Wolverhampton and World War II

Evacuation

As Wolverhampton was considered to be a "safe" town with a lower risk of bombing, there was not the mass evacuation of children from the area as there was in other parts of the country. In fact Wolverhampton accepted evacuees from elsewhere.

'Secret and confidential' plans were put in place to receive evacuees at railway stations and disperse them around the area:

The table below shows that large public buildings such as the Civic Hall, cinemas, parish rooms and schools were to be ready to receive almost 6,000 evacuees from areas at immediate risk of bombing and invasion:

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(C-UD-TET/J47)

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The letter above was written to a school requesting the admittance of a 9 year old girl, from London who had been evacuated to Tettenhall c. 1941/2 (D-EDS-106/9/3)

In the summer of 1944, when the London area was under heavy aerial attack, a number of school children from London were evacuated to the Wolverhampton area.

Extract from SS Mary and John Infant School Log Book 1944
(D-EDS-105/4/1)

Towards the end of the war plans were made to allow evacuees to return home:

Bilston Borough Council minutes (LB352)