World War 2 evacuees - help required

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World War 2 evacuees - help required

Postby Kintyre Forum News » Mon Feb 14, 2011 10:19 pm

I received the following e-mail and wondered if anyone can confirm evacuees were sent to Campbeltown during World War 2?

Can you please advise me on how to find out if Campbeltown played host to a number of evacuated women and children during WW2?

I was born at the end of WW2 and my mother told me countless times of when she and my older brother (both now deceased) were sent (from Portsmouth) to a small fishing town in Scotland and the wonderful times she had there.

I think your town is the place she spoke of (she called it Campble Town) but I am not entirely sure.

Any help would be appreciated.


I found this interesting link while searching which suggests Campbeltown and Kintyre did.

http://www.rememberingscotlandatwar.org ... ar-at-home
If you have a news article or event please post here or e-mail us at kfn@campbeltown.info

www.campbeltown.info - www.visitkintyre.info -
www.kintyreaccommodation.com - www.kintyregolf.com
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Re: World War 2 evacuees - help required

Postby bill » Tue Feb 15, 2011 12:02 am

What a terrific site that is ,some great photos.

I received a shock though when I was browsing the "Kintyre's Darkest Days" page.The letter to Mrs.J.S.Brown,informing her of her husband's death,was infact Catherine's Mum,my Mother-in-Law. Gunner Wm.Brown was her first husband.


On the same page the story of Campbeltown's Sergeant-Major John MacDougall 's escape from St.Valery told by his daughter..................


"My father found himself with other local men at St Valery in France when his Division had to surrender. However, he and two others were determined to avoid capture at all cost. They saw a small boat drawn up beside the river and, paddling with their hands down river, they managed to reach the Channel where they were picked up, the story goes, by a British destroyer, possibly the Stronghold."........................

makes me wonder if one of the two other men could have been my father,Donald McCallum,who also made it home from St.Valery.
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Re: World War 2 evacuees - help required

Postby glenn » Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:49 am

From 1st October 1939 the steamers Davaar and Dalriada were used to bring evacuees and military personnel from Glasgow to Campbeltown , tripling the population of the town. 150 children evacuees were sent to Southend.
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Re: World War 2 evacuees - help required

Postby Iain » Thu Feb 17, 2011 5:43 am

glenn wrote:From 1st October 1939 the steamers Davaar and Dalriada were used to bring evacuees and military personnel from Glasgow to Campbeltown , tripling the population of the town. 150 children evacuees were sent to Southend.


That’s interesting Glenn…, my Grandfather Malcolm Black was a carpenter on the Dalriada. The boat was sunk by a mine in the Thames Estuary at the end of the war…, giving way to the idea that it was being used to ferry the evacuees. (London/ Portsmouth) He died shortly after/ perhaps from wounds. I don’t know. I wonder where we can obtain details of the boats’ movements and details.

Can someone verify the Royal Café on that site ? Was it near the Picture House and looking on to the water ?
Granny Black referred to it simply as the Royal, and used to take us there for ice-cream. A tall glass with a ball of ice-cream and filled with lemonade…, delicious and frothy, but horrible now I think about it ! :lol:
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Re: World War 2 evacuees - help required

Postby glenn » Thu Feb 17, 2011 9:10 am

Yes, The Royal Cafe looked over the harbour as you say. The Dalriada and Davaar ceased to operate as public passenger ferries on 30th September 1939 but were used for the remainder of the year to carry military personnel and evacuees from Glasgow to Campbeltown at the outbreak of war.
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Re: World War 2 evacuees - help required

Postby Iain » Thu Feb 17, 2011 2:27 pm

Thanks Glenn..., I do have this about the boat _

http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?31158
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Re: World War 2 evacuees - help required

Postby glenn » Thu Feb 17, 2011 3:13 pm

Dalriada made her maiden sailing from Gourock to Campbeltown on 16th March 1926 in under 3 hours, setting a new record for the sailing.
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Re: World War 2 evacuees - help required

Postby jamiemcivor » Sun Feb 20, 2011 2:35 pm

Worth checking the old Couriers at Aqualibrium.

Many children were evacuated to Kintyre on Friday September 1 1939 - as you may know, the evacuation was actually ordered on the Thursday because of the worsening international situation and ended up coinciding with the invasion of Poland. I would imagine that many of them ended up in the "big houses" around the loch or on farms as there would be few people in the rest of the town in a position to take them in.

It was widely assumed that as soon as war broke out there would be massive air raids on big cities and industrial areas. But, of course, there was no serious military activity anywhere in Western Europe until the following spring. In the first few months of the war, a lot of people were lulled into a false sense of security and many evacuees returned home.

I seem to remember from the Courier that the majority of evacuees to Kintyre returned home within weeks though, of course, some remained and there was certainly a fresh wave of evacuation from the Glasgow area after the Clydebank Blitz.
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Re: World War 2 evacuees - help required

Postby jamiemcivor » Sun Feb 20, 2011 2:38 pm

#Glenn. What a luxury - three hours to Gourock on the steamer then the train to Glasgow. That's quicker than the bus journey today and, with every respect to West Coast, it would probably have been more enjoyable on a good day. That's progress for you.
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