Genealogy Chat

I think they were just evacuated to anywhere that could take them. I had family in London that were sent a few miles up the road to Buckinghamshire. Sheila

Would people have been evacuated to Wales during WW2? I've just been googling and found out that children and pregnant women were evacuated from southern counties to safer places in the north.....The reason I ask is that I believe a relative of mine may have been evacuated from Warwickshire and ended up in north Wales via Liverpool/Manchester.......Deb:)

Thanks for your reply Sheila. I've been able to find heaps of info on the bombings of major cities but very little about evacuations.....frustrating. Deb:)

I was evacuted to Kent from london in 1939. then in 1943 to Birmingham. My sister who mum was pregnant with in 1939( born Oct 1939) was evacuated aged 3 to lancashire,. Shirley

Its strange the way families were seperated through evacuation, my mother then age 14 was evacuated to Wales with her mother, her brother who was only 18 months older went to Torquay, my grandmother was only in her early thirties, how awful it must have been to have one your children move so far away from you, and not really be sure when youll see them again. Nicky

Wales was considered a safer region than the industrial areas of England.It was further away from front line bombing. My mother took herself off to South Wales with my brother so that she could stay with relatives and get away from the bombing in the Portsmouth area. There were more organised public schemes but many people made their own arrangements if they knew someone in a safer area. Gwyn

I was reading that over 3 million people were evacuated between 1939 -1940 from major cities. So that number must be much higher if evacuations continued up to 1943 and possibly later. I wonder if there would be a list of peoples names/dates/destinations etc..... Deb:)

MY OH with his Mum and bro & sister went to Torquay too after being sent to Kent in the early part of WW2. I was only 2½ in 1939 when i was evacuated to Kent and I bonded with my step mum ,so much so that i really didn't want to go 'home' in Jan 1946.My foster parents wanted to adopt me and it was heartbreaking for me to go 'home'. I left being the baby and returned with three younger siblings that i didn't know and a mum & dad that i knew were mine but i loved my 'auntie'more I still retained my contact with my foster Mum and her OH after he came home from the War.and they had their only child .a daughter, in 1949. We are like sisters and STILL in contact. Evacuation tore many families apart,and many of the evacuees had a very hard time in the temporary homes.not wanted and in some cases abused. I was lucky as well as my elder sis & bro and younger one too .we were well treated Shirley

I doubt that theres much Deb. Like Gwyneth said many people did it off their own back. 3 of my younger aunts were evacuated and my Nan and the older ones followed them just so that they could keep the family together. I don't think it was a very uncommon decision to do this. Sheila

I have to pop out for a while but will check back in a few hours. This is a really interesting topic and I'm starting to get a picture of what it must have been like during this time frame. Deb:)

I have seen log books from a Dover school from when it's children were evacuated to south Wales. Host families name was mentioned, plus age and name of evacuee and duration of stay. If they moved elsewhere from their host, that was noted too. Private arrangements were not logged as such, although I was able to trace my brother's time at the village school in Wales from an old school log book. Gwyn

My mother was evacuated to Wales and tells how the children were lined up on the Welsh station platform and picked as if they were being chosen for a game of football. Later on in the war my mother and her younger brother were brought back to London so the family could be reunited.

My mother and uncle were evacuated from Manchester to Uttoxeter. My mother lived with a farmer and his family and absolutely loved it. My mother stayed in touch for many years and, when I was around 16, I was taken to see the family. My mother was welcomed by the farmer's sons as if she were their sister. We often hear bad stories about evacuation. But there were very many good ones.

My gg grandfather in Camden Town, London was in his early 80s in 1940 during the Blitz and his wife, my gg gran was 77, but she died in 1943 and he lived until 1947. Would they have been evacuated during WW2 at all, was it people of all ages? Ben

Hi Benjamin, From what I've been reading on-line, only pregnant women, children and the blind were evacuated by the government. But as you can see from the replies on this thread, many people evacuated under their own steam. Deb:)

yes Deb, People were evacuated to wales. My aunt and her friend, both teachers in London schools, were sent with groups of their pupils to South Wales in the war. My mother , then living in Middlesex, after some horrific bombing near by, took herself (then 6 months pregnan)t and her four other children and her blind father on the long journey by train to Wales to where her sister was staying. We were there for two years.I was two and a half when we went and have very clear memories of that time in Wales. M

Thanks Marie, It looks like my relative was probably evacuated to Wales then as she was pregnant in 1940. I always wondered why she went to Wales. Deb:)

My Nan who was living in Muswell Hill, London took her 3 children and a neice to Wales during the war, it was arranged my Grandad who was based in Wales in the army. They lived in a shared cottage very near to the Army base. They all tell tales of happy times there. We went back there for a family holiday when I was small (in the 70's) and saw the school, cottage, army base etc. We ended up living there a few years later and I met my husband (now Ex) in the place that was one the army cook house where my Grandad was working (it's now a pub). He went to the same tiny school that my mum had gone to and we got married in the village that the army camp was in. One of the 'old men' of the village told us that he remembered the army arriving, all marching down the road into their tiny village and beyond to other postings! My Dad didn't have such a good time when he was evacuated, he was badly treated by one family and he missed him Mum terribly. He says that the 'London' kids were kept seperate from the 'local' kids, one lot going to school in the morning and the others in the afternoon.

The Imperial war museum has a lot on civilians and especially evacuees. Just had a look at iwm(.)org(.)uk and searched 'evacuees' there is quite a bit there including Wales. OC&G

Thanks orange cat, I'll go and have a look. Sounds interesting. Deb:)