Welcome to the WW2 Hostel Section
 

  

Within these pages, we are trying to bring together as much information as possible about the Hostel accommodation used during and after World War Two. Much of the story about life within these hostels remains untold, yet in some way they affected the lives of many thousands both during and after the war. People where sent to some of these hostels to work in nearby war factories, others found themselves homeless after being bombed out, some came from overseas, many spent years in the accommodation, and many married and had children whilst living within the hostels.

To get some idea of the scale of the building which took place during the five-year period 1942 to 1947 on hostels for the Ministry of Works we have obtained copies of documents from the Public Records Office [PRO] of LAB 22/63, which lists of Industrial Hostels. 'The National Archives (PRO)'. All subsequent citations should have the document reference prefixed thus ' TNA (PRO) '.

These documents are Crown Copyright, and reproduced with the permission of The National Archives [TNA].

The full story of the largest mobilization in British history is told within the pages of the highlighted book below, we have separated each section so that you can easily gain an insight into the subject which is of interest. This is a 'MUST' read for anyone who wants to know about the mobilisation of Britain

 

'MANPOWER'


The Story of Britain's Mobilization for War

[Prepared for the Ministry of Labour And National Service by the Ministry of Information]

A grand total of 66 hostels holding at capacity 39,662 and occupied by 10,805 residents on the 31st December 1942, where available to the Ministries and departments connected with war works.

National Map

National Information
REGION                                                    Hostels
London, Central & Eastern                42
Midland & Central Region                  91               [To date the largest section]
North Eastern Region                           57
North Western Region                         26
Scottish Region                                        22
South Eastern Region                           12               [Not indexed YET!]
South Western Region                         25
Southwest & Wales                               18
Southern                                                      17
Others, Proposed & Planned              5

Total number of Hostels Opened: 315               Capacity: 70074

Residents in 1947 = 54314


Most people would have been sent to these hostels by the Department of Works. Men and women of all ages received official notification via the Royal Mail that they where being sent to work for the war effort at a designated place possibly miles from where they lived, sometimes in the case of Northern Ireland to another country. Travel information and the passes would be supplied and on the allotted date, the person would be required to be at the place notified, for collection by hostel or Ministry of Works personnel.

We are amassing a huge amount of information related to the number of persons and the places these hostels were through research being carried at the Public Records Office by the groups researcher, Rosie Taylor, who is doing some wonderful work for the group, and visits to both Local Studies and Coventry Archives. However, what we need is photographs and stories relating to these and the many hostels countywide, to bring these back to life and to be able to tell the story of what happened to individuals and to the places. A huge amount of social history is at present missing from this era, so please help us to not only reserve but also to inform those who have not lived though these experiences.
The work presently being carried out is solely based on the hostels within the Coventry area, although we are hoping to enlarge to a National scale some time in the future, when more information is available, this is where YOU come in !
Please if you have any information about WW2 hostels, we would love to hear from you.