The Diary of Margaret Siriol Col

Roedean School, Brighton

The Diary of Margaret Siriol Colley,

evacuated to Canada 1940

The diary of Margaret Siriol Colley neé Lewis describes the voyage to Canada when 50 girls from Roedean School, Brighton, England were evacuated, to Edgehill School, Windsor, Nova Scotia accompanied by two mistresses, Miss Briggs and Miss Marshall.

The first page of the diary reads “Strictly Private – No one may read this”.

From 27^th May to June 4^th 1940 the British Army was evacuated from Dunkirk, and on the 14^th June, Paris fell to the invading German forces.

Saturday 22nd June 1940

This morning I had a letter from Mummy. I was to go to Canada, to Edgehill Nova Scotia with 50 other girls from Schoo1. I didn’t know what to think about it. The news came as a great surprise. I knew that girls were going to Canada, but to think that I should be going was too much to believe.

In the afternoon Mummy came down to see the (Miss) Tanner (headmistress) about details of transport and schooling out there. She decided that I should come home the next day by train.

Sunday 23rd June.

My last day at school. I went to chapel for the last time. Joe Hall read pages for the first reading and Canon Bell’s sermon would not stop. I travelled up to London with, Helen Burch and her parents. Some of my belongings were in Perth so I didn’t have time to collect them. I regretted having to leave my Lacrosse stick behind.

Monday 24th June

I could not believe I was going to Canada and was in a state of excitement.

Tuesday 25th June

During the night I was woken by the sound of sirens and by Mummy and Daddy fussing around me. I put on a dressing gown and school cloak and took an eider-down to the shelter next door. Daddy had taken the stepladder away and had not put it back, so we. had to climb over the fence. The sirens went on for about ten minutes, the searchlights were playing and the sound of an aeroplane could be heard in the sky

Later on we heard the deep shrill sound of the “All-clear.”

Wednesday 26th June

At quarter past seven in the- morning the taxi came and my baggage was tied outside. At Euston Daddy saw that my baggage was labelled and put on the train. Then at 9.30. I bade farewell to my parents not knowing when I should see them again the train steamed out of the station.

Jacqui, Renee, Pat and myself sat together in the train and at about 1.30. it steamed into the harbour at Liverpool. We passed through immigration and gave up our ration cards and gas masks. We boarded the ship, the Duchess of Atholl, and went to our third class steerage cabins. We were put in cabins in alphabetical order, then we were changed to sleep with our friends. I had a cabin with Jacqui, Renee, Monica, Benny, and Pat Hazzledine. We watched the baggage being loaded on to the ship.

Thursday 27th June

At around 3 o’clock in the morning the ship left Liverpool. All the morning land could be seen, and the ship was convoyed with another, bound for New York. After supper it was rumoured that our destroyer had sunk a German U-boat. I don’t know whether it was true but there was some excitement going on. There were aeroplanes flying about, and our destroyer signalled to both them and our ship in Morse. Our ship and the aeroplanes signalled back with an instrument for making flashes!

Friday 28th June

We were woken up early for lifeboat drill about four o’clock I believe. We had to put warm clothes on and carry our life belts around with us. I went on deck and found the sea had become quite rough. Going down to my cabin again I felt groggy, and could only dress before I felt I had to have fresh air. I rushed up without my hair done. By this time the destroyer had left us and the other ship convoyed with us lost on the sea. That evening because the rest were ill in the cabin we tried to sleep on the ropes. After a while we turned in to sleep on the chairs it the lounge

Saturday 29th June

All the ship lurched and every now and then it gave a terrific one and the sound of tin milk cans that had fallen over could be heard. But even with that sound and motion going on managed to get a few hours sleep. Instead of having lifebelt drill for an hour we could sleep in our clothes so that The Briggs or The Marshall did not come in. - on top of that they were both seasick. … Going down to the cabin very cheerfully I was gently shoved out by Renee. During the rough seas the water had come in and all suitcases etc. were floating around in the great flood

Nothing eventful happened until we went and skipped in, the gym. We tried to take photos of the marvellous upheaval of the helm (bows?) into the spray of the sea. Going into the gym again we found some small children playing on the ribs. The way the mothers looked after those children was disgraceful - they needed nannies themselves.

