THE OFTEN-overlooked experiences of women during the Second World War evacuation have been brought to life in a new book.
Maggie Andrews, professor of Cultural History at the University of Worcester, has shed light on the untold stories of women who saw their children leave their side at the height of the conflict.
Stories about evacuation inevitably focus on the millions of children, including the thousands who came to Worcestershire. Professor Andrews revealed she wanted to redress the balance and look at the effect this had on families and women’s domestic lives.
“I want to put mothers and women back into the evacuation story,” she said.
“As mothers, foster mothers, teachers and voluntary workers in women’s organisations, women were at the forefront of the evacuation experience.”
‘Women and Evacuation in the Second World War’ features research carried out in the West Midlands, particularly Worcestershire and Staffordshire and moving personal stories, such as mothers who brought their children back from evacuation only to have them killed or injured when their school was bombed.
