Evacuees in a shelter

A photograph of evacuees going to bed in an air raid shelter.

A photograph of evacuees going to bed in an air-raid shelter, taken in December 1940 by James Jarché for the Daily Herald.

With the threat of war, the Government Evacuation Scheme was developed in summer 1938 which classified areas of the country as either 'evacuate', 'neutral' or 'reception' depending on their level of risk from enemy attack. From the small-scale evacuation in September 1938 until September 1944 when evacuation was officially halted, nearly 1.5 million people were evacuated from cities and towns to rural areas.