The countryside, to the working class children was a complete new world to them that they had never before experienced. Most working class people would have liked the experience such as William Blackley who was 14 years old in 1939 and looks back and says how he liked it because of the fresh air, which was better than the smoke and smog, and the fun that he had during his time there. He would have said this because he came from Gorton, an inner city area of Manchester, where there is lots of smoke and smog because of the factories in the industrial city area this means that he would not have experienced fresh air before being evacuated. Another working class evacuee that had a positive experience was Harold Makinson who was evacuated from London in 1939, he liked the experience because of the good fresh food, the fresh air and the fields and because he could eat as many eggs as he wanted. He would have liked these because he had never experienced them before because of his social class. Because he was from London, where there are lots of factories creating smoke and smog, there would not have been any fresh air and fields so that was new to him in the country so he would have liked it and fresh food would have not been common in the city.
Although most working class evacuees enjoyed the experience there were a few that disliked it such as Arthur Watson who says that he was glad to come back home because if he was left at the place he was evacuated he would have missed the war and because it was boring and he didn’t like the country. He would have found it boring in the country because, coming from a working class family; he was not used to living in the country and living a middle class life. Another example of a middle class evacuee who didn’t like the experience was Kenneth Robinson. Kenneth didn’t like his time as he says, he was placed with someone who was very strict on tidiness and cleanliness, Kenneth coming from a working class family would probably not have been brought up to be clean and tidy so this was something new to him which he didn’t adjust to.
Some middle class evacuees would have liked the experience of being evacuated such as Sarah Tracey who was evacuated to the Lake District says that it was a happy experience and it was just like home, she would have said this because the luxuries that were available to her at home were still available to her where she was evacuated such as good food, hot running water and fresh air, she also says how she enjoyed making her own food; this would have been a new experience to her. Another middle class evacuee that liked the experience was Amy Brown who got put in a vicar’s house, she says she liked it because of the lovely food and big garden that was just like home, she would have liked it because the life she was used to at home was very similar to the one where she was evacuated at the vicar’s house. Middle class evacuees – such as the comedian Kenneth Williams – were happier with their new families than they had been at home. Very young children sometimes forgot their real parents.
On the other hand there were some middle class evacuees that disliked the experience such as Reginal Scarlet, a middle class boy who was evacuated to a Derbyshire mining village, was horrified when he was placed in the same house with some working class boys who had lice. He would have been horrified because middle class children were bought up to be very clean so this was a very distressing and horrific experience to him.
The children took a while to get used to their new homes. Some working class children did not settle and soon returned home. One evacuee explains how she didn’t like where she was evacuated “I hated this old couple I was with and they hated me. Mum came and took me home just after two weeks”. Many others were very happy and stayed with there host parents throughout the whole war. When they were old enough they went to work on local farms.
So in conclusion most working class evacuees liked the experience because to them it was a very new experience although there were some that disliked the experience because they were not used to their new life and found it hard to adjust. Some middle class liked the experience because the same luxuries were made available to them in the country. The middle class evacuees found the working class evacuees very dirty which was a shock to them. So I finally conclude that the working class children that were evacuated had different experiences to the middle class children that were evacuated. Many children were confused and upset while some were happy and excited.
Parents were also another big group affected by evacuation. Working class women played a very important role in the war as the government were relying on them to work in factories making weapons and munitions for the war. The women would have taken the men’s jobs while the men went to fight in the war. Some mothers who had small children were evacuated with their children but working class mothers were left to work in towns and cities making weapons and munitions for the war, while just their children were evacuated. Mothers who were not being evacuated would not feel happy having to leave their children but would feel happy knowing their children were safe therefore there morale would be high. On the actual day of evacuation when the mothers had to say goodbye to their children many mothers were upset at parting with their children “…many were upset at parting with their children-many were crying and hugging their children”. They would have been hugging their children because they probably wouldn’t see them for a long time.
Other mothers stayed calm as having their children evacuated would make her feel happy knowing her children were going to be safe from a German attack.
Pregnant women were another group that were evacuated. There morale would be high when they knew their baby and they were going to be safe from air attack. The pregnant women knew their children would have a healthy start to life in the country and would be well cared for away from all the smoke and smog in the city.
In the war the men played one of the most important roles which was fighting in the army against the opposition. No men were evacuated they were all servicemen in the army. Men were not affected my evacuation but fathers were affected in a positive way. The fathers working in the army would be happy knowing their children are in safe hands and therefore continue working efficiently in the army because there morale was high. The sick and the elderly would have been better off in general in the country where there is better hygiene, health care and food. The elderly could have a better life and the sick could have better treatment.
Once the children were settled, parents would visit them at the weekend, but by the end of the year, with the expected bombing not having taken place, many parents took their children home.
