Board of Education and Ministry of Education: Evacuation Branch, Second World War,...

ED 134

1939-1959

Board of Education and Ministry of Education Evacuation Branch records reflecting their responsibilities for wartime services.

The series contains a number of file series which were opened shortly after the outbreak of war. With one exception, these are all in the General series:- G-A, ARP in Schools; G-A(1), ARP Programmes; G-B, Refugees in Schools; G-D, Timber and Steel; G-E, Evacuation; G-H, Clothes Rationing; G-R, Release of Premises; G-T, Evacuated Teachers' Allowances; G-WD, War Damage; G4000 series, Camp Schools; E-B(2), H.M. Inspectors' Reports on War Evacuation.

The papers in the G-B and E-B(2) series have been wholly preserved, and much of the remaining material in this series consists of H.M. Inspectors' reports in the G-E series. Also included are six complete representative specimen camp school files (opened following the Camps Act, 1939) from the G4000 series and one each of the remaining series.

When the Minister of Education took over the administration of the Camps Act 1939 from the Ministry of Health in 1945, the Ministry of Health files on this matter were transferred to the Minister of Education. After 1945 this series of files was closed and the camps renumbered according to their future use.

File series order. The G-B series is arranged alphabetically, the remainder are in county and county borough order.

A further wartime series dealing with the care of children of women war workers can be found in ED 66

G file series, WE file series and E file series

Public Record(s)

English

• Board of Education, Evacuation Branch, 1939-1944
• Ministry of Education, Evacuation Branch, 1944-1944

378 file(s)

Subject to 30 year closure

Topics

Refugees

Clothing

Conflict

Forestry

Education

Rationing

Operations, battles and campaigns

The main special function of the Board (and Ministry) of Education during the Second World War was evacuation. An Evacuation Division was set up to organise the evacuation of school children in conjunction with the Ministry of Health. Emergency duties, co-ordinated by the central authority, were largely carried out by local education authorities, including communal feeding of school children, the operation in reception areas of school medical services and the provision of nursery centres and emergency school accommodation.

The board was also concerned with the requisition and use of school buildings for war purposes, with air raid precautions, with staffing problems, with the provision of training for wartime services and with the youth registration scheme.

The Camps Act, 1939 provided funds for the construction of a number of permanent camps in the countryside for use in both times of peace and war. The camps were constructed and administered by the National Camps Corporation Limited, a non-profit making body set up under the Act. The responsible minister was originally the Minister of Health. In 1945 the Minister of Education took over this function. The camps were placed at the disposal of local education authorities for use as schools for evacuated children for the duration of the war. Circulars were sent to local education authorities in 1944 and 1945 regarding the peacetime use of the camps.