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England was not prepared for war, but the idea of aerial bombardment had so terrorized the public, that plans were ready to protect children. The children living in London and other major cities were immediately tagged liked parcels and shipped out by special evacuation trains. The evacuations were mostly conducted through the schools with the children accopanied by their teachers. I am not precisely sure how this worked. I think married men teachers may have been accompanied by their wives. Many women teachers were unmarried. Many of the men were eventually called up, but the ones that were not I believed stay in the country communities to help supervise the children and work in the local schools. Despite the imense number of children involved, the actual evacuation went fairly smoothly, despite the caos in the stations as tearful mums waived good-bye to their nippers. The children sang songs like "The Lambert Walk" and "Wish Me Luck as You Wave Goodbye". There was also a song about the "Bogy Man" that the children liked. Other children said good-bye to their mums at their schools. Often schools marched en masse to the stations with their teachers. While the actual evacuation from the cities was ordely and well managed, the same can not be said of the reception points in the country side. The evacuation plan had left responsibility here to local authorities. Some had prepared properly. Many had not. Caos ensued at many reception points as train loads of children began arriving in the country side. Host families had signed up to care for the children, but there was enough. The Government had organized the evacuation, but it was left up to each local community to process the children. At many locations trains arrived with new loads of children even before the first group had been processed.
England was not prepared for war, but the idea of aerial bombardment had so terrorized the public, that plans were ready to protect children. The Government gave the evacuation order August 31, 1939, a day before the German Panzers crossed the Polish frontier.
The Government planned to evaccuate 3 million, but only 1.5 million were actually evavuated. It was up to the parents and parents decided to keep about half of the children. In the end about 1.5 million were evacuated. About 0.6 million were evacuted from London alone. Another source reports 0.4 million school children were evacuated from London and 0.8 million from provincial cities. I'm nor sure as to the descrepancy, it could be due to date differences or who was counted. These numbers may just be for Englkand. Also there were more evacuees than just school childrem.In addition to London, school children were also evacuated from Clydeside, Tyneside, Merseyside, the Midlands, Portsmouth, and Southampton. There were 0.2 million Scottish school children evacuated to the Lowlands. Plymouth, Bristol, and Cardiff were not evacuated. We are not sure at this time why these cities were not evacuated.
The children living in London and other major cities were immediately tagged liked parcels and shipped out by special evacuation trains. The evacuations were mostly conducted through the schools with the children accopanied by their teachers. I am not precisely sure how this worked. I think married men teachers may have been accompanied by their wives. Many women teachers were unmarried. Many of the men were eventually called up, but the ones that were not I believed stay in the country communities to help supervise the children and work in the local schools. Despite the imense number of children involved, the actual evacuation went fairly smoothly, despite the chaos in the stations as tearful mums waived good-bye to their nippers. The children sang songs like "The Lambert Walk" and "Wish Me Luck as You Wave Goodbye". There was also a song about the "Bogy Man" that the children liked. Other children said good-bye to their mums at their schools. Often schools marched en masse to the stations with their teachers. Many movies such as "Hope and Glory" show parents bring their children to the train station. This appears to be a misrepresentation. Of course such representations do not affect historians--they do affect the public image.
While the actual evacuation from the cities was ordely and well managed, the same can not be said of the reception points in the country side. The evacuation plan had left responsibility here to local authorities. Some had prepared properly. Many had not. Caos ensued at many reception points as train loads of children began arriving in the country side. Host families had signed up to care for the children, but there was enough. The Government had organized the evacuation, but it was left up to each local community to process the children. At many locations trains arrived with new loads of children even before the first group had been processed.
The planners had anticipated evacuating about 80 percent of th school children in the cities. Only about 50 percent showed up for evacuation. This was due to a comination of factors. Many children did not want to go and parents did not want to be separated from their children. One factor tht the planners had not anticipated was the regional differences as to how the evacuation was viewed. Londoners believed that they would be a target and partipated heavily in the evacution. About 60 percent of the school children in Manchester and Liverpool, important industrial cities were evacuated. Liverpool was also a major port where supplies from America and Canada were arriving. Other areas were less covinced about the idea of evacuation. Cities and towns in Yorkshire evacuated less than 15 percent of their school children.
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