The History of Charlbury through ... a tie made from an escape map
Sue Rangeley for Charlbury Museum
Although a map of West Oxfordshire does not feature on this 1940s textile, it was most likely gifted by a Charlbury resident who kept it as a memento of wartime service. After the war when clothes were still rationed and there was a shortage of patterned fabrics, the silk and rayon ‘escape maps’ were used for garments and accessories. Edwina Mountbatten famously had a set of underwear made out of silk escape maps! The tie illustrated is decorated with a 1943 printed map of the Balkans.
During the Second World War, the aircrew who flew into combat did not have the luxury of the technology that are our close companions in the 21st century. No Smart phones to aid navigation and check Google Maps if lost on the ground in an occupied zone of Europe. Instead, fabric escape maps were issued to the Allied Air Crew, and the S.O.E. agents who were parachuted into France, as their route finders out of danger. The maps were packed into small waterproof purses containing other emergency items such as: a compass, foreign money, a hacksaw. Some maps were folded and stitched into the aircrew’s clothes for safekeeping and secrecy.
Escape or evasion maps were developed as a collaboration between M19 and Bartholomews Maps in 1940. The first were printed in Leeds by John Waddington Ltd, the famous games manufacturer of Monopoly. But later Macclesfield became the main producer of these silk and rayon escape maps, the town also manufactured the silk cords for parachutes during WW2. The early maps were printed on silk, then rayon, and some on tissue paper made of mulberry leaves; these materials were resilient to water damage, were flexible, and did not rustle as paper would do.
It is likely that the two Charlbury R.A.F. servicemen, Joe Harrison and George Clemson, who are featured in the museum exhibition, had escape maps stitched into their flying clothes. These historic textiles resonate with stories of the brave men and women who served in the Second World War.
The WW2 & VE Day exhibits (from 2020) will continue in the museum until the end of September.
The Imperial War Museum has a collection of WW2 escape maps.
