British conservative politician Oliver Stanley agreed to accept the evacuees in the United Kingdom , but he argued with Gibraltar over the number of people involved . The Governor , he declared , had given the number of evacuees first as 13 @,@ 000 , then as 14 @,@ 000 and finally as 16 @,@ 000 . He asked for the situation to be clarified , stressing the shortage of accommodation in Britain and insisting that only 13 @,@ 000 could be accepted , 2 @,@ 000 of whom were to be sent to the Portuguese Atlantic island of Madeira . The situation , replied General Liddell on 19 July , " is that this is a fortress liable to heavy and immediate attack and there should be no civilians here whereas there are 22 @,@ 000 . The 13 @,@ 000 was the number sent to Morocco , and more would have been sent had the situation there not altered . " In London the evacuees were placed in the hands of the Ministry of Health , and many were housed in Kensington area . Concern for them in Gibraltar mounted as the air raids against London intensified , coupled with the arrival of harrowing letters , describing the circumstances in which the evacuees were living .