I conclude that mothers were quite a big group that were affected by evacuation. Some mothers who had small children were evacuated with their children but working class mothers were left to work in towns and cities while just their children were evacuated. Mothers who were not being evacuated would not feel happy having to leave their children but would feel happy knowing their children were safe from the expected air attack therefore there morale would be high. Mothers who were being evacuated with their children and pregnant women would have felt happy knowing their children and they were going to be safe from air attack. So mothers’ reaction towards evacuation was quite similar.
Strangely enough the governments were also affected by evacuation due to the increase of pressure put on them. Pressure was put on them to actually come up with a policy to make children safe and they came up with evacuation. The government had to come up with and publish evacuation speeches. The Government had to persuade women to stay in the city making munitions and other material essential to the war effort. They had to arrange the evacuation and fund all the costs. The Government also gave speeches reassuring mothers that evacuating children was good. This is a speech which says exactly that “You have done a brave and self-scarifying thing in sending your children away from the danger areas “.
Many Government offices were also evacuated out of London. Edna Miller, whose husband was a civil servant based in London, remembered:
“Jim came home one evening and said, “Get packing, Edna. We’re off to north Wales.” I thought he had arranged a holiday at first. Then he explained about his office being evacuated and off he went. Actually, it was like a holiday, really”.
So the governments were also affected by evacuation as some government offices were evacuated and were responsible for they policy as they came up with it. The people in the government offices that were evacuated would have felt happy about it.
The people who took the children into their homes were also affected by the policy of evacuation. These people were called host families. Many host families were prepared to take in evacuees such as this Scotswoman “There’s room in my heart for a hundred children, and I’d squeeze them all into my house if I could, too, if I could.” This Scotswoman would have wanted to take in children because she felt sorry for the children. Another woman explained why she wanted to take in evacuees “What are a few finger-marks on the paint besides saving these poor kiddies from the horror of war”. Some host families had no idea they were going to be taking in evacuees because they were not informed, as this source explains this woman who was taking in evacuees and had not been informed of evacuation “There was a knock on the door of this big house and I opened the door and there was the billeting officer pushing all these children into the hall.” This woman would have been surprised because she had no idea. Once the working class evacuees settled in, the host families complained about the state of their health. Research suggests that around half of the evacuated children had fleas or head lice (mainly working class evacuees). Others suffered from impetigo and scabies. Host parents were sometimes appalled by the behaviour of the working class evacuees. Country people found the working class children hard to cope with. They were horrified by their ignorance – for instance, many were amazed to find out that milk came from a cow. Working class evacuees came from poor families – they had never worn underclothes, eaten food from a table or slept in a bed. Some were filthy and naughty, many wet the bed, it is estimated that about 5 per cent of the evacuees lacked proper toilet training. One person reported about how when one six year old boy went to the toilet in the front room his host parent shouted: "You dirty thing, messing up the lady's carpet. Go and do it in the corner”. The mother of a host family looks back at how the working class children lacked hygiene- “The children went round the house urinating on the walls. Although we had two toilets they never used them. Although we told the children there and their mother off about this filthy habit they took no notice and our house stank of high heaven”.
On the other hand host families that took in middle class evacuees found them clean and polite and everything opposite of working class children.
So in conclusion the host families reactions and feeling to the policy of evacuation was affected. A very large number of hosts were shocked by the working class children they cared for. They found them dirty, bad-mannered and sickly. Many city children had nits and skin diseases so many hosts were afraid of catching the children’s diseases and did not treat them kindly. On the other hand some hosts treated the children kindly and welcomed them into their homes and some were shocked by their lack of hygiene. The hosts were more kind to the middle class evacuees because the host and the middle class were from the same class so they would have had plenty of things in common.
I finally conclude that evacuation experiences varied widely. The main reason for the differing reaction was due to the evacuees coming from different classes and ways of life. The two different classes were working class and middle class. Working class people found it was a happy experience that would change there way of life forever. On the other hand many working classes found it was an unhappy and stressful experience. However to others it was an experience that, at worst, would scar some children into adulthood. The main differing reaction was due to two very different groups of people being bought together, such as working class evacuees, middle class evacuees, host families and many more, and these different people experienced different things from there new environment and people who were new to them and the new way of life. Most middle class evacuees were used to that way of life but working class evacuees were not because they came from the city which was a very different way of life. Evacuation bought together two different types of social classes who met and shared there different ways of life, this had a big impact on all the evacuees feeling.
It must be remembered that evacuation did save countless lives and was necessary to protect the vulnerable and to maintain a high morale amongst the British people so the war could be won. Evacuation caused lots of small problems but the government believed that evacuation outweighed the problems that it caused.
By Asim Bhatti