Out and about: more than 100 nursery-age children were evacuated from Croydon to the Rothschilds’ Buckinghamshire manor house during World War II
CROYDON CHRONICLES: When everyone was expected to show ‘the Blitz spirit’ and ‘do their bit’ for the war effort, there was a brewing row at the Town Hall over payments of thousands of pounds to one of the richest families in the world.
DAVID MORGAN delves into the archive for the story of the borough’s ‘Blitz babies, orphans and foundlings’
One word which brought both comfort and distress to the civilian population in World War II was evacuation.
In 1939 and 1940, the government and local authorities were charged with making huge efforts to keep the local populations of the country safe. Croydon was spending £8,000 a week – nearly £700,000 in today’s values – on salaries for air raid wardens and other precautions, according to one newspaper report.
This was a significant sum of money, and with good cause: Croydon had been subject to a Zeppelin bombing raid in World War I, and was perhaps even more of a target for enemy bombers in 1939, with two RAF bases, Croydon and nearby Kenley, and other strategic targets, such as the railway.
And Croydon did suffer many deadly air raids during the Blitz of World War II.
In August 1940, at the height of the Battle of Britain, one enemy aircraft flew low over the town centre, machine-gunning the area and dropping stick bombs. There had been no air raid warning.
Blitzed: 60 people were killed in one air raid on Croydon Aerodrome and the Purley Way in August 1940
A bus driver, wounded in the stomach by flying pieces of shrapnel, managed to bring his bus to a halt under a railway bridge thus protecting his passengers.
One woman, Mrs Sharpe, told the Croydon Advertiser that she had just come out of a shop carrying parcels when the large plane loomed overhead and bullets started flying everywhere, scattering everyone. She made her way to one of the shelters, where although she was safe, she nursed sore knees as the crush of the people trying to get down the steps knocked her off her feet.
One bomb landed on a van which was helping a family to move out of their already damaged home. A fireman risked his life by getting into the cab of the van to grab the workmen’s coats: the men had just been paid and their wages were in the pockets.
Not everyone was so lucky. One elderly man was killed when his house collapsed after a bomb exploded nearby. Two people – Amelia Poulton of Old Coulsdon and William Blondell of Old Town – collapsed and died after reaching the safety of a public shelter, probably due to heart failure.
More than one thousand bombs fell on Croydon during the Blitz. On August 15, 1940, up to 50 German aircraft attacked Croydon Aerodrome and the Purley Way. The raid killed 62 people, injured hundreds and destroyed local manufacturing facilities like the Redwing and NSF factories.
It was clear very quickly that in this new era of Blitzkrieg and air warfare, civilian populations living in cities and large towns would be part of the front line of this war.
French château: Waddesdon Manor, the home of the Rothschilds in Buckinghamshire
Sir John Anderson was the Home Secretary and Minister of Home Security, responsible for civil defence. His national plan, Operation Pied Piper, arranged for children to be evacuated from the cities to the villages in the country. West Sussex, Eastbourne, Devon and Buckinghamshire were among the destinations where Croydon youngsters were to be billeted – usually taken in by complete strangers, who had volunteered to give up a room in their home, “to do their bit” for the war effort.
The Croydon Public Assistance Committee was the council body in charge of organising this mass evacuation of thousands of children, some as young as three or four.
They will have been delighted when they arranged for young children from Croydon to head off for the safety of Aylesbury, in Buckinghamshire, where they were to stay in the de Rothschilds’ mansion at Waddesdon Manor.
However, what seemed to be an idyllic setting proved to be a real challenge, especially for members of the council’s committee. Initially, the placement agreed was for 100 children and 25 adults to look after them.
The Rothschild banking dynasty had made fortunes through the Napoleonic Wars of the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, and made even more money from bank-rolling the Industrial Revolution. By the 1870s and 1880s, the Rothschild family was reckoned collectively to possess the largest private fortune in the world.
By the time of World War II, James de Rothschild was a Liberal MP serving in the national coalition government as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Ministry of Supply.
Millionaire: James de Rothschild
He and his wife, Dorothy, lived in their vast manor house in the Home Counties, Waddesdon Manor, which had been built in the 1800s in extravagant style of a French Renaissance château.
When the Croydon evacuees arrived, James and Dorothy moved into the servant quarters, while the great rooms of the family mansion were occupied by the children. Fifteen rooms were used, with one being a sick bay.
In February 1942, a reporter from the Daily Express called in to view how the evacuees were faring. The evacuees were getting on very well, but the story which the reporter wanted to unpick was a row about money.
Having been paid £1,300 to house the evacuees at the beginning of the scheme, millionaire Rothschild was going to get £1,700 a year – equivalent to almost £125,000 in today’s values – far more than other evacuee hosts were receiving.
The Rothschilds were not at home when the reporter came calling. There were 70 or so children, described as “Blitz babies, orphans and foundlings, all under five and all evacuated from Croydon”.
A matron and 14 foster mothers were looking after the children, with teachers from nearby villages coming in daily for their lessons.
When it was tea time, the reporter saw the children being lead through the high-ceilinged rooms, past shrouded statues and costly oil paintings. These were, after all, rooms of one of the most luxurious private homes in England.
The meals for the evacuees were prepared under the supervision of M Tissot, the Rothschilds’ personal chef.
