The Evacuation

This volume explores the organization and effects - personal, social and political - of the evacuation of children from Britain's metropolitan centres during World War II. It is published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, and the return of the children to their homes. The book is an account of the various stages of evacuation during the six years of the war, and how on 2nd May, 1945, 115 trains carried 54,317 kids and mothers home. But how was it organized? Voluntary organizations (including many church bodies) tried, but state intervention became necessary. And what was it like for the foster parents, the mothers and the children themselves? Finally, evacuation stimulated a concern for social reform, taken up by the Church and Archbishop Temple in particular, resulting in much of the welfare provision which emerged in the post-war years.