At the outbreak of World War Two the parents of Roy and Denis heeded the official advice to evacuate their two boys, although the decision was voluntary.
Kettering was deemed to be a safe area of the country and as such it was compulsory for its residents to take in evacuees from places thought to be in danger from enemy action, like north west London. Private homes were assessed in terms of accommodation availability, rather than suitability, or the host's inclination to have a stranger's children living with them. If you refused to have the evacuees, without a good reason, you were taken to court.
For their journey to leave London the authorities advised parents what clothes their offspring should bring with them, along with their gas mask, ID card and food for a day. A description about the arrival of the brothers as evacuees is best portrayed by the written account1 from Denis below and is typical of what happened elsewhere:
When Roy and I were evacuated to Kettering in 1939, our Mum had insisted that we should not be separated. There was very little organisation, when the train arrived in Kettering, we kids were all divided up among the teachers who proceeded to go up and down streets, knocking on doors, asking people if they would mind taking in a refugee from London. As Roy and I were the only “pair”, we were the last ones left, as no-one wanted two children. Eventually, we found a kind lady and her teen daughter who agreed to take us but, by this time, it was getting late and very dark and little six year old me was getting rather tired. The kind lady realised this and quickly put some supper in front of us before sending us off to bed.
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| Wartime poster |
For their journey to leave London the authorities advised parents what clothes their offspring should bring with them, along with their gas mask, ID card and food for a day. A description about the arrival of the brothers as evacuees is best portrayed by the written account1 from Denis below and is typical of what happened elsewhere:
When Roy and I were evacuated to Kettering in 1939, our Mum had insisted that we should not be separated. There was very little organisation, when the train arrived in Kettering, we kids were all divided up among the teachers who proceeded to go up and down streets, knocking on doors, asking people if they would mind taking in a refugee from London. As Roy and I were the only “pair”, we were the last ones left, as no-one wanted two children. Eventually, we found a kind lady and her teen daughter who agreed to take us but, by this time, it was getting late and very dark and little six year old me was getting rather tired. The kind lady realised this and quickly put some supper in front of us before sending us off to bed.
I was a fussy
child – food wise – and one of my many dislikes was marmalade. The supper
provided was sandwiches. I immediately asked what was on them. Before the
landlady could reply, Roy got in with a quick : “Jam.” When I asked “What kind
of jam?”, he immediately replied “Orange jam.” I ate the sandwiches quite
happily.
Roy and Dennis were in fact billeted with Mrs Emily Grindrod, a widow aged 54, and her daughter Edith aged 24, a shorthand typist2. This was at 6 Salisbury Street, Kettering2, a terraced house. For looking after both of them Mrs Grindrod was paid 19 shillings a week by the government.
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| 6 Salisbury Street |
There were nearly 4,000 evacuee elementary school children received by Kettering. Their education started on 22nd September by way of a shift system3. The local children attended their school in the morning and the evacuees in the afternoon. Denis could not recall the name of his school but Roy always maintained he went to Kettering Grammar School. They were both there less than a year and probably returned to London when the schools broke up for summer, especially as the bombing in the capital had not been as bad as anticipated.
2. The 1939 Register, The National Archives.
3. Northants Evening Telegraph, newspaper, dated 21 and 23 September 1939.
