Rooms apparently full

 Renting rooms in the 1940s may remind you of our website page Evacuees; the large numbers of children who travelled with their schools from Camden and other London boroughs, and coastal Sussex towns. The motivation was the 1939 Pied Piper project and later plans to protect the population from the worst of enemy bombing.  Much has been recorded by surviving evacuated children now in their eighties and nineties.

Rather less has been recalled by countless adults of the time transferring from their home towns to follow employers when they moved to more strategic locations.  Their time has passed and it will be their children and grandchildren who might carry the story forward – as long as the accounts are known and remembered.

Not part of individual accounts, however, is a conflict between the needs of the child refugees and those of adults moving in to the city and district for employment.  The often recalled account is that of the Chief Billeting Officer for a district being a stern and sometimes belligerent individual who, with a child or two in tow, knocked on doors and "demanded" that the householder accept at least one of the youngsters – "we all have to do our bit, you know."  Occasionally there is reported to be a police officer nearby, while the billeting officer is reputed to be threatening to invoke the law, which did exist but was rarely used because of the potential conflict between householder and evacuee, whether child or adult.

Being looked after – part of a "borrowed" family.
COURTESY IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM

To set some context for readers the issue facing St Albans' Billeting Officer, G C Cowan, was written up in an interview set up with a Herts Advertiser reporter (or perhaps the Editor) in August 1942 shortly before yet another crocodile of young incomers.  

In 1942 there were reported to have been 3,300 adults and children in accommodation in an appreciably smaller city than today.  Of this number were 1,300 children with their schools.  Although it appeared rooms remained available, the billeting staff founded it easier to gain the agreement of tenants of 6-roomed council owned homes than the occupiers of 6-roomed privately owned homes.  It is easy to suggest private home owners were more obstructive and less willing to accommodate strangers.  But there was another dynamic at work, especially when new groups of children were expected, as was to be the case in time for the start of the Autumn term 1942.

We should appreciate that no evacuee, adult or child, would be expected to be admitted to a householder's home without payment of expenses.  The fee per child was 12 shillings and sixpence (62.5p) per week; a householder could claim 35 shillings (£1.75) for an adult worker occupying the same room space.  When family income was modest, perhaps with a husband on military service, why would a housewife not hold out for an industry worker's fee per week.

Nurseries opened for extended hours to look after the children of mothers working in
nearby factories.

It would be a well made point that there is pressure for housewives to undertake shift work in munitions and assembly tasks, which would mitigate against accepting children.  Child care is no modern phenomenon; during the war day nurseries and after school children's clubs were common, but the more lucrative night shifts were not accessible if there were children to look after at home.  Such responsibilities did not come into play with adult lodgers, who may themselves be required to work night hours.

Women from St Albans on a shift at a munitions factory in Fleetville.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

The article was at pains to explain – and reinforce – a number of social and family benefits from taking in evacuee children: building more long-term relationships perhaps leading towards adoption, and children learning to call the adults mum and dad, or aunt and uncle; managing children with vivid imaginations and the ability to relate stories, where others might have called the child a "naughty little liar".  The helpfulness of billeting staff was reinforced in the case of periods when the household adult needed temporary relief of her responsibility, for hospitalisation, for example.  Of course, it is not possible for us to confirm the authenticity of these or other alleged statements.

The suggested myths around billeting officers and their approaches to householders may occasionally display a brusque side to their personalities, but rather like theatrical landladies and ARP wardens, they were volunteers attempting to do their best in challenging circumstances.  As were householders of course.  Most young people and adults will have come through the experiences without too much scarring, and many with positive, even warm, memories. 

The period was unique in this country's modern history.

Battle From Hastings

 Occasionally, this blog takes a diversion from any series of posts which is currently running.  As regular readers already appreciate we are steadily working our way along the south side of Hatfield Road, but the previous post gave us a rare opportunity to explore a newly discovered turnpike mile post.  It came about through an exploration of what would, in the 1920s and 30s, have been a small rural school along Watford Road which was under threat of closure.  After that closure had taken place shortly before World War Two, the children having transferred to the new Mount Pleasant School, Bricket Wood, the building seems to have re-opened again in 1940.

A weekend camp by children from Hastings Grammar Boys' School while in Hertfordshire
during 1942.
COPYRIGHT UNKNOWN

St Albans played host to two groups of schools (and at least one college) for at least part of the duration of the war.  The first group arrived with the Pied Piper evacuation in September 1939 with schools from Camden, among them Princess Road, Haverstock Hill, Rhyll and New End.  The following year a second wave of evacuations arrived from the Hastings area, including the town's grammar schools. No definitive list of all schools who moved has been located, nor their host schools in the receiving areas, in our case St Albans.  So when a new school is discovered it is a cause for celebration, partly because it still triggers personal memories, and partly because it is part of the story for both host and evacuated schools and their towns.

