Because archive material of the hundreds of local Belgian refugee committees is scant and incomplete and because systems of registration were not watertight (nor did they run from the very start of the conflict), it is very difficult to estimate the number of Belgians that sought refuge in Britain during World War I. Estimates vary between 225,000 and 265,000. The estimation does not include the roughly 150,000 Belgian soldiers that took leave in Britain at some point during the war, and an additional 25,000 wounded Belgian soldiers convalescing in Britain. The fullest account is given inBelgian Refugee Relief in England during the Great War by Peter Calahan (Garland Publishing, New York and London, 1982).
Millfield House on Silver Street inEdmonton, North London, is first mentioned in 1796 when it belonged to John Wigston ofTrent Park. Later that year it was let to the Imperial Ambassador of theGerman Empire. The house was sold in 1849 to the Strand Union Guardians for a school for Londonworkhouse children, and over the next 40 years several extensions were made to the house which by 1897 housed 400 children. The school was partly self- sufficient complete with two meadows, cultivated land and a herd of cows and some pigs. The children were taught trades; the boys, tailoring, shoe making and carpentry; the girls, housework, needlework and laundering. In 1913 the school closed and by the beginning of World War I housedBelgianrefugees. The house was converted into the St Davids Hospital forEpileptics in 1915 by the Metropolitan Asylums Board. By 1971 the house was acquired by theLondon Borough of Enfield, who renovated and demolished some of the work house buildings, although a lodge and outbuildings from that period remain as well as an early 20th-century lodge.
The district ofStoke Heath, Coventry was built up between 1900 and 1920 and was closely tied into the need for munitions workers during theFirst World War and the Anglo-German rivalry preceding it. During the First World War, Stoke Heath played host to a significant population of Belgian refugees. The area was dominated by the popular red brick Stoke Heath Junior & Infants School, built at the end of 1915. The school provided a central focus for the original 689 homes built by 1915. The school was demolished in the 1990s and a new school erected on the same site.
Crosby Hall, in Chelsea, London is the only surviving secular domestic medieval building in London and former Tudor home of SirThomas More. It housed and aided Belgian refugees and wounded soldiers during the First World War through the Chelsea War Refugees Committee. The experience of the exiles and charitable aid provided at Crosby Hall were described in detail by the British author and Chelsea resident,Henry James.[1] A memorial plaque affixed inside Crosby Hall after the war was made "to commemorate the gratitude of Belgian exiles to the Chelsea War Refugee Committee which from Crosby Hall, during the Great War, dispensed hospitality, organized relief for our persecuted and exiles compatriots and aided our maimed soldiers to regain their independence. 1914-1919."[2]
Dartford is the principal town in theBorough of Dartford,Kent. The demand created byWorld War I meant that output at the localVickers factory multiplied, with a positive effect on the local economy. Burroughs-Wellcome chemical works (later incorporated intoGlaxoSmithKline) made Dartford a centre for thepharmaceutical industry. During the war, many Belgian refugees arrived in the town. Unable to accommodate them all, many people were housed with volunteers.
ThePorch House, is a largeGeorgian house, dating from the late 18th century, inNantwich,Cheshire, England. Currently divided into two houses, the Porch House has previously served as a day and boarding school. During theFirst World War it housed refugees from Belgium, leading to the house being popularly called "Belgium House".
In theFirst World War the town ofFolkestone inKent became host to some 65,000 Belgian refugees fleeing the conflict. Shorncliffe Camp served as a training camp for thousands of recruits in training, and the port was the main embarkation point for soldiers leaving to fight in the trenches of France and Belgium. Whole blocks of houses, hotels and other buildings were commandeered for the hundreds of thousands of soldiers, including many Canadian troops. They marched through the town to the harbour along the route now called the "Road of Remembrance".
The Haven Hotel is anAAfour star hotel inSandbanks, nearPoole,Dorset on the south coast of England.Guglielmo Marconi established awireless transmitter at The Haven Hotel in 1899, and carried out some of his firstwireless telegraphy experiments from the hotel.[3] Other notable guests includeRobert Browning andJohn Major. The Haven Hotel housed Belgian refugees during theFirst World War and was a military contact point during theSecond World War, and was at one stage a Naval detachment. In 1976, The Haven Hotel was purchased by the hotel chain, FJB Collection.
The nameRhyd-y-gors orRhydygors has been associated with two historic sites near the market town ofCarmarthen in SouthwestWales. The first was theNorman Rhyd-y-gors Castle and the other was Rhyd-y-gors Mansion, home of the Edwardes family. In 1911, Rhyd-y-gors changed ownership, other than by inheritance, for the first time. The house was occupied by various tenants, including housing Belgian refugees duringWorld War I. It was then occupied until about 1960, after which it became ruinous and was demolished in 1971[5] by the commercial firm who owned the estate, and had built a creamery on the front portion of the land.
Spier's School, atBeith, inNorth Ayrshire, Scotland, NS 35355327, KA15 1LU, was opened in 1888 and closed in 1972. The school, now demolished, was built using Ballochmyle red sandstone and was reminiscent of the ancientGlasgow University. The school had an unofficial cadet corps in 1914 and donated money to the Belgian Refugee Fund in 1915 and it also endowed a hospital bed in 1918.
London. Alexandra Palace and Earls Court exhibition buildings. In September 1914 the Metropolitan Asylums Board, which had overall responsibility for incoming refugees in London, took over the two large buildings to provide beds for Belgian refugees. By October 1914 MAB was maintaining about 8,000 beds there as well as another 4,000 elsewhere in London.[7]
The county ofShropshire hosted over 400 refugees from September 1914 onwards, the majority living in the parish ofAtcham, and many atCound Hall owned by the McCorquodale family.
Sir James Macklin,DL,JP (1