Fascinating pictures showing how children evacuated from London during the Blitz did their bit to help out in the countryside have emerged nearly 80 years later.
The start of the Second World War saw the mass evacuation of thousands of youngsters from the city to more rural areas as part of a bid to protect them from German bombing raids.
Although far too young to go out and fight for Queen and country, the set of 80 wartime images reveals how London’s evacuees pitched in around their new countryside homes.
The album features pupils at Sydenham Junior Boys School in south east London and how they settled into life in Woodingdean, East Sussex in late 1939 and early 1940.
A newly-unearthed photo album has unveiled images of youngsters from south east London and how they settled into life in the countryside. Pictures show how pupils from Sydenham Junior Boys School take notes on how to milk a cow
The start of the Second World War saw thousands of children evacuated from the capital to more rural areas, as fears about German bombings ran high. These youngsters moved to Woodingdean in East Sussex in late 1939
When children were separated from their parents they were given a gas mask and had their names sewn into their clothes. Many were able to return after a few weeks, but several stayed in the countryside for the rest of the war
Here boys from Sydenham Junior School attend classes at their new school in the East Sussex countryside.
The collection includes images of children working on farms and in gardens as they spent time outside the classroom.
In one shot, a group of pupils’ watch on and make notes during the milking of a cow – an alien experience for many city children who had never seen one and were surprised to see where milk came from.
In another a boy feeds a horse while his friend gives it a pat and a group is introduced to a pig.
One particularly amusing picture shows how the children made a scarecrow dressed as Adolf Hitler giving a Nazi salute for Bonfire Night 1939.
There is also a heart-warming shot of an emotional reunion between the children and their parents who popped down from Sydenham to visit them one weekend.
While many of their fathers were out fighting at home and abroad, the children did their bit too by helping out at their new homes and local farms. Here some boys are being shown what to feed the animals
Many of the London evacuees had never left the capital before and were not familiar with greener surroundings. Here they are shown helping out at a local farm in East Sussex
Accompanied by their teachers and guardians, the boys from Sydenham feed horses in the small village of Ovindean
The album currently belongs to a collector, but it originally came from the family of one of the children in the pictures.
It is being sold at an auction on September 18 for an estimated price of £350.
Tim Harper, specialist at C&T Auctioneers, of Ashford, Kent, which is selling the photo album, said: “The vendor got the photo album from the family of one of the school children a few years ago who kept it because it resonated with them.
In one amusing picture, the boys from London dressed up a scarecrow as Adolf Hilter before putting him on the bonfire in November 1939
An adorable shot shows the London pupils being introduced to a pig. Many of the boys will have never seen farm animals before
“There was a great fear of bombing raids when the war started which explains the mass evacuation to the south coast.
“These photos provide a complete record of the school’s evacuation programme in late 1939 and early 1940.
“This is an unusual and important historic record of an important part of the social history of the Second World War.”
The government tried at the start of the Second World War to ‘empty the cities’ of children with about 800,000 children leaving their homes.
Every evacuee had a gas mask, food for the journey and a small bag for things for washing clothes.
Labels were pinned to their coats with each child’s name, home address, school and their destination.
The pictures used to belong to the family of one of the boys in the album, but they now belong to a collector who is putting them up for sale
The vendor says the album ‘is an unusual and important historic record of an important part of the social history of the Second World War’ and will be auctioning it later this month
School trips for the boys from Sydenham Junior School included visits to Lewes and Bodiham Castle, where they ventured in September 1939