Is there a searchable List of Evacuees WW2

[John Walker]

As per the title - Is there a searchable List of Evacuees WW2

My Grandmas house was badly damaged in one of the air raids on Canterbury in WW2. I know that she was evacuated to Roffey near Horsham with her three youngest children and they stayed on a farm somewhere near a White Horse pub.

The two oldest girls (one was my mother Fiona Mina Roger) who were about 15 and 16 didn't stay with them at the farm and I'm trying to find where they were during that period. It's possible they stayed at the White Horse pub as I'm told the pub sent the family a calendar each year. I also have a photo of a family - Mum, Dad and daughter. Written in my mothers album beside the photo is Mr and Mrs Beal with Dorothy. On the back it says To Fiona with love from us all from Aunty Ethel. (We don't have a real Aunty Ethel in the family so probably a close friend) So I'm trying to trace an Ethel Beal and a Dorothy Beal who might have run a pub, possibly in the Horsham area.

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[Jill on the A272]

There is no official list of evacuees, although the 1939 register was taken on 29th September and people were recorded wherever they were on that date. Entries for people still living are still redacted, and some who have died more recently still cannot be seen.

[Jill on the A272]

I've found a Mrs Dorothy A Beal b 4-08-1904, millinery saleswoman living at Okehurst Farm, Billingshurst in 1939 (which is in Horsham Rural District). ther farmer is a Rudolph B Fielding, and there is another woman and child who may be evacuees.

There is a Theresa E Beal with her husband George (a nurseryman) at 86 Spencer's Road, Horsham.

[Jill on the A272]

You can see the modern map of Roffey and a 1930s one side by side here

[Jill on the A272]

A further look this morning shows that Theresa married George in 1915 and her maiden name was Badock. In 1911 Therese Ethel Badcock was living with her parents at Ifield (part of Crawley and quite close to Horsham) so I think this is your couple. Looks like they were childless as there are no Beal/Badcock births.

I've got Badcock ancestors but I don't think Theresa is one of mine.

[John Walker]

Many thanks for the information Jill on the A272
The daughter, Dorothy looks like she is about 8 years old in the photo. As far as we know the photo would have been taken around 1942. There use to be a White Horse pub in Roffey but it seems to have closed now. My Grandfather who was in the RAF at the time visited the family while they were still evacuated in Roffey around 1942 and they met at the White Horse pub. The Beal family sent the family a calendar each Christmas for many years. We don't know Mr Beal's given name, only that his wife was Ethel and his daughter was Dorothy. My two uncles and my aunt who were evacuated are still alive and living in Australia but only have vague memories of that time. The big puzzle is, where were their two older sisters evacuated to. We know the others were staying at a farm so we are thinking that the older two possibly stayed at the White Horse. The reason for asking if there was a list of evacuees was so we could be certain where the two older girls actually went to.
We will probably never know as there is so little to go on but many thanks again for your help.
John

[Janet]

It is always worth getting in touch with the main British Evacuees Associatiot at:

http://www.evacuees.org.uk/.

They have a s lost touch part of their bi-monthly journal. You can always tell them your story and hope someone may pick it up. The problem with the 1939 Registration Record is that most evacuees are blacked out, unless they are with their parents or other relatives and you can guess.

You may need to ask yourself some questions like:

What year were they evacuated?
How long were they evacuated for?
Did they stay in the same house or move around the area?
Did they move with a school/independently as private evacuees or were they moved by the Local Authority as part of a planned evacuation of the area in which they lived in Kent?
Where did they go to school when they moved to Roffey? It is worth looking for school records for the area. Sone are online through FMP but not all but maybe the school records are with the local CRO. If at a private schoo;then write direct to the school to see if they have records in their archives.
Local newspaers for the area may also give some idea of life in a place at this time with many references to Evacuees.

I have found information in a local paper about a Christmas Party for evacuees I attended in Bodmin. Little snippets gere and there can help build a picture.

The other place worth looking at is the BBC site for wartime memories completed 2005. This site contains several sections including wartime memories of evacuees. There is a search facility whereby you can key in places and possibly names, so you key in Roffey or nearby places to see if anyone has written anything about the area your relatives were evacuted.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/

Evacuees Section

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/categories/c1162/

It is tricky finding evacuees but more is coming to light every year as more people write up their memories, but we are a dying breed as not so many left now!!

Janet

[Jill on the A272]

The West Sussex Gazette and The District Post are the two local papers, maybe they'd print a letter as there may be people still alive who might remember evacuee children.

[Jill on the A272]

The landlord of the White Horse in 1939 was William C Scott and his wife Alice, their son (?) Ernest who was a motor fitter lived with them. Also resident were Winifred and Edward Hillier (a printer).

[Sylvia C]

School leaving age in 1939 was 14 ............

both those girls could have left school and been out at work, joined the Land Army, etc

They could have visited Roffey during a holiday.

[John Walker]

Thanks again Jill. It's beginning to look like the Beal family from my Mother's album didn't come from Roffey so I guess we might never know where my Mother and her sister were at that time.

John

[John Walker]

Sylvia, You could well be right. I know my Mother joined the ATS but we thought that was later - unless she managed to get in early of course. As for my Aunt, nobody seem to know what she was doing at that time.

Thanks

John