English Children in World War II:

An Examination of Experiences

Jessica Chitwood
Fall 2014
History 395: Section 1
Michael Galgano

Observing childrens play often reveals themes of playing war, caring for babies,
pretending to do jobs like gardening and nursing, and exploring new places. These tasks
are now a matter of play or imagination during childhood, but for English children during
World War II these tasks took on a serious nature. As the war began in September 1939,
many children evacuated to unknown environments because their homes were no longer
safe. Some children left school to take care of younger siblings and others worked at
gardening and harvesting to contribute to the war effort. Each child felt the impact of the
war daily, but no two experiences were the same. During the war, adult decisions and
policies created a multiplicity of specific experiences children encountered; however, the
existence of war impacted all children regardless of their specific circumstances.1
1

Understanding the home front and social welfare during the war begins with examining Angus Calder, The
Peoples War: Britain, 1939-1945 (New York: Pantheon Books, 1969) and Richard Morris Titmuss,
Problems of Social Policy (London: His Majestys Stationery Office, 1950). A general examination of
British childrens experiences during the war is addressed in Robert Westall, Children of the Blitz:
Memories of Wartime Childhood (New York: Viking, 1986).Susan R. Grayzel, At Home and Under Fire:
Air Raids and Culture in Britain from the Great War to the Blitz (New York: Cambridge University Press,
2012), includes a valuable treatment of the efforts taken to protect children and the civilian population.
Critical monographs concerning childrens evacuation experiences include John Welshman, Churchills
Children: The Evacuee Experience in Wartime Britain (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010) and
Ben Wicks, No Time To Wave Goodbye (New York: St. Martins Press, 1988).Keith A. Parker, British
Evacuees in America During World War II, Journal of American Culture 14, no. 4 (Winter 1994): 33-40,
accessed October 3, 2014, http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=3c25ec2f8989-4515-a157-3ae82392fd19%40sessionmgr113&hid=119, establishes an understanding of English
children evacuated to the United States during the war. Leena Mehreen Akhtar, Intangible Casualties: The
Evacuation of British Children During World War II, Journal of Psychohistory 37, no. 3 (Winter 2010):
224-51, accessed October 18, 2014, http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=e3fcdc5e281a-4f51-8d2e-7ea39174400f%40sessionmgr4005&vid=3&hid=4105 and Eleanor H. Bernert and Fred C.
Ikle, Evacuation and the Cohesion of Urban Groups, American Journal of Sociology 58, no. 2
(September 1952): 133-38, accessed September 28, 2014, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2772183, address
evacuation from a psychological standpoint. Berry Mayall and Virginia Morrow, You Can Help Your
Country: English Childrens Work During the Second World War (London: University of London, 2011)
and Richard Moore-Colyer, Childrens Labour in the Countryside During World War II: A Further Note,
The Agricultural History Review 54, no. 2 (2006): 331-334, accessed October 18, 2014,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40276202, include detailed treatment of childrens work during World War II.
Valuable collections of primary accounts of childhood during World War II include Childhood and
Evacuation in WW2 Peoples War, accessed October 20, 2014,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/ and The Second World War, Spartacus-Educational,
accessed October 20, 2014, http://spartacus-educational.com/2WW.htm. Available Light Productions,
Children in World War II (video), directed by Tom Cudbill, 2009, accessed October 19, 2014,
http://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/1743200, includes primary accounts of childhood during the
war along with valuable film clips and images. Primary History World War 2, BBC, accessed November

Multiple efforts to collect memories of wartime experiences in the United

Kingdom took place in recent years. The existence of these rich archives allow access to
many primary accounts of childhood during the war. The accounts from the various
archives and sources are written from the perspective of adults recalling events from their
childhood. As adults recall specific memories, we do not typically take particular care to
note the date or exact location of an event. We generally describe what happened and
why it was important to us rather than providing full background for historical research.
These types of sources are still valuable accounts of how children experienced the war
and are the basis for much of the development and analysis of this paper.
Before the Blitz2, before Germany invaded Poland, and before there was a direct
threat of a second world war, England developed plans to protect children in the event
that a hypothetical war came to fruition. In fact, the lasting impression of World War I
prompted England to create contingency plans for the potential of future war. The threat
new war technologies posed to civilian populations was evident in the aerial attacks that
took place in the Spanish Civil War in the years preceding World War II. Because of the
devastation caused in these areas, creating plans to protect civilians in the event of such
attacks took on a new relevancy. It was also militarily advantageous to minimize

