling paths and urinating anywhere that suited them. This may be true since the hostess did take in evacuees but she may be insensitive toward evacuees or dismissive of them and exaggerate the past. This source shows that there was not enough effort to match evacuees with their host and that richer people's eyes opened to poverty thus meaning the general agreement to the welfare state. Source F is another interview in 1988 from an evacuee who was evacuated in 1939. This evacuee recalls how host families had an image of the stereotypical evacuee. It was assumed that all evacuees came from poor areas and ate a staple diet of fish and chips. This was true in some cases but not all evacuees were the same but the perception that they were poor and ate fish and chips, was believed by many host families. The truth of the matter however was it was not just working class families were evacuated many middle class and wealthy children were evacuated. Some found the conditions worse than they were at home.
"I don’t think I had a bath the whole time I was there. And I don't remember having my hair washed once."
Nicola Harrison an evacuee talks about her experiences during evacuation taken from a History textbook on evacuation.
Source G also confirms that many host families did have a stereotypical view. This extract is from the children's novel Carries War, written by Nina Bawden in 1973 who was an evacuee herself. In this extract Carrie and her brother have been billeted together in the same home, the host believes that the children are unable to afford slippers whereas in reality they simply did not have enough space to carry such luggage. Although it may be true that other children could not afford slippers this was not always the case. The host in this story is sensitive toward the evacuees but in other scenarios the host family could be dismissive and abusive toward the evacuees. This shows evacuation was a success because most host families were kind towards evacuees.
As well as evacuees having different experiences the hosts often had different ones as well, some hosts had well-mannered and house-trained evacuees. Others found the children to be bad mannered and unhygienic. This was true in some cases that children were extremely bad mannered and bed wetter's but not all evacuees were like this.
"Clarence and I used to sleep together and poor Clarence used to wet the bed, cause he was a very poor nervous kid. She [The hostess] could never tell who'd done it so she used to bash the living daylights out of both of us. So, of course, the more Clarence got hit the more he wet the bed. It was then we started to get locked in the cupboard."
Michael Caine, from No Time To Wave Goodbye.
Having said all that in most cases hosts were happy with the evacuees they had and treated them just like their own, in some cases the evacuees helped out with things like housework. This shows success for evacuation as children did not just have to sit around, they could help out with things, this could help them in later life e.g. they learned to cook and keep a tidy house etc.
"After school we were expected to sweep out Mr. Benson's butcher's shop and scrub down the marble slabs… I had never been asked to help my father in his bank.."
A thirteen-year-old middle class evacuee recollects his time as an evacuee.
Many historians think that evacuation process was necessary and saved many lives in the long run and other thinks it was not worth it and the money spent on it was wasted. Between September 1939 and March 1940 evacuation cost 9 million pounds. They think it could have been spent on weapons and ammunition as well as warships. Other think that the evacuees education was disrupted. Others think that the family's back at home were made miserable due to missing their children. As well as that the bombing was not as bad as expected so it was not necessary to evacuate such huge numbers.
Although there were many rivals to evacuation it had just as many supporters they said evacuation saved lives, which is did, it brought the nation together and the children enjoyed it. It also showed that as a nation the Government cared about the welfare of children.
With both is supporters are rivals people are divided on weather evacuation was necessary and weather it should have taken place. After evacuation there was an aim to make welfare state where every citizen was to be looked after from birth till death. The government set this up. The Labour government who proposed the welfare state was voted into power, this showed the public wanted a welfare state. The government wanted one because the class differences and the sheer poverty stricken areas of the United Kingdom.
In my opinion the process of evacuation was both a success and not a success, the organisation in other words the planning and preparation was very good the trains were on time to take the children to the destinations. The propaganda achieved its goal to get the public to sign their kids up to evacuation so this was successful as well. Transportation was well organised everything on time, the instructions given to children on what to take were concise and everyone got the message which once again shows good planning. The billeting was both successful and unsuccessful most evacuees found homes immediately, others were left right till the end and had to search for a home, there was also some mismatched with different religions and some children were abused. This was obviously going to happen but in the end even if there were mismatches the evacuees were saved from the aerial attacks.
Overall I agree with the interpretation that "Evacuation was a great success", as long as it saved lives and helped in the long run the little technicalities do not matter to me and over all it was a success.
