Mothers let them go - give them a chance of greater safety and health, 1939 UK poster: A photograph shows two children

Mothers let them go - give them a chance of greater safety and health (Ministry of Health Evacuation Scheme)

A photograph shows two children in coats and a blanket, the boy with an arm round the girl, under the headline asking mothers to let them go. The benefit is stated only as 'greater safety and health', virtue terms with no figures or places given; the children's faces carry the emotional appeal.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Glittering generalities

Date: 1939
Period: Second World War
Made by: Ministry of Health Evacuation Scheme (HM Stationery Office; printed by J. Weiner, Ltd.)
Region: Western and Central Europe
Country: United Kingdom
Medium: Poster
Issuer type: State
Regime: Churchill Government
Leader: Winston Churchill
Audience: Domestic public
Purpose: Mobilize or secure compliance
Themes: Home front, Health
Event: World War II
Regime: Churchill wartime government
Leader: Winston Churchill
Source: Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
Rights: Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
Ministry of Health Evacuation Scheme and HM Stationery Office, printed by J. Weiner, Ltd., c. 1939-1945. US National Archives (NAID 44266793, 44-PF-290).

Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

MOTHERS let them go-
give them a chance of
greater safety and health

MINISTRY OF HEALTH EVACUATION SCHEME

PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY J. WEINER LTD, LONDON, W.C.1.  51-2946