1939 Operation Pied Piper - Evacuated to Halsall
In the summer of 1939, with war imminent, the British Government issued a leaflet to every household across the United Kingdom entitled ‘Evacuation: Why and How?’. By August 1939, teachers were recalled from their summer holidays and evacuation
rehearsals were carried out across the UK. On Thursday, 31st August an evacuation order was announced by the government which was to come into force the very next day. On the morning of Friday 1st September 1939, children and teachers across the country gathered in schools and the evacuation process, known as ‘Operation Pied Piper’ was underway.
The government’s evacuation policy detailed how the UK was divided into three types of areas:
Evacuation areas – main targets for enemy bombing eg. major towns, cities or military bases.
Neutral areas – places that would not send or receive evacuees.
Reception areas – safer places such as remote coastal areas or rural communities which would take evacuees.
Evacuees were divided into four categories:
1. School age children
2. Blind and disabled people
3. Pregnant women
4. Mothers with pre-school children/infants
Whole schools including teachers were evacuated together wherever possible. The evacuation scheme was, in fact voluntary, however, communities in the reception areas were legally required to take in the evacuees for billeting.
The city of Liverpool’s plans were outlined in the Liverpool Echo newspaper at the time. Information regarding which people and areas were to be affected, what to do and how the evacuation would take place were published.
The evacuees were advised to take food for the day and the following items of luggage: nightclothes, underclothes, spare shoes and stockings, knife, fork and spoon, cup and plate, hairbrush and comb, towel and soap, handkerchiefs and gas
masks. The approximate number of evacuees from Liverpool at this time was:
school children – 78,000;
under 5 year olds – 36,500;
mothers and guardians – 25,500;
cripples and blind people – 2,500;
and expectant mothers between 6000 and 7000.
The plan for Liverpool for the first and subsequent two days of the evacuation involved 25 special trains with 800 children in each train running at regular intervals between 8.30 am and 4.45pm to the reception areas of the North Wales coast. In addition, trains ran throughout the three days to Ormskirk, Southport, Skelmersdale and stations in Cheshire. The maximum accommodation of evacuees in Southport was given as 2,500 and in the Ormskirk area (including Halsall) was up to 6,000 evacuees.
School attendance officers and other officials were recruited as marshalls and worked alongside the railways workers to supervise the evacuation of the school children and other evacuees.
Halsall had been identified as a reception area and evacuees from the Allerton and
Garston areas of Liverpool arrived in Halsall at the beginning of September 1939.
They were mostly school children and their teachers as well as some mothers with
infants.
Halsall resident, Ida Lloyd, nee Lowe was living with her parents at Watson House Farm in 1939. She contributed to the BBC archive of WW2 memories and describes the occasion when she had to choose two of the evacuees who had arrived in Halsall from Liverpool:
She then goes on to say:
‘A few nights after that, when the children were in the bath and my parents were out, an official came with two more evacuees, a mother and a boy. I said I already had two, but the man said we were put down for four – so I had to take them in. ‘
Having looked through the 1939 Register for England and Wales in relation to Halsall, the names of these evacuees living at Watson House Farm have not been recorded. Maybe they had returned home by the time the register was taken or perhaps moved to another area. However, many more evacuees were listed at this time and we can see who they were billeted with and where they were living.
Extensive research has been completed and recorded in the tables below:
