Evacuees

[237SJ]

Were the movements of evacuees during WW2 ever documented?

[Tilly2]

Probably, but on a ad hoc basis.

[MallyJ]

My mum went to Norwich....

[Buenchico]

As the National Archives website shows, there are no centralised records of evacuees:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/evacuees/

[Dinapal]

Not sure I understand your'e question. i.e. Did Billy Jones from Bermondsey get sent to Dorset or Canada? There is plenty of anecdotal evidence of UK evacuees. Are you asking if records exist for every evacuee child and what was their destination(s)?

[Tilly2]

As I said , done on an ad hoc basis.

[Peter Pedant]

I cant believe in the London railway stations that you just piled the kids in
slammed the door and said to each other:
I wonder where they are going ? I hope they will be all right.

anyway here is a book about evacuation and Darzet - see throwaway line above.....
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/features/nostalgia/11563083.One_hundred_stories_of_evacuees_are_told/

and you could write and ask her how she collected her interviewees

in my childhood - the five we had ( one family) in the town had refused to go back to the East End at the end of the war

Michael Aspel went down to Chard ( somersest) which has grown into a rough old place - and reported that he was blissfully happy ....

[derekpara]

I was evacuated to nine different homes in WW2 returning home once or twice for a few weeks before being sent off again. On properly organised evacuations we went to local then main line stations as a school and had no idea where we were being sent. On arrival we were all gathered in a community hall and people came in and selected their evacuee for which they were paid 7 shillings a week I think.
It was my experience that if the fostering parent no longer wanted the evacuee he/she was simply passed on to someone else with no official involvement. This happened to me on several occasions. My first example of this was when I was evacuated to a forester's house in woods near Bicknor, Kent, at the beginning of the war. The couple had a new-born child and after a few weeks found they couldn't cope with me as well ( I was about 5years old) so they took me to a nearby farm where I was made welcome by a lovely old couple, and from where I had a grandstand view of the Battle of Britain, as well as being machine-gunned by a Dornier as I walked home from school.Things went downhill when the farm was sold in 1941 and I was returned home, only to be evacuated to south Wales where I was treated really badly and then later on the Walsall, where I was shunted to several families in a very random and unofficial way, receiving good and bad treatment, but mainly bad. So I am here to tell you that there are no detailed records of evacuees during WW2. I have looked.

D

[Zacs-Master]

Amazing story derek. Can you remember any details of the Battle of Britain?

[derekpara]

Yes I can, Zac, vividly. Here are a couple - and remember that from the ground all one saw most of the time were the vapour trail, but the sounds of machine gun fire and high revving engines was very clear, with differing tones depending on the nationality ! I (we) sometimes saw parachutes descending into the surrounding countryside and on one occasion a white ( British) chute was coming down and the unfortunate pilot was attacked by a Mescherschmidt which was quickly seen off by Hurricanes who then circled the pilot, protecting him until he landed about a mile from the farm. The local Home Guard was first on the scene followed quickly by troops from nearby Detling RAF base.

My close encounter with a Dornier happened as I was peacefully strolling across the fields on my way home from school. There had been no air-raid warning. I heard an aircraft engine but saw nothing for a second or two but then, at the far end of the field, about a quarter of a mile away, this black/grey Dornier ( I was by then an expert at aircraft recognition !) hopped over the low tree line and dropped to almost ground level - coming straight at me. I froze for a moment and then heard its machine guns open up, which prompted me into action and I dived into a drainage ditch by a nearby hedge. The machine roared overhead and went on to attack Detling. This German tactic was quite common as it took the machine below the radar. Now, was the Hun firing at me ? Well, it certainly seemed like it, but in truth it was probably test firing its guns before the attack.
Later in the war on one of my rare returns home I was blown off the outside toilet seat by a bomb which exploded fifty yards away, killing one of my neighbours in Rosendale Road, south London. I saw a dog licking one of the poor man's eyes which was stuck to our fence.

I shall have write all this down for my family, Zac, and your question may spur me to make a start.

Cheers.

D