Sunday 30th June

The sea is. quite calm and most invalids are up. I enjoyed my breakfast and went on deck. At 10.45 there was a service in the first class lounge . . . We tried to tidy our cabin which was extremely small to hold 6. By the lift we met a sweet little boy called Adam Reith with his mother. He said he was 4 but really he was 2 ½. When, we asked whether he had been had on a big boat before he answered yes. - it was. a punt in Oxford.

Monday 1st July

This morning after breakfast we played deck-quoits on the sun deck. In the middle of the game some little boys ran away with the quoit! … In the evening we sat around the piano and sang, and listened to a Canadian girl playing the piano. She was extremely good, and played all the favourite songs and some American ones

Tuesday 2nd July

It rained all the morning and I had to wrap up well before going on deck. Later it cleared and we talked to some officers on the sun deck … In the evening just as we were turning in someone said there was an iceberg to be seen. We scrambled on, deck and although we did not see that identical iceberg we saw another one on the port side of the ship. Great was my thrill to see the first iceberg in my life.

Wednesday- 3rd July

We got up the see the Northern Lights, but are not sure whether we saw them or not. Next morning we sighted land and saw a very big iceberg on the port side. This one was covered with birds- but the berg was too far away to see if there were any penguins on it. … All day we saw land as we steamed and later we entered the mouth of the St Lawrence. The banks of the river in most places were steep and covered with fir trees. Every now and then waterfalls broke the dense expanse of wooded country and little wooden houses peeped out above the trees. Later in the day cars and people could be seen moving about the roads and by the houses.

In some places the land was quite flat and little islands were dotted about in the water. he course of the ship was marked by buoys and this was continuously being dredged for the mud. The water in the river had become less and less, and in time it will not be useable for big ships.

In the evening in the corner of the third class lounge (a muster station) a sailor played his banjo and another played the spoons. These two played all kinds of tunes while we Roedeans and Sherbournes sang and hummed the tunes. At half-past eight we went to bed, only to be told we could get up and see the lights of Quebec. That was just at sunset, and the colours on the water simply beautiful - unfortunately we were sent to bed before we reached Quebec!

Thursday 4th July

We were woken up by The Briggs at 6.30 to see the Immigration Officers. We waited a long time in the lounge, and while this was going on we missed the Quebec bridge. Luckily I looked out of the window while passing under it. … At about 6.30 in the evening we saw Montreal bridge. The ship’s mast only just went underneath it, and while looking up a large blob of water fell in my eye! Just after the bridge were the docks and we docked next door to the Duchess of York.

‘We watched the deckhands throw over the lines and then looked over the edge. I climbed up a ladder and put my hat (straw one) hand bag and tin of’ sweets in a puddle. I hurriedly came down again! Then we went on the Captain’s bridge. After that we collected our baggage and went on the promenade deck. Here reporters started infesting us.

The party was divided into two - one going to Trafalgar (I went with that one) and the other one to) Elmwood.

It was Independence Day USA.

Six days later the Battle of Britain began. On 10th October 1942 the Duchess of Atholl was sunk by a German U-boat off Cape Town.

THE ROEDEAN CONTINGENT

what they thought of us!

We have heard frequently what O.R.s thought of their time in Nova Scotia and the differences between Roedean and Edgehill. Now, thanks again to Siriol Colley, who has lent me a copy of her Edgehill Review for June 1941 (remarkably similar to Roedean School Magazine as it use to be), we are able to find out.

“The spring term of 1940 had drawn to a close. Classes were over for another year, most of the staff had departed and the VI and VA were settling down to write examinations. Terrible events in Europe were following one another in swift succession, but we in Nova Scotia were enjoying perfect summer weather. Every pool was fringed with blue irises. The scent of syringa was in the aim. The sea was a deep translucent blue. The younger ones among us thought only of a long happy summer to come. Even the older ones found it hard to realise what was happening on the other side of the Atlantic.

Into this atmosphere came a cable from Major Ney asking us to take fifty Roedean girls almost at once. The cable ended with the words, “Safety first consideration.” We thought of Roedean on the high white cliffs of England and the German guns less than thirty miles away, and within a quarter of an hour a replv cable was dispatched saying, “Come.”

On July 5 the party arrived. All of Windsor was at the station. Twelve cars had been lent to drive the girls out to the school. Twice that number arrived. Everyone was anxious to help and to welcome the weary travellers who had come so far.

