The shipyards in Belfast were bombed early in the blitz of 1940. After that every time the Luftwaffe flew past London (and therefore heading elsewhere)....the air raid sirens in Belfast and surrounding areas would go off. My mother and one of her sister's also spent the war years living on a relative's farm outside of Lisburn because of the threat. Even so, every time the air raid sirens went off they were sent home from school, gas masks in hand, often to get half-way there before the all clear sirens went off and they would have to trudge back to class. My father was in hospital in Belfast for tonsillitis when the first bombs hit Belfast. His picture, along with others, was featured in the paper afterwards...as several windows were shattered by the blasts. Eric Bain ----- Original Message ----- From: <Juditoh@aol.com> To: <nir-down@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2008 5:50 PM Subject: Re: [NIR-DOWN] Children 'sent away' during WWII > Regarding the comment by Mr McAllister about Irish neutrality. That did > not > include Northern Ireland and I know that Belfast harbor had large ship > yards. > I would think it would be seen as a potential target. The rest of Ireland > was > neutral. > > > In a message dated 1/19/2008 3:21:47 P.M. Mountain Standard Time, > mcallisterfamily@btopenworld.com writes: > > Hi all, this sort of thing happened in England from many of the main > areas > when the Germans were bombing strategic targets. > My father-in-law was sent from Birmingham, he lived near to the Dunlop > factory, out to the wilds of Derbyshire. My mother's family were sent > from > south-east London up to Yorkshire, a trip of several hours by train, most > of > them went back many years later and settled there too. > Rather than the phrase 'children sent away', the term 'evacuee' was > deemed a > suitable description of these children, many of whom were also evacuated > to > Canada, but some of these were home children, already orphans. Many were > killed also after the ships they were traveling on were sunk. > It is only reccently I have found out that there were bombings that had > taken place in Ireland too! > I thought the IRish were neutral during WW2! > Regards, Michael McAllister > >> From: "Claire McConville" <clairybums@dsl.pipex.com> >> Subject: [NIR-DOWN] Children 'sent away' during WWII >> Hi All, >> >> >> >> I have been contacted by a lady whose father and his siblings were >> children >> during WWII and were sent, from Belfast, to live on a farm in Lisbellaw. >> I >> know it was common practice in England, as well as Ireland, for children >> to >> be sent away to live with other families. > >> This lady has posted to the Belfast mailing list but unfortunately not >> had >> any response so I am posting here as the two places mentioned fall into >> the >> boundaries and also, as I know how helpful and knowledgeable you all >> are. > >> Is there any way of finding out information about children sent away to >> live >> on farms? Government lists perhaps? I have emailed the lady back to get >> a >> surname just in case someone has already been researching this, I have >> to >> say most interesting, topic. >> > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NIR-DOWN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and > the body of the message > > > > > > **************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. > http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489 > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NIR-DOWN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

As a child, my former mother-in-law lived in Glasgow. She was evacuated to Blair Athol during the war. She did return to her family home afterwards. It appears this did not just happen in time of war and often the move was more permanent. I have a book by Margaret Humphreys (1997) called Empty Cradles. (Corgi Books, London). This book is about an estimated 150,00 children who were "deported from children's homes in Britain and shipped off to a "new life" in distant parts of the Empire" - the last as recent as 1967. Many children were told their parents were deceased. Margaret Humphreys was a Nottingham social worker. She investigated the case of a woman who claimed that at the age of 4, she had been put on a boat to Australia by the British government. This is well worth a read for those interested such a topic. Warning though - some of the content could be considered sensitive - it is an emotional account of life for these children.