16, 2014, http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/world_war2/, provides access to primary sources,

photographs, and contextual information relating to children during the war. Keep Calm: A Message to
Londoners, London Times, September 1, 1939, accessed November 16, 2014,
http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/browseEdition.do?prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=viva_jmu&tabID=T004
&method=doBrowseEdition&mcode=3FDQ&dp=19390901&docPage=browseissue&fromPage=browseIss
uePage and Long-Term Policy for Evacuation, London Times, October 16, 1939, accessed November 16,
2014,
http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/browseEdition.do?prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=viva_jmu&tabID=T004
&method=doBrowseEdition&mcode=3FDQ&dp=19391016&docPage=browseissue&fromPage=browseIss
uePage, are important sources of primary evidence relating to media coverage of evacuation.
2
Concentrated bombing of London by the German air force throughout 1940-1941. The Germans also
targeted other major cities.

casualties, especially childhood causalities, to limit the power of an enemy to cause chaos
and break the will of the civilian population.3
Throughout the late 1930s as Germanys aggression intensified, England initiated
plans to evacuate children out of large cities like London. In May 1938, Parliament
named Sir John Anderson4 chairman of a committee responsible for solidifying plans and
identifying challenges to evacuating large numbers of civilians from urban to rural areas.
The culmination of the Anderson Committees investigation was the Anderson Report.
This report laid out guidelines for evacuation including the allocation of funds and the
organization of evacuation through childrens schools with the supervision of their
teachers. Following the publication of the report, schools began preparations for the
logistical necessities of the evacuation scheme. Teachers created packing guidelines and
whole schools practiced walking to the train and bus stations that might take them away
from the cities. Some teachers even used whistles to synchronize students movements. 5
The creation of the evacuation scheme resulted from a combination of the threats
the war posed to civilians and an extension of adult values and perceptions of children
both before and during the war. The formation of the Anderson Committee and the
creation of the Anderson Report reflect the accepted certainty that bombing would take
place to some degree. Despite this certainty, the ultimate decision to have children
evacuated belonged to parents. In a leaflet aimed at convincing parents to evacuate their
children, the government revealed the acceptance of the physical danger children might
face, If we were involved in war, our big cities might be subjected to determined attacks

Titmuss, 3-14; Wicks, 9-10.

Sir John Anderson was a British member of the House of Commons during World War II. He was an
essential figure in planning and implementing civilian precautions.
5
Titmuss, 27-28; Wicks, 20.
4

from the air -at any rate in the early stages- and although our defenses are strong and are
rapidly growing stronger, some bombers would undoubtedly get through. The
governments emphasis on evacuation and many parents cooperation with evacuation
indicate that adults valued children as an innocent group that needed protection from the
threat war posed. Parents decisions to evacuate their children or keep them in larger
cities and target areas directly impacted childrens specific experiences during the war.6
Evacuation was not the only means of safety preparation the government
implemented that reflected the need to protect children. To ensure parents knew how to
protect their children as best they could, the government issued leaflets and other forms
of public information. Topics ranged from preparation for nighttime air raids to proper
use of gas masks and other domestic preventative measures. The government also created
propaganda aimed directly at children in an effort to keep them safe in an environment
that was inherently uncontrollable. Many posters and fliers included cartoons to directly
appeal to children. A 1940 poster gives
instructions for preparing for bed through
pictures and language children could
comprehend like, Water in buckets? and
Sand in buckets? The simple wording
and the cartoon pictures communicated an
important message to children in a way
they could understand. Ads targeted at both parents and children reflect the emphasis the
government had on protecting children. Ads designed specifically for children, like the
Look before you sleep poster, reflect the adult decision to involve children in
6

Titmuss, 28; The Second World War, Spartacus-Educational.

preparation for their own safety. Adults involvement of children as agents of preparation
reveals that adults viewed children as a capable group.7
Another safety measure emphasized before the war was the issuance of gas masks
for all children and infants. Each child received a gas mask in the years leading up to the
war. Air raid wardens and parents required children to carry their masks with them in
small white boxes everywhere they went. Such care was taken to ensure the safety of
children that the government designed special helmets for babies to be strapped into in
the event of a gas attack. Adults could enclose babies in the helmets and pump air
through a ventilator into the helmet. The design of the helmets allowed caregivers to
easily transport the baby enclosed within. 8
The government launched propaganda campaigns to persuade parents of the
necessity of putting babies through some discomfort for their safety. The image to the left
depicts a training session for mothers on
the proper use of infant gas helmets.
Germany did not use gas in any of the
attacks on England, but the mere
possibility that war might involve gas
prompted the government to take
measures to protect children. The widespread issuance of and training in gas mask usage
reflect the emphasis adults placed on the safety of children during the war. Whether
through toting gas masks around all day, learning about protecting oneself, or preparing

7
8

Primary History World War 2, BBC.

Children in World War II; Grayzell, 232-48.

to evacuate, adult decisions based on the need for safety had huge impacts on childrens
experiences during the war.9
Please continue reading in the next textbox.

Grayzell, 249.