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Evacuee or not evacuee, that is the question

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  • Evacuee or not evacuee, that is the question

    I have nobody left from my father’s generation to ask about this and am completely stumped. My father was born in 1937, meaning that in 1939 he would have been 2 years old. On finding the 1939 census record for his household, it listed both parents and two siblings who were actually younger than my dad, but no mention of my dad or older siblings. My understanding was that pregnant women or women with children under school age would be evacuated together. I am so confused as to where my dad was and his brothers and sisters if both parents and younger siblings were together. I have searched all over and I know he mentioned being evacuated. Can anybody shed any light on this?

  • #2
    My mother was evacuated to family in Cornwall, along with 2 of her sisters, one stayed in London. Have you checked out all family, even if a bit tenuous, it was a cousin of her father that they went to, and she then sent her onto a village family as she couldn't cope with all 3 girls. My mother has a quite a unique names, and I searched in the newspaper and have found her in summer fete running race in Cornwall, so another way I found her. Mine is still alive so I knew where to look. I don't think she was unique in being sent to relatives, rather than on a official evacuation.

    Are they in an area that would be evacuated?

    I assume the 1939 family have no members redacted?
    Carolyn
    Family Tree site

    Researching: Luggs, Freeman - Cornwall; Dayman, Hobbs, Heard - Devon; Wilson, Miles - Northants; Brett, Everett, Clark, Allum - Herts/Essex
    Also interested in Proctor, Woodruff

    Comment


    • #3
      Welcome to the forum Searcher64, evacuation was both official and unofficial, (unofficial where families sent children to family or friends). Your father if still living will not be visible on the 1939 (redacted and the entry blacked out) or if he has died relatively recently will not be searchable yet. If you know which school his older siblings attended it might be possible to find out where they went from newspaper reports.

      Comment


      • #4
        Hi Carolyn and Jill. My father passed away in 2016 and all other records have not been redacted. I have managed to piece everything together except this little period in 1939. He appears again when he married my mother at age 20. So 18 years is a big gap. He had 3 brothers and 4 sisters, all of which have also passed away and I’ve searched them also. I am not in touch with any of my cousins so have no one to ask about schools etc. They were all from Holborn in London and I remember my dad telling me about being evacuated but remember none of the details. I keep thinking it might be Wales for some reason. Looks like I’ve a long journey of searching ahead of me ?

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        • #5
          If you want to give his name I can have a look in the newspapers.

          You can access the newspapers via FMP and you may be lucky to have access at home via your library atm due to the virus, each library is different.

          Carolyn
          Family Tree site

          Researching: Luggs, Freeman - Cornwall; Dayman, Hobbs, Heard - Devon; Wilson, Miles - Northants; Brett, Everett, Clark, Allum - Herts/Essex
          Also interested in Proctor, Woodruff

          Comment


          • #6
            If you have a FindMyPast subscription you can send them an image of the person’s death certificate and ask them to open the entry on the register. It might take them a wee while to match it to the correct person. Be prepared for the person not being where you expected them to be.
            Another thing to consider is that sometimes children from England & Wales were evacuated as far north as Scotland to our more rural areas. If that was the case, you will not find him on the 1939 Register for Scotland as ours is not open access.

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            • #7
              I would say quite a few were evacuated to Wales, so your memory might be correct.
              ~Val~

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              • #8
                Can't help with your specific query, but the 1939 register shows my grandparents in Wye, Kent with evacuees from London.
                ~ with love from Little Nell~
                Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

                Comment


                • #9
                  Thank you to everyone for your replies on this. I will carry on my search using the bits of advice I’ve picked up here. Thank you ?

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    You could try finding out where any possible siblings went. If they were school age and from Holborn then try the Metropolitan Archives as they have excellent Evacuee records for parts of London. The Evacuees Association is also worth a try as they have a losst touch section and they also have many London members. If you can locate the school siblings may have attended then you may be able to write to the school for more information or put the school into a newspaper search or local library dor that school. Unfortunately there are no complete registers as to where children went and from London they mainly went West to Wales/Devon and Cornwall. I would suggest that age 2 he would not have been in the First wave of 1939 evacuees but it is possible he was evacuated later and I would say quite probably when he was school age which may narrow down a year for you.

                    I was evacuated privately on my own age almost 5.

                    Janet

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Thank you, Janet. I will definitely try the things you’ve mentioned. The older siblings were definitely of school age, so hopefully will come up with something. Once again, thank you everyone for sharing your tips and advice

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                      • #12
                        I did a brief search of newspapers via Find My Past and found a reference to pupils from Holborn going on the Great Western Railway at the beginning of the war.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          searcher 64 PMd me with details, all the older children are in Rickmansworth with different families, and the 1939 register does have a redacted entry that looks like maybe the father, I am awaiting a reply.



                          Carolyn
                          Family Tree site

                          Researching: Luggs, Freeman - Cornwall; Dayman, Hobbs, Heard - Devon; Wilson, Miles - Northants; Brett, Everett, Clark, Allum - Herts/Essex
                          Also interested in Proctor, Woodruff

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Jill on the A272 View Post
                            I did a brief search of newspapers via Find My Past and found a reference to pupils from Holborn going on the Great Western Railway at the beginning of the war.
                            Hi Jill,

                            Thank you very much for searching the newspapers. I did try this at one point but came up with nothing. I honestly can’t thank you and Carolyn enough as you have obviously done this on your time purely just to help others. Thank you both again ?

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by cbcarolyn View Post
                              searcher 64 PMd me with details, all the older children are in Rickmansworth with different families, and the 1939 register does have a redacted entry that looks like maybe the father, I am awaiting a reply.


                              Redacted one is most probably the one/two year old and if he is deceased then the powers that be have just not got around to unredacting him! One of my brothers died in 1966 but he remained redacted until 2018.

                              Redacted people on the 1939 Registers are children who are supposed to be still alive though not all reddacted children are still alive. It does not include adults. Absent fathers in the services or other reasons would still be there as head of the family as No 1 with wife as No 2 and eldest child as 3 etc. However, even this does not always work as my mother is down as No 1 and my father No 2! My father was not at home as he was in the Navy. I am redaced as I am still here! But my brothers are listed as they are both deceased.

                              Janet

                              Comment


                              • #16
                                Thank you, Janet. Yes, it was my father who was redacted. Silly me didn’t realise that the blacked out line represented a person! I thought it was just how the form was printed. This is my first attempt at genealogy. It really has been such an interesting journey. I’m actually almost at the end with just a few odds and ends to clear up and will probably miss the searching ?

                                Comment


                                • #17
                                  Originally posted by Searcher64 View Post
                                  Thank you, Janet. Yes, it was my father who was redacted. Silly me didn’t realise that the blacked out line represented a person! I thought it was just how the form was printed. This is my first attempt at genealogy. It really has been such an interesting journey. I’m actually almost at the end with just a few odds and ends to clear up and will probably miss the searching ?
                                  We've all been there and not realised what we're looking at, but most of us don't own up - when I started I was fascinated by how many people there were called Living Natali on a particular Ancestry tree.

                                  Why not take your tree further back?

                                  Caroline
                                  Caroline's Family History Pages
                                  Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

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