Children from St Mary-at-the-Castle School, Hastings enjoying a meal at St Stephen's
Parish Hall in November 1940.
COURTESY HERTS ADVERTISER

In November 1940 the Herts Advertiser published a photograph of children and staff of St Mary-in-the-Castle School, Hastings.  They are seen enjoying a meal sitting in St Stephen's Parish Hall.  So far we do not know to which local school they were attached, but it is possible that the parish hall and St Stephen's closed school could  have been sufficient to accommodate them; St Mary's was not a large establishment.  From the above photograph it is clear that at least some of the children were of junior age, and as with many schools at the time St Mary's was an elementary School with all three departments, infant, junior and senior located in very old and outdated buildings in the cramped centre of Hastings.

We know the name of three adults from the caption: J W Brittain was the Head who accompanied the children, along with member of teaching staff Miss F A Poole.  Mrs Foster was the cook, who may have been local, or an adult – perhaps a parent – who came with the school.

The red roofed building in the centre, the former St Mary-in-the Castle School, still stands
in the centre of Hastings, but a current school with this name no longer exists, no doubt
having been subsumed into one or more larger establishments during the post-war period.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

Some south coast schools returned to their home towns in 1942 when the bombing threats had subsided and it is assumed St Mary's did likewise. Before the school moved to St Albans the Sussex local authority had been planning a re-organisation of its schools and buildings.  When that process resumed after the war the original intention of retaining the original St Mary building came to nothing owing to its poor condition, and under new names and sites this and other schools became part of the Ore reorganisation in the 1950s.

Nevertheless, the people of St Albans were no doubt pleased to have hosted St Mary's-in-the-Castle School during its wartime evacuation. Equally, it is to be hoped the St Mary's children and their teachers enjoyed their time with us.  We know that many former evacuee children, as well as their hosts, remain in contact with each other via bespoke organisations, some with their own regular newsletters.  It may yet be possible to recover some memories of the connection between St Mary-in-the-Castle, Hastings, and St Albans.

Not the Only Ones

Two previous posts have highlighted the adventures of two schools from Camden which were evacuated to St Albans during the Second World War.  To be in a position to tell those stories sufficient snippets of information from the time were pieced together.

Other schools came to the city as well, but we know less about them; and it is possible that one or more schools arrived, about which we are aware of nothing, not even their name or names.

Close to Haverstock Hill (see previous post) is Rhyl Primary School, given the address as Malden Road NW5, but in fact the school fronts onto Rhyl Street.  Rhyl Girls' School arrived with other Camden schools in September 1939, and they come to our attention because the Herts Advertiser ran an article soon afterwards under the headline "We Did Not Want to Come."  A number of children were interviewed to discover how they had settled.

Rhyl School as it appears along Rhyl Street today.

"I am staying with very nice people (Scottish) and I think St Albans is a very nice place, but I think I would rather be back in London.  The lady I am staying with has not got any pets.  On September 1st we had to leave our homes and families in the morning, not knowing where we would sleep that night.  We all carried our belongings on our backs, and we each had to look after one infant on the journey."

Parliament Hill School, Hampstead, was allocated St Albans Girls' Grammar School.  In 1939 STAGGS occupied the building today's Fleetville Junior School, Hatfield Road.  For the first time we have become aware of a little personal information, in that two of the girls from that evacuated school were billeted at a house near the Wynchlands shops.  And after all those years, courtesy of a former neighbour, we know their names were Betty Penny and Monica Neagle who were about 14 when they arrived; they probably would not have remained beyond their school leaving age.

A workshop in use by Northampton Junior Technical College, London.
COURTESY HERTS ADVERTISER

A London junior technical college named, confusingly Northampton, took up residence at St Albans School.  It is the workshops which were put to good use by the college.  In 1940, when south coast schools were relocating to safer areas, including Hertfordshire, Hastings Boys' Grammar School moved into the brand new buildings of the Boys' County Grammar School, Brampton Road and probably remained until 1942.  As with many evacuated schools Hastings School was allocated a hall elsewhere as the host school buildings would only have been available in the afternoons.  In Hastings' case they were offered and accepted the Independent Chapel in Spicer Street.

Other schools and colleges may have come to St Albans in 1939 or 1940, and if they did their names and other details are unknown to us so far.

Readers might wish to follow up a more detailed article by the author about the removal of Eastbourne schools to Bishops Stortford. https://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/places/schools/eastbourne-bishops-stortford

Changing Our Name

In the previous post we heard of a primary school from Camden, Princess Road, which spent the entire period from 1939 to 1945, nesting in Fleetville while their homes near Regents Park were at risk of bombing.

