Cambridge : City of Refuge

The Evacuation of London University Colleges to Cambridge in World War Two

City of Refuge: Evacuation of London Colleges to Cambridge during the Second World War, A G Watts, History of Universities Col XXXVI/1 2023, OUP

During the Second World War, the whole of the University of London was evacuated to the provinces. The largest concentration, of seven colleges, went to Cambridge: the London School of Economics (LSE) to Peterhouse, Queen Mary College (QMC) to King’s, the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) to Christ’s, Bedford College to Newnham, St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College (Barts) to Queens’, and The London Hospital Medical College and the Bartlett School of Architecture to St Catharine’s. This article represents the first time that the story of these seven evacuations has been told. It draws from published sources; from visits to both of the relevant university archives and the 14 college archives; and from contacts with six former QMC evacuated students, now in their mid/late nineties.