IN ONE of the most terrible ironies of World War II, 77 evacuated children died when the ship carrying them to their new, safe homes in Canada was torpedoed by a German U-boat.
Four days and 600 miles earlier, they had left the security of their parents’ embraces and set sail from Liverpool on the SS City of Benares.
It was a perilous journey – delayed by 48 hours because of mines in the Mersey – but one that mums and dads felt was less of a risk for their little ones than staying where the enemy could invade.
“It was a really tough one,” says Penny Starns, whose new book Oceans Apart: Stories of Overseas Evacuees in World War Two includes a chapter on the tragedy.
“The letter the parents were sent suggests they were going to be convoyed for the whole journey but they were only in a convoy for the first 300 miles, after that they were on their own.
“I do wonder how many parents, if they had known that, would have signed their children up for the journey.”
In Penny’s book, Bess Cummings, one of the survivors, recalls the terrifying attack: “The entire ship shuddered, furniture fell about and wardrobes tumbled across the doors, which made getting out of cabins very difficult. Some of the children were killed before they could even move, which was very sad.
“The water in my lifeboat came up to my chest, so you can imagine younger children, smaller children had no chance.”
Penny, who recorded interviews with evacuees for BBC Radio 4, says: “Quite a lot of the survivors say they don’t think about it now but they have been told by relatives that they do shout in their sleep sometimes and still have nightmares about being in the water.”
The sinking of the SS City of Benares brought an immediate halt to a scheme that had begun with the very best of intentions.
In 1940, the House of Commons debated the idea of the mass evacuation of children to abroad. While Churchill was against it, concerned it would damage the nation’s morale, others argued it would mean fewer mouths to feed and that the evacuees would act as ambassadors for Britain.
Geoffrey Shakespeare, Liberal MP and chairman of the Children’s Overseas Reception Board, was determined that youngsters of all backgrounds would be included, rather than just those with rich parents.
“He was trying to make everything fair, without any bias over money or race or religion and then impositions were put on by the other countries,” says Penny.
“Australia operated a whites-only policy. The children weren’t aware of it and neither were the parents but he must have been hugely aware of not being able to fulfil exactly what he wanted.”
Despite all the challenges, just over 2,600 children – out of more than 200,000 applicants – were sent to Australia, Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand as well as a few to the US.
Most of them had a largely positive experience, says Penny, which is why she decided to write the book.
“It struck me that there has been a lot published on the awful experiences children had under the enforced immigration schemes of the 1920s, early-30s and 1950s, and that has totally eclipsed the good experiences children had of going abroad during the war,” she explains.
“And I’ve written before about the children who were evacuated within this country and a lot of those, 10-15% of them, were abused. Whereas most of the ones who went abroad had a wonderful time.”
Even so, it was an almost impossible decision for parents to make – risk their children’s lives at home or send them away to strangers.
“I don’t think I would have sent my own children that far away, unless I could have gone as well,” says Penny. “But we’re more suspicious of government in a way the British public wasn’t at that time.
“There was a sense of a patriarchal government that was looking out for you and people had faith in politicians.
“The ones that sent their children to relatives or friends they knew quite well were the lucky ones.”
Oceans Apart: Stories of Overseas Evacuees in World War Two by Penny Starks is published by The History Press, priced £12.99.