Another school, Haverstock Hill Senior Schools, also spent time with us, but having a rather different outcome.  The school was formed from earlier establishments in new purpose-designed buildings at the foot of Haverstock Hill in 1911.  In 1939 the girls' section was led by Mrs Pearce, while the Head of the boys' school was Mr H J Blackwell.  At the beginning of September 1939 the schools, en-masse, boarded a train from nearby St Pancras and arrived at St Albans "for the duration," as the rather vague expression was often phrased.

The 1911 building of Haverstock Hill School, Chalk Farm, since replaced
by a more modern and extensive estate.

Their school home would be Beaumont which had barely been completed and its own pupils and staff moved in under their head teachers Miss Ellis and Mr T H McGuffie.  As with Haverstock Hill, the girls' school and boys' school shared the building but were administered completely separately – interesting when there was only one telephone!

The initial arrangement, common everywhere, was for Beaumont pupils to occupy the school in the mornings and Haverstock Hill in the afternoons.  It is possible that the Beaumont school roll was below capacity enabling some flexibility in the occupation of classrooms and halls.  As the Haverstock pupils were older than their primary peers some of the older ones may have returned home to look after family members or undertake work even though they may have been below leaving age.

At a presentation event in 1942: L-R Mrs Pearce (Head of HH Girls' School); Joan Parry (Head Girl Beaumont Girls' School); Colin Taylor (Senior Prefect Beaumont Boys' School); Mr T H McGuffie (Head of Beaumont Boys' School); Elsie Bridges (Haverstock Hill School); Mr H J Blackwell (Head Haverstock Hill Boys' School); Miss Ellis (Head Beaumont Girls' School).
HERTS ADVERTISER

However, between friendships made at school and friendships formed with their billet families it seems that many of the evacuees saw Fleetville as a second home.  In 1942 the Heads of Haverstock Hill at Beaumont had a decision to make.  We are not in a position to understand the trigger but it is possible that a number of pupils were still being enrolled at the Camden premises, and as the oldest pupils at Beaumont left at the end of their schooling, to have four separate heads in charge of a set of buildings probably seemed unnecessary.  Mrs Pearce and Mr Blackwell therefore closed their  two sections at Fleetville, but they gave the parents of their pupils the choice of remaining at Beaumont, transferring to the Beaumont roll.  Of course, this would also have relied on the co-operation of the billet families with whom they had stayed so far.  It is also likely that fewer top-up children arrived in 1941 and 1942 to replace those who had left.

We know that this offer was taken up by a number of Haverstock pupils, but there seems to be no record of how many or how long they remained with their host school and family.  Could a small number of leavers have remained in St Albans, taking up essential war-time jobs, remaining with their billet families?

At the close of the summer term in 1942 a collection was taken among the pupils of Haverstock Boys' and presented to Mr McGuffie so that a sports cup could be purchased.  This request was honoured as the author recalled the Haverstock Cup being fought for among the house teams in the 1950s.  But no-one seemed to think it important that the pupils might benefit from understanding why the trophy was so-named.

Sports cup winners at Beaumont Boys' School in 1959.  One of these trophies
may well have been the Haverstock Cup.

Mr Blackwell, in a letter to the Herts Advertiser, commented: "Will you permit me to express to the citizens of St Albans the heartfelt thanks of the children and staff who, during these three years and more, have enjoyed the hospitality of the city.  We owe more to the kindness, helpfulness and forbearance of its citizens than we shall ever be able to repay.  Each of us, I know, will have a warm corner in his heart for them."

Since this post was first published the Fleetville Diaries' Beaumont Avenue project has identified that Head Teacher Mr Herbert Blackwell, his wife Elizabeth, and their young son Michael, had obtained accommodation in a house called Elmwood, now number 43 Beaumont Avenue.  Also residing there were John and Lilian Rowe, and George Twigg.

All are described as being "in charge of children of government evacuation scheme."  Although not stated, it is likely that the other adults were also Haverstock Hill teachers at Beaumont.

We have focused on the billeting of evacuated children with local families; their teachers also needed accommodation and this is the first reference to the adults given the awesome educational and caring responsibility for the young people and where they lived – although Hertfordshire County Council accepted overall legal responsibility, and there are extensive reports on how it carried out its role.

Source: 1939 England & Wales Register.
Fleetville Diaries Right Up Our Street: Beaumont Avenue.

Long School Trip

A recent (2019) front page item on the website under the heading Decade News 1940, refers to schools which evacuated to St Albans from south coast towns in 1940.  While this was a significant event in itself and lasted for two years, we must not lose sight of the initial 1939 evacuation of schools from London whose official return did not take place until the war's end in 1945.  Given the distance in time from these evacuations we are in danger of losing what memory of the experiences still remains.