Christmas presents: ‘Mrs James’ giving coats to Croydon evacuees in 1939
Matron told the reporter that the children were happy and that Mrs de Rothschild had been most helpful. “We were not allowed to get tomatoes from the estate garden to make tomato juice, so Mrs de Rothschild arranged for us to buy them from the local market. The children had fresh tomato juice until Christmas.”
Dorothy, Dolly to her friends, enjoyed having the children in her house. Photos of her giving the young Croydon children new outfits for Christmas 1939 show her in conversation with two young girls who have new coats.
To the children, she was simply known as “Mrs James”.
James and Dorothy de Rothschild never had any children of their own, though they did provide refuge for another group of evacuees. They converted a house, “The Cedars”, in the neighbouring village for 21 children from an orphanage in Frankfurt, who had been brought to England just before the war by the Kindertransport.
Croydon Council continually monitored their evacuated children but in March 1941, Councillor George Lewin drew the committee’s attention to a letter which had been received at Canterbury Road Nursery School regarding damage which the youngsters had caused at Waddesdon Manor. Some windows had been broken and some items in the garden had been damaged.
Blame game: by March 1941, Croydon children were accused of causing damage at the Manor
Although the cost of repairs was not made public, another councillor, Miss Glazier, chair of the children’s sub-committee, informed the meeting that they need not worry about the costs as they would be borne by the government under the terms of the evacuation scheme.
Far more complaints and disagreements emerged later when it was announced that de Rothschild was to receive an additional £400 a year.
In March 1942 there was what was reported as a “stormy meeting” of the public assistance committee. Councillor Izzet survived a motion that he should step down as the chair of the committee.
‘Stormy meeting’: the costs of having the evacuees at Waddesdon Manor led to questions in the House of Commons
A letter was read out from the Ministry of Health which explained that it was not Mr de Rothschild who fixed the amount of money he was due to receive. It was decided by a district valuer appointed by the ministry.
The £1,700 was not “rent” but was to cover fuel, lighting, water and staff services.
The letter went on to say that if the full board and lodgings cost of the evacuees were applied, the fee payable to the de Rothschild would be £3,750.
The letter concluded by saying that the ministry was inviting a small number of representatives from the committee to Whitehall for a meeting where further facts and figures could be explained to them.
Councillor Cook wanted it noted that many Croydon folk were unhappy with the arrangement with Waddesdon Manor. “They contend that as many women and men were being conscripted, then capital and buildings should be as well.”
Councillor Harry Reagan added his views: “Most people who take in evacuees are paid three shillings a week for a child and five shillings a week for an adult. In Mr de Rothschild’s case we also have to provide the furniture, bedding and food. Ordinary people, who take in evacuees, are not to have dilapidations of their premises made good by the government, but Mr de Rothschild, a wealthy man, is.”
Councillor Mrs Ella Regan expressed her view: “I don’t know where the figure of £1,700 comes from. Mr Walker, the clerk of this committee, and Mr de Rothschild’s agent had previously conferred on this matter and agreed a fee of £1,200. I agree that Mr de Rothschild should have what he is entitled to, but not a penny more.”
Fortune family: Dorothy and James de Rothschild at their Waddesdon Manor home
A further committee meeting in early April agreed to pay the £1,700, although Councillor Reagan was still unhappy. “There should be no difference between people who live in small villas and millionaires who live in mansions.”
There were even questions in the House of Commons, from Cardiff South MP Colonel Arthur Evans. In his reply, he concluded that there had been an entirely “unwarranted attack on the owner of Waddesdon Manor”. He hoped the press would give equal weight to that matter as it did to the accusations of impropriety.
Matters still rumbled on. The ministry, sensing the unease, proposed a move for the children from Waddesdon Manor to Rede Hall, in Burstow, Surrey, where London County Council children had been placed.
This again proved a controversial proposal. At another council sub-committee meeting, a lively discussion ensued. Councillor Bennett was adamant that the children shouldn’t be sent there. “The place is only two and a half miles from an airport. Should we really be sending our children into what is, in effect, a danger zone?”
Another councillor, Alderman Mrs Squire, added that there were no air raid shelters at Rede Hall and how could the committee ever face the parents of a child if anything tragic happened?
Manor to Hall: the Croydon evacuees were moved to Surrey in 1942
Councillor Banks said that he had visited Rede Hall and said it was quite an isolated building. In his view, it wouldn’t be a target for German bombers.
The motion to move the children to Rede House was passed by one vote, 23 to 22.
The council then made applications for improvements to the buildings. Additional laundry facilities and fencing were approved, although the electric washing machine was turned down. It was stipulated in the reply to the council that fittings for boilers and sinks should be from salvaged material.
In October 1942, 70 Croydon children were moved from Waddesdon Manor to Rede Hall.
Those evacuees, if they are still alive, will be in their 80s or 90s now. I wonder what reflections they will have on Remembrance Day?
Waddesdon Manor’s Remembrance Day will have its particular reflections too. Their exhibition 1939-1945 The Interrupted Years continues until November 29.
David Morgan, pictured right, has been chronicling Croydon’s history for Inside Croydon for more than a decade. Morgan is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster, who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Some previous articles by David Morgan:
- Just 18 and fatally wounded on the first day of Passchendaele
- VC hero of Zeebrugge Raid who steered Vindictive safely home
- How Croydon got its first shopping centre, 750 years ago
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
