The Impact of Second World War Evacuation on Social Welfare in Scotland (incorporating an analysis of oral testimony from Scottish Evacuees)

Abstract

This thesis examines the social, cultural and emotional welfare of Scottish women and children who were included in the mass evacuation of civilians which took place at the beginning of the Second World War. The first half of the twentieth century was marked by the momentous events of two very bloody and all-encompassing world wars. From the 1920s the British government, through the Committees of Imperial Defence and Air Raid Precautions, speculated on how best to protect the civilian population in the event of any future major conflict. As a result plans were put in place for the mass evacuation of vulnerable people through the appointment of an Evacuation sub-committee. The process of evacuation of millions of civilians has been documented by historians writing mainly from an English perspective. The same level of detailed academic analysis has not been extended to Scotland. The following thesis adds to the breadth of analysis of the evacuation process in Britain.

The work explores the well-established theory that warfare ultimately led to welfare most often associated with Richard Titmuss. This theory has been challenged by a number of revisionist historians, specifically Macnicol and Harris. This thesis upholds the Titmuss theory and provides evidence in support of the claim within the framework of health, education and religion. The research methodology adopted was a qualitative study of oral testimony by Scottish evacuees through a series of interviews. These interviews reflect on the broader evacuation experience from a hitherto somewhat neglected Scottish perspective. The information has been analysed in conjunction with an extensive and contrasting collection of sources. This data, while adding value to the broad British experience of evacuation, identified a specific Scottish dimension, in particular within the sphere of maternity and child care, child guidance and the extension to educational service. The thesis also examines the way in which the Scottish process brought the Church and state into closer contact.

In conclusion this thesis identified how far the evacuation process contributed to the social welfare developments which took place during and immediately after the Second World War. The oral history interviews contained within the research made it possible to establish that the social well-being of post-war generations was enhanced as a result of the evacuation process.