LCC , London County Council x London County Council

Plans and preparations for the evacuation of civilian populations from vulnerable areas had been made well before the war. London was regarded as the main target, and the general belief was that hostilities would start with an immediate series of heavy aerial bombardments. During the Munich crisis of September 1938 about 4000 children from nursery and special schools were sent by ambulance to camps and residential schools outside London. They were brought back within a month, the crisis having passed. This experience was to prove useful.

In January 1939 a special evacuation division of the Ministry of Health and the Board of Education, with the help of officers of the Council, made detailed plans. Schoolchildren, children under five with their mothers, expectant mothers, and blind adults were treated as priority classes. Transport was planned for moving a million and a quarter people from London. In August 1939 the Council announced that 600,000 people had been evacuated without mishap. By Christmas 1939 no serious air attacks had occurred, and a large number of the evacuees had returned to London. In June 1940, with the increasing threat of air-raids, the exodus from London recommenced, although this time the priority classes were encouraged to make their own arrangements; free travel vouchers were issued and billeting allowances paid. The constant problem was to check the drift back to London whenever there was a lull in the raids, to be followed by another exodus when the air raids started again.

The evacuation encountered many difficulties and criticisms. It did, however, undoubtedly save the lives of thousands of children. The London children and the residents of the countryside were brought into sudden and closer awareness of each other. The way of life of the slum dwellers was startlingly revealed, giving added impetus to the movement for a reconstruction of London to provide better living conditions for its citizens.