Her Oxford

16. War Again

244 16 War Again W hen Britain declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, few people heard the news with surprise. The British had lived in the shadow of European dictators for too long to hope that war could be kept from their island. Once again, the young men of Oxford had to respond to the call to arms, but there was no rush to destruction as in 1914. Men under the age of twenty were not called up at first, and Oxford began the fall term of 1939 with a sizeable number of male undergraduates in residence. Before the war ended, however, many Oxford men—and women—were called to service, and the university had to devise new plans and schemes to keep operating. Wartime Conditions Both the city and university of Oxford were in the process of transformation when Michaelmas term began in the autumn of 1939. Anticipating possible bombing raids, authorities placed Oxford under a complete blackout at night, which meant that no light was to escape from any window or door. All over the city and in the colleges, people filled and stacked sandbags , boarded up openings, hung blackout curtains, or covered windows with dark paint. No streetlights could be lit at night, which made traveling difficult, but there were compensations. Grace Hadow, principal of the Home-Students, remarked on the beauty of the city under a full moon, “with no artificial light to disturb its peace, . . . and with Magdalen Tower and St. Mary’s spire steeped in a radiance infinitely more lovely than any flood-lighting. To walk around Oxford on a moonlight night under present conditions is an experience never to be forgotten, and is to come back with a strange sense of serenity and immortality.”1 Colleges packed away valuable manuscripts, paintings, stained glass, and other treasures for safekeeping and took additional necessary steps to secure their property. Incendiary bombs were a particular concern, and firefighting equipment—static water tanks and trailer pumps—was set up in all the colleges. Everyone, from senior and junior members to the domestic staff, underwent training to learn how to operate the equipment, War Again 245 and fire drills became a commonplace feature of college life. The colleges also erected air-raid shelters and organized teams of dons and students to participate in all-night watches in term and during vacations. In addition , university buildings needed air-raid protection, and students who volunteered, both male and female, usually received a small fee to serve as firewatchers, and, if they stayed on during vacations, were entitled to free residence at their colleges. The work was not onerous, although it did require students to sleep on the premises during their duty rotation. Nina Bawden recalled her week at a university museum where she spent uneasy nights sleeping between a mummy in a glass case and a stuffed alligator.2 The most vivid fire-watching memories, however, belonged to those stationed on the roofs of the Bodleian or the Radcliffe Camera for, echoing Grace Hadow, they were able to see an Oxford lit only by the moon and stars, just as it might have looked in medieval times. Luckily, no bombs ever fell on Oxford, but many alerts were sounded as German bombers passed nearby en route to other targets.3 The sheer number of people who poured into the city after September 1939 also changed the character of Oxford. Civil servants from Whitehall , medical and military personnel, European refugees, and evacuees from London and southern England all competed for space with the local residents.4 A. L. Rowse, a resident don during the war years, estimated that the population grew by about 20 percent, which seriously strained the city’s resources. Oxford lost its provincial air, and Rowse commented that “one notices this very much in the café life of the town, which has become distinctly more continental.” He also pointed out another major difference between Oxford in peace and Oxford in the new war: “The life of the streets, even in the old centre of the town, has ceased to be dominated by the University.”5 When war began, many government departments decamped from London to outlying areas, and Oxford, with numerous college buildings that could be requisitioned and easily converted into administrative offices, was a convenient place to set up operations. The political intelligence unit of the Foreign Office moved into Balliol, the Ministry of Transport took over part of Merton, the Ministry of Home Security...