Evacuation of the Gibraltarian civilian population during World War II

During World War II, the British government evacuated the majority of the civilian population of Gibraltar in 1940 in order to reinforce the territory with more military personnel, though civilians with essential jobs were permitted to stay. The civilian evacuees were sent to numerous locations, including London, Madeira and Jamaica; some spent up to a decade away from Gibraltar, but the majority returned in 1943 after the Allied invasion of Sicily. The evacuation reinforced the British national identity of the Gibraltarians via their participation in the Allied war effort.^[1]