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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by a volunteer from Oxford ´óÏó´«Ã½/CSV on behalf of Margaret Little and has been added to this site with her permission. Margaret Little fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

PEOPLE IN STORY: Margaret Little nee Cassidy
LOCATION OF STORY: Glasgow and district
MAIN AREA OF INTEREST: Childhood, Evacuation
TITLE: ALWAYS THE SIDE ENTRANCE

Margaret, 11 in 1939, was born in Glasgow. Her mother was a widow with 4 children to look after, though the eldest son, aged 18, was already in the war and was seriously wounded at Anzio. When Margaret, her sister and brother, all at school, were very excited when they heard the school was to be evacuated to the countryside. They thought it would be an adventure — it was certainly an experience!

When they arrived at their destination the school groups were allocated to various families. Host families did not want a mixed group of children, but Margaret, as the eldest, had been ordered to look after the rest of the family, so was determined they would stay together. Had they been willing to separate and go to different homes perhaps they would have been chosen earlier. Eventually the three of them, and another girl called Myra, were ‘forced’ on a host family and found themselves with an ‘aristocratic’ group of a mother with two adult ‘spinster’ daughters. When Margaret, her brother, sister and Myra arrived at their new ‘home’ they were shown in through the front door — the only time they ever went in that way, after that it was always the side entrance for them. They were all put in one bedroom with no furniture, just palliasses [straw mattresses] to sleep on.

The children were introduced to the maid (Lottie) and the cook (Charlotte). As housemaids could enlist it was not long before Lottie left them. Every day the children had bramble soup to eat, they ate with Charlotte the cook. The mistress of the house arranged the menus, a gong would ring for dinner and the lady and her daughters would sit down in evening dress for their meal. The children had to curtsey to them.

Sometimes the children were sent out potato picking, but even here there was disappointment. For payment they received a bag of potatoes, as requested by the lady, rather than the money they had expected.

Soon Margaret found herself with her hair being forcibly cut extremely short by one of the daughters. Nits had been found. Maybe the children had unknowingly brought the nits with them (Margaret’s mother had lodgers, who may have carried the nits), perhaps they came from Myra, or maybe they were already in the house. Whatever the cause the children had their heads shaved. Margaret was so upset by this that she stopped going to school and wandered the fields instead. After one week the head-teacher turned up at the house to find out what was going on.

It was not long before Margaret’s mother came down and saw the poor conditions and the unhappiness — no proper beds, the shaved heads and the TB contact [Myra’s parents had died of TB]. Better beds were now offered, but Margaret’s mother would not take them. She pulled the covers off the straw mattresses, wrapped such belongings as the children had in them, and took them back to Glasgow.

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