A letter of thanks and appreciation appeared in the Herts Advertiser in 1945 from the head teacher of Princess Road School, London.  As there were five schools with the same name in different parts of the capital it was necessary to identify the correct establishment.  The school which came to our city was Princess Road School, Camden, now renamed Primrose Hill Primary School.  There were some 300 junior children and the same number of infants.  It is not yet known whether both departments came, but we know that the school was paired with Fleetville School, which of course then only occupied the Royal Road building and its recently acquired huts.  Would there have been sufficient space for 600 children, if the hall was used for two classes?

Princess Road School, now renamed Primrose Hill Primary School, Camden.

Fleetville's own children attended school in the mornings, while Princess Road used the buildings in the afternoons.  Lest we imagine that this straightforward arrangement lasted uninterrupted for six years we must take into account a number of varied factors, including parents choosing to have children returned to London at any time they chose, children transferring to a senior school when they reached eleven, parents moving to a different town when allocated to new jobs; so the situation was fluid.  London County Council's own records are therefore scratchy.

A group of children – the adults are possibly their teachers – walking from
the station on arrival.  It is not known which school they were part of.
HERTS ADVERTISER.

Princess Road was also given access to the hall at St Paul's Church, presumably only for the mornings where their less formal education and other activities took place.  It was, at least, a base out of the rain and snow in winter.  That part of Blandford Road outside the church was cordoned off to form a temporary playground each day.

We know from occasional reports in the Herts Advertiser that the children ranged far and wide around the city visiting places of interest – and at least one letter home mentions a history study of the Romans at Verulamium.  Of course!

Princess Road School shared the accommodation at Fleetville School
for up to six years – afternoons only!

All of these children were billeted with families around the district, and it is presumed most stayed in homes in and around the Fleetville district.  Hosts would have taken responsibility for their evacuees during the weekend. So for up to six years the child population of our East End probably doubled.  On the positive side that's twice as many friendships which might have developed, and it would be good to think some of those friendships continued, at least by letter, after the return to Camden.

Today, we know that Primrose Hill Primary is interested in its own history, because it has a history page on its website.  So it is possible the school will wish to add a little extra paragraph about the extended school trip their children experienced between 1939 and 1945.

In the next post we will discover what happened to another Camden school, Haverstock Hill, when it was evacuated to St Albans.

Mixed Up 1940

Previously selected items of news from the decade years was featured, and 1940's choice was weather related, how people continued to survive everyday life through the bitterly cold weather. But there were other events.

Life in St Albans was, of course, a very different community than usual. A depleted young male population as they moved into the Services, large number of adults out of place, that is, having arrived in the city from elsewhere on wartime contracts, many of them boarding in homes with spare rooms.  It was this coming together of strangers which gave rise to the hugely successful Garden Club. Then of course there were schools and families who had evacuated, initially from London, and just a year later from the south coast.  Not far away were also island groups from the Channel Islands now  living more safely in Harpenden.

With the safety of the nation's children in mind, the government set up convoys of chartered ships to take families and unaccompanied children to Canada for the duration.  Although escorted, the passage of ships across the Atlantic was a huge risk and a convoy in mid-September was attacked by U-Boats.  

One vessel early in the convoy, thought to be SS Volendam, was torpedoed.  On board were "several hundred children" according to the Herts Advertiser and later recorded as 320, so we assume it to be a large vessel.  One of the supervisors on board was a teacher, Margaret Walker from 23 Hatfield Road.   

Later ships, SS City of Benares, SS Marina and SS Hurricane were also hit and the resulting loss of life was considerable.  This included death from extended exposure over several days in lifeboats.  Evacuation to Canada was immediately halted as the risk was clearly significantly greater than if the families and unaccompanied minors had remained at home.

Although Margaret Walker came from St Albans – or at least she was living here immediately before being deployed on the evacuation mission – we are uncertain whether any local families or children were also part of that convoy.  But there are other examples of people moving towards perceived safety and who nevertheless lost their lives.  Many Fleetville residents will be aware of the Strowbridge family who moved out from north London and took up residence into a newly completed house in Beaumont Avenue and on the night of the Coventry bombing in November suffered the loss of four of its members in a direct hit.

St Albans had other connections with child refugees both during World War 2 and in the decades following.  Details of some of these connections will be related by the author at a Fleetville Diaries event at Fleetville Community Centre on Wednesday 29th January at 7.30pm.

St Albans provided relief funds to the survivors of the
Duisberg bombing many of whom had become refugees
in their city's basements.