| First name | Family name | Where born | Birth | Death | Link | Halsall Address | Household | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Euphemia | Cornes | Liverpool | 1884 | 1965 | GP5J-MF1 | Scarisbrick Arms | Dickinson | GJL7-9PX |
| Edward William | Davies | Frodsham | 1886 | 1949 | LWD2-QYR | Carr Moss Lane | Heaton | KCW6-4J1 |
| Elsie | Brockbank | Liverpool | 1895 | 1988 | LRDX-191 | Gregory Lane | Blundell | GPF3-M2Z |
| Doris | Derbyshire | Burton on Trent | 1898 | GPRZ-M1B | Heathey Lane | Brown | G7ZP-698 | |
| Elizabeth | Gerken | Birkenhead | 1899 | 1977 | GNP4-G25 | Cross Lane | Spence | GPTF-6KD |
| Helen | Reid | Liverpool | 1899 | 1964 | L499-HJ3 | Heathey Lane | Brown | G7ZP-698 |
| Annie | Morgan | Liverpool | 1903 | 1988 | LZ5G-LK6 | Renacres Lane | Higson | GPTX-FNL |
| Arthur L | Hughes | Mold, Flintshire | 1909 | 1944 | LTT1-GBZ | Summerwood Ln | Wilson | MJPN-7XQ |
| Margaret | Pilkington | Hightown | 1910 | GN6C-QC4 | Trundle Pie Ln | Swift | MV8R-Z9Y | |
| Margaret | Forrester | Liverpool | 1911 | 1990 | LTT1-2PB | Summerwood Ln | Gradwell | LTJW-DKM |
| Lilian Ethel | Lucas | Ellesmere Port | 1917 | GP5Z-8T7 | Plex Lane | Rimmer | GG26-SZY | |
| Anne | Hersey | 1918 | 1977 | GP6N-GJW | Carr Moss Lane | Rice | GP67-8P2 | |
| Norman | Jones | Liverpool | 1925 | 2002 | GPRZ-B7X | Moss Road | Aitchinson | GVHY-PR4 |
| Ellen | Clegg | Liverpool | 1926 | 1992 | GP5S-YBK | Segars Lane | Livesey | GN7G-25S |
| Audrey | White | Liverpool | 1926 | 1994 | GPR7-P3F | Cross Lane | Spence | GPTF-6KD |
| Catherine M | Stephen | Liverpool | 1926 | 1926 | GPRW-T59 | New Cut Lane | Cropper | KJGL-Z7S |
| Olive M | Swansbury | Wakefield | 1926 | GPFS-VKM | Gregory Lane | Huyton | GPF9-BRH | |
| Margaret | Goodier | Liverpool | 1927 | 2000 | GPXV-3TK | Gregory Lane | Threlfall | LKKX-7W1 |
| Edith G | Swansbury | Durham | 1927 | 2005 | GPFS-24T | Gregory Lane | Huyton | GPF9-BRH |
| Jean | Hughes | Liverpool | 1927 | 2012 | GGMD-ZBM | Asmall Lane | Serjeant | KJ2J-CD4 |
| Mabel | Buckley | Liverpool | 1927 | 1972 | GPRQ-2XD | Cross Lane | Mather | GKHZ-MPK |
| William | Kerr | Liverpool | 1928 | 1985 | GPC7-2SS | New Street | Craven | G2XM-T1Q |
| Kenneth | Morgan | Liverpool | 1928 | 1940 | GPRF-Q9Z | Renacres Lane | Higson | GPTX-FNL |
| Mabel Cynthia | Goodall | Manchester | 1928 | 1973 | G6XP-MGH | Asmall Lane | Grimshaw | GG5B-42V |
| Mary Elizabeth | Coventry | Liverpool | 1928 | 2006 | GP5S-1D8 | Segars Lane | Taylor | GPTX-F8C |
| Thomas Albert | Richardson | Liverpool | 1928 | 1949 | GP5C-YRV | Plex Lane | Rimmer | MG2C-158 |
| Kathleen | Gill | Liverpool | 1928 | 2014 | GPR7-PP3 | Cross Lane | Spence | GPTF-6KD |
| Harold Thomas | Goodier | Liverpool | 1928 | 2016 | GPRW-Z5H | Gesterfield Lane | Abram | G3CL-LCV |
| Raymond | Highdale | Liverpool | 1929 | 1999 | GPR6-9B2 | Moss Road | Brookfield | GLVB-QD7 |
| John | Lewis | Liverpool | 1929 | 1999 | GPHH-BF9 | Halsall Hall | Cropper | MHCN-1XS |
| Margery | Buckley | Liverpool | 1929 | 2014 | GPR7-3XX | Cross Lane | Mather | GKHZ-MPK |
| Bernard | Morgan | Liverpool | 1930 | 1940 | GPRX-1QV | Renacres Lane | Higson | GPTX-FNL |
| James William | Coventry | Liverpool | 1930 | 2011 | G4ZZ-8W5 | Segars Lane | Taylor | GPTX-F8C |
| Violet Emily | Todd | Liverpool | 1930 | 1974 | GPR8-71L | Moss Road | Sutton | GPTJ-WGD |
| Kenneth William | Taylor | Liverpool | 1931 | 2019 | GP6D-3LH | Carr Moss Lane | Townsend | 9JN3-MRD |
| Alfred Cornelius | Jones | Liverpool | 1931 | 1993 | GP6G-DYD | Carr Moss Lane | Threlfall | GLPC-LHF |
| Heather | Young | Liverpool | 1931 | 1993 | GPXS-JHP | Carr Moss Lane | Johnson | LV5V-8WS |
| Donald | Jones | Liverpool | 1931 | 2001 | GPR6-RWT | Moss Road | Middleton | GPTN-54N |
| Mary | Gerken | Liverpool | 1931 | 1992 | GPR7-4VP | Cross Lane | Spence | GPTF-6KD |
| Albert Cyril | Swansbury | Burnley | 1931 | 2011 | GPRH-7KV | Cross Lane | Huyton | GPC4-LKS |
| June Marilyn | Blackburn | Liverpool | 1931 | 2017 | GPRD-2LJ | Moss Road | Sutton | GPTJ-WGD |
| Ronald James | Taylor | Liverpool | 1932 | 1979 | GPH2-PLF | New Street | Ainscough | GV8D-395 |
