The W.V.S and the Evacuees

Alice Muxlow in 1968

All through the war the WVS ladies spent a lot of time dealing with the evacuees and the problems caused by such a large influx of strangers into a small community.

In October 1939, the WVS committee organised a town meeting and a local committee was formed to provide winter boots and clothing to evacuee children in need, children of men serving in the Forces and children whose parents were in poor circumstances.

By the spring of 1940 there were 600 evacuee children in the town and the WVS was continuing to distribute clothes and boots.

When in September 1940, 450 women, children and elderly evacuees from Colchester and 400 children from London arrived, the WVS ladies acted as billeting officers, escorted people on hospital visits and helped at the reception centre. They obtained furniture for families billeted in empty houses and collected and distributed clothing. They also helped to fill in forms and emergency ration cards.

At this time there were, incredibly, over two thousand evacuees in the town, as Rushden was the terminus for buses coming from King’s Cross. Members visited the centre for “difficult” evacuee children, recently opened at “The Beeches” on Higham Road and supplied clothes, toys and knitted items, as well as giving help on the spot with bathing, mending and feeding. 

Members arranged with the Chief Billeting Officer to visit billets where disputes had arisen between evacuees and householders. This became a regular part of their duties and the Centre Organiser was proud to report that the disputes were usually settled without the necessity of removal. According to Mrs Muxlow’s report there were “approximately two thousand cases of disputes between hosts and evacuees, all of them visited and settled amicably.” It does seem a remarkably large number.

An evacuee mother of five, all under the age of seven, gave birth to her second child since coming to Rushden. The WVS was on hand to help and furnished a room where she could live with her three youngest children.

Just before Christmas 1941, a representative of the WVS attended a meeting to arrange treats for the evacuees. Members agreed to pack and distribute over 300 packets of biscuits and sweets to evacuees under five years.

In March 1942 there were still over 400 evacuees in the town and clothing was still being made and distributed.

There was a new draught of eighty-eight children from London and this caused complaints that some of the children had been evacuated five or six times and it was said that confirmed bed-wetters should not be billeted in private houses but in hostels.

Members furnished a house for an evacuee family bombed out in London . The evacuees also received a present of a large cot blanket knitted by the infants of Newton Road School .

In October 1942 Mrs Muxlow noted in her report–

	Evacuees in the town	Unaccompanied children	241
	Mothers and children	mothers 50	children 81
	Teachers 20	helpers 6

There were 432 mothers and children compared with 600 plus in October 1940.

In June 1944 the V1 rockets, flying bombs, also known as “doodle-bugs”, began to fall on London , causing considerable loss of life and property, and again evacuees started to arrive in Rushden. In July 1944 the town received 1,327 official and several hundred unofficial evacuees from London and 624 officially from Clapham, Hackney and Stoke Newington.

There were 35 unaccompanied children, 212 mothers and 357 children, fewer than a hundred of them of school age. The WVS acted as billeting officers and welfare helpers. Five Rest Centres had to be opened and staffed for the night. The Rest Centres remained open for six days and nights, and members were on duty all the time. The last 89 evacuees, all large families, were finally billeted in five large houses loaned by the Military. A team from Wellingborough took over at one Rest centre, to relieve the Rushden ladies. The following week, the job of finding luggage, borrowing prams and cots was still going on, and new and second hand clothing was being issued. A letter of appreciation was received from the Chief Billeting Officer.  

The Centre Organiser noted in her August 1944 report that there were now 1,563 registered evacuees in the town and many unofficial ones. Second hand clothing was in great demand.

Evacuee numbers went down by 560 as people returned to London , but with over 1,000 still in the town, five hostels continued to be busy. “The Beeches” hostel for “difficult” children was full and WVS members attended every week to do mending and to help generally.

In April the Centre Organiser arranged to assist the Billeting Officer in aiding the return to London of 340 evacuees. Members visited evacuee mothers and children and elderly people to help with the filling in of Evacuation forms.

By October 1945 only fourteen children remained at “The Beeches” but a mending party continued to attend each Thursday.

Many evacuees stayed in touch with their host families and looked back with pleasure at their time in Rushden and the kind welcome they received.

Pat Jenkins.

	Sources	The Centre Organiser’s monthly reports to WVS H.Q.
		Minutes of the Committee meetings of the Rushden unit
		The Rushden Echo & Argus
		"The Shrapnel Pickers" by George Schofield

Note: If you were evacuated to Rushden and you'd be willing to share your story with us - please contact us

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Evacuation Leaflet Evacuee News  Evaccuees 1939 Evacuee Letters 1941