The first few days were spent in getting to know our guests and giving them a chance to know us, and find their way about Edgehill. Laundry had to be looked after clothes, repacked and money changed and banked. There had been many summer invitations given. Some hostesses said that it would be easier to entertain little girls, some asked for older girls. Some were willing to take two, others could only entertain one, whilst one kind lady actually entertained three. With the help of Miss Briggs and Miss Marshall the assignments were finally made. Hostesses were notified and came to fetch their guests.

The Roedean girls spent fourteen happy weeks on farms and in summer camps. They sailed, they swam, they picnicked and they returned to us in September very brown and very well.

Meanwhile those in authority planned for the Autumn. We considered Edgehill full, with the Roedean contingent, but we have recently been told by two eminent Canadian headmistresses from Toronto and Montreal that we have such an airy spacious school that they consider Major Ney well advised in asking us to house an extra fifty. We counted space, what sitting-rooms could be converted into bedrooms, which members of the staff would be willing to share rooms, what rooms were large enough to take extra beds etc. When all was counted we were still more than twenty spaces short.

Then came the problem of another house. The Headmaster of King’s Collegiate School, who has been most helpful and sympathetic throughout, offered us his own large house at a small rental to be paid at the close of war. So we came into the temporary possession of ‘King’s House.’ Next came the counting of linen, tableware, chairs and desks and the buying of what was needed. ‘King’s’ was practically furnished by our Windsor friends. We had a ‘shower’ one fine afternoon in early September and all brought what they could spare. One lady arrived with a big dining-room table, another with two beds, others with glasses, knives etc. One even came with a roll of linoleum. It did not take us long to sort things and put them where they should be.

The Roedean girls returned to School two days before the others. This gave them time to unpack and settle in before the Edgehill girls arrived. Our opening dav in September is always a social occasion. Many parents drive their children back to school. The cars are filled tip with little brothers and sisters or other relations. Old Girls, finding it hard to keep away, drive back to look the new girls over and to inspect the new mistresses. Fathers carry luggage up. Mothers unpack. When more than the usual crowd arrived last September, they found the English girls clad in their navy suits, looking spick and span and ready to make friends with them.

School started in the usual way and the Roedean girls were soon at home among us. They wear their Roedean uniform and we wear ours. They have introduced some Roedean customs to us, for example a Dalton Day and a questions box, while some of ours seem very popular with them. They have added zest to our classes and taken part in all our activities. We are struck with the spirit of these girls. They are cheerful and buoyant, out to enjoy the experience of life in a new country even if it means changes and are adjustment of many ideas.

When the war is over and guests go home we hope they will take with them an abiding love for Canada and Canadians together with an outlook which has immensely broadened by new contacts, new ideas, and a happier way of living than is possible in England just now.”

* * * *

The evacuation to Canada was a difficult time for all concerned. Parents had to decide very quickly whether they wished their daughter to go overseas and were given little time in which to realise how this enforced separation might affect both themselves and their child. They were desperate to save their children from the danger and rigor of war, and seized on what was considered to be the best option available at the time. Almost certainly, they did not realise how impossible communication would become, leaving the children for several years without any reassurance from home. It was a bleak period in the childhood of many ORs.

However, ORs who were at Edgehill during that time speak of their Canadian hosts with immense gratitude. Many have remained friends for life and many too, stayed in Canada to continue their education, going on to university there and making their life in the country that had given them so much hospitality at a time when a large part of the world was in turmoil.

The photographs, above show Roedean girls in their cloaks, in the snow. The families of the Canadian girls were very hospitable to the Roedean contingent and invited them to spend holidays with them. Siriol Colley remembers that her friend Patricia Tanner stayed at a house called Oakfield. This was owned by Colonel Laurie whose distant grandfather had been aide-de-camp to the Duke of Kent, Queen Victoria’s father. Siriol says ‘Colonel Laurie and Oakfield were fascinating. He had a big black Buick and the main railway line from Halifax to Montreal ran through his estate. It had its own station and when we went over the line in the car, he would say ‘one look and we are over.’

Once by the lake, he told the story of an eagle flying away with a baby - relative. if you can believe it! “He was one of the finest men I have even met. I remember he and his wife discussing how they would be buried in the grounds of the family church, and how the rock would have to be blasted away. Other friends stayed with the Colonel’s 90year old sister and I think they were terrified when she drove them in her car. I always remember that she had a fireplace inlaid with amethyst. The whole experience there was a step back in time. The estate is now called Laurie Park.

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