Yesterday we looked at the heartbreaking story of the SS City of Benares, and the children who were taken across the Atlantic to what their families hoped would be safety in Canada.
Today I want to look at the wider story behind that voyage, because those children were part of something much bigger. In the summer of 1940, Britain was facing the very real threat of bombing and invasion. For thousands of parents, one terrifying question began to emerge.
Would their children be safer if they were sent away from Britain altogether?
The government created the Children’s Overseas Reception Board, which was usually known as CORB, to organise the evacuation of British children overseas. Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa all offered homes. The idea attracted enormous interest from worried families. Thousands of parents applied for places, hoping that sending their children overseas might protect them from the bombing and the threat of invasion at home. On paper, it must have sounded very reassuring.
But I cannot imagine that the decision was ever simple.
Parents had to say goodbye without really knowing how long they would be apart from their children. Children left carrying luggage, labels and a few belongings from home, before travelling across the sea to live with people that they had never met. Some of the children would not see their families again for years.
Between July and September 1940, 2,664 children were sent overseas through the scheme.
Most went to Canada, others to Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. For many families, it was exactly what they had hoped for. A chance to get their children away from the bombing. But there was another danger. The journey itself.
On the 30th of August 1940, the SS Volendam, carrying hundreds of children across the Atlantic, was torpedoed. Thankfully, the children were rescued, but it was a frightening reminder that sending children abroad carried dangers of its own. Tomorrow we will find out more about this.
Yesterday’s story of the City of Benares also showed just how dangerous the Atlantic had become. When the ship was torpedoed on the 17th of September 1940, 77 children were among those who lost their lives. After that tragedy, the government suspended the overseas evacuation scheme.
When I read about CORB, I keep coming back to the parents. Imagine being told that you could send your child somewhere safer. Then imagine having to watch them leave, knowing that you had no idea when you would see them again. There really was no easy choice.
Keep them close while Britain was being bombed...or send them thousands of miles away during dangerous times.
What would you have done?
Would you have sent your child overseas if you had been offered a place?
And if someone in your family was evacuated overseas during the war, I would especially love to hear their story.
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