As part of our Tales from the Rails event, Senior Curator Seb Littlewood talks about this week’s theme of evacuees.
The United Kingdom had started planning for the possibility of another war with Germany from the mid-1930s. This included boosting defence spending and developing strategies around agricultural production. The railways were also heavily incorporated into this planning.
By 1938, the uncertain international situation before and after the Munich Crisis saw the re-establishment of the Railway Executive Committee, which had first been created in 1912 just prior to the First World War and disbanded in 1921. In the event of war, the committee would act as a link between the Government and the railway companies, advising on the running of the railways. Work on preparing the railways for war started in 1937 with the creation of the Railway Technical Committee.
As well as developing procedures and strategies for the logistics required to move huge numbers of service personnel, munitions, food, machinery and equipment smoothly around the country, the railway companies, along with government departments, had formulated schemes for the mass evacuation of schoolchildren, mothers with small children, the disabled and vulnerable adults from large urban areas, or areas at risk of bombing, to the countryside. The Munich Crisis provided an opportunity for the Great Western Railway to trial a dry run with 200 trains. Within a year, a fully-fledged plan involving the running of over 4000 special evacuation trains had been created along with timetables.
In the event of these procedures having to be used, the government had given the railway companies 24 hours to bring them into action. On 31st August 1939, the government gave the order. On 1st September, over 600,000 people were evacuated from London alone. By 3rd September and the declaration of war on Germany by Britain and France, 1.5 million people had already been evacuated from cities across the UK. Also “evacuated” were stockpiles of food, moved from vulnerable dockside warehouses to safer locations throughout the country.
GS 08/10/1988.3 – Tynemouth Education Committee Evacuation of School Children Leaflet.
For those children being evacuated, the government stated they should pack and bring with them:
“A handbag or case containing the child’s gas mask, a change of underclothing, nightclothes, house shoes or plimsolls, spare stockings or socks, a toothbrush, a comb, towel, soap and face cloth, handkerchiefs and if possible, a warm coat or mackintosh.”
1977-120.13 B – Government Evacuation Scheme Leaflet
Billeting of evacuees with families in the countryside was not a uniform experience. In some cases, a billeting officer had already allocated evacuees to specific households. In others, evacuees were simply lined up on the railway platform or in the village hall for the local residents to pick from. Often the cleanest and strongest looking children were picked first. Many rural residents were shocked at the state of the children arriving from the cities. A doctor in Northallerton wrote in the Lancet in 1939 that the children they received from Gateshead and Leeds were,
“Nearly all verminous… tooth combs and Derbac soap were sold out in Northallerton by the end of the week; the only subject of conversation on market day was the best methods of de-lousing’.
In these early days of the war, the numbers of people evacuated from urban areas of the North East were:
Newcastle: 28,000
Gateshead: 10,598
Sunderland: 8,000
Middlesbrough: 5,171
South Shields: 3,826
West Hartlepool: 2,881
Tynemouth: 1,481
A group of child evacuees arriving at Sherburn from Gateshead and Tynemouth at the start of the Second World War, they are carrying their gas mask boxes and are wearing their identity labels. 8th September 1939.NEG 67249.
Most were dispersed throughout the rural areas of Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland and the West Riding of Yorkshire. In October 1939, the Stanley News reported that the evacuees were settling down well but the parents were,
“Interfering and tiresome…”
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This summer we’re marking Rail 200 by exploring the importance of the railway throughout different time periods during Tales from the Rails. Each week we will be focusing on a different theme.
Visit this week (18th – 24th August), head to The 1940s Farm to learn about the role that rail transport played in safely transporting Evacuees during the Second World War.
Next week (25th – 31st August), visit The 1950s Town to discover the role the railways played in transporting people to football cup finals.
Use your Beamish Unlimited Pass or Friends of Beamish membership to enjoy Tales from the Rails. Pay once and visit free for a year!