| George | Rushton | Liverpool | 1932 | 2014 | GPDQ-GG6 | Carr Moss Lane | Parker | G68W-TT9 |
| Patricia | Anderson | 1932 | 2022 | GPD7-2MR | Carr Moss Lane | Sutton | GGM8-DWC | |
| Kenneth William | Kirkby | 1932 | 2003 | GP6N-R92 | Carr Moss Lane | Moorcroft | GP6F-V7L | |
| Mary | Davies | Liverpool | 1932 | 1970 | GPRH-DGZ | Renacres Lane | Rimmer | GPTN-GZP |
| Malcolm | Young | Liverpool | 1934 | 2017 | GPXS-6XB | Carr Moss Lane | Johnson | LV5V-8WS |
| Eric George | Taylor | Liverpool | 1935 | 2003 | GPH2-TCY | New Street | Ainscough | GV8D-395 |
| Gwen | Morgan | Liverpool | 1935 | 1940 | GPRF-4YQ | Renacres Lane | Higson | GPTX-FNL |
| Ralph | Morgan | Liverpool | 1938 | 1940 | GPRX-RBN | Renacres Lane | Higson | GPTX-FNL |
Most of the evacuees were children but there were also twelve adults, 8 of whom were teachers:
LWD2-QYR Edward William Davies (School Master)
LRDX-191 Elsie Brockbank (School Mistress)
GP5J-MF1 Euphemia Cornes (School Teacher)
L499-HJ3 Helen Mabel Reid (School Teacher)
GPRZ-M1B Doris Derbyshire (School Teacher)
LTT1-GBZ Arthur Hughes (School Teacher)
LTT1-2PB Margaret Forrester (School Teacher)
GP5Z-8T7 Lilian Ethel Lucas (School Teacher)
There were also another six evacuees who have not been included in the tables above as they could still be alive as no date of death has been confirmed for them during research. The households they were living at were the Threlfalls of Carr Moss Lane, the Neale family of Carr Moss Lane, the Huytons of Gregory Lane, the Gaskell household in Asmall Lane and the Lloyd family of Woodvale.
Halsall School Log Book
During the war years, Mr. Battersby, the headmaster of Halsall School at that time made occasional reference to school life and the evacuees in the school log book. Below is a taste of some of the entries:
(Taken from the website of St. Cuthbert Halsall Community Hub Archives)
September 4th 1939
Although war has been declared, school assembled as usual. After inspecting gas masks
and practice in putting on, school was closed in accordance with instructions until an
unspecified date.
September 11th 1939
School re-opened. Our own children used the school in the morning while the evacuees
worked in St. Cuthbert’s Hall. In the afternoon the evacuees used the school, while our
own children worked in the dining hall, the garden, one classroom, the hall and St.
Cuthbert’s Hall.
September 25th 1939
Through the kindness of Lady Lethbridge and Mr. Spence, a wireless set has been
installed for use of the Schools Broadcasts.
November 2nd 1939
Mr. Dowse, county organiser, and Mr. Campbell, Liverpool Inspector, came and
discussed absorption of evacuees into our own school.
November 22nd 1939
Miss Oldfield, county organiser, called and had a talk about food supplies under rationing
and use of alternative dishes.
December 19th and 20th 1939
Held parties for infants and juniors and for seniors. Entertained evacuees.
February 5th 1940
School re-opened. Evacuees absorbed. Miss Brockbank and Miss Lucas left to supplement
our staff. A transition class between between the two junior groups formed; this was taken
by Miss Lucas in the absence of Miss Brockbank.
September 27th 1940
Mr. Gaskell called up.
January 20th 1941
School not opened owing to snow drifts – roads impassable.
January 22nd 1941
School re-opened, but less than 50% of children present. Attendances cancelled.
July 9th 1941
Annual Sports held on field of Gesterfield Farm. Drake won the shield for inter-house championship.
December 19th 1941
Annual Prize Giving by Lady Lethbridge in school.
May 22nd 1942
Held celebration for Empire Day.
February 25th 1943
Miss Brockbank, evacuee teacher, returned to Liverpool.
August 18th 1943
Miss Waite absent – fiancee on leave.
November 11th 1943
Armistice Day – service at church at 10.55am.
June 5th 1944
Mrs. Haslam (nee Waite) absent without leave.
June 13th 1944
Talk by police and military on danger of touching bombs and other missiles.
May 8th 1945
School closed for Victory Celebrations
January 14th 1946
Mr. Gaskell returned after 5 ¼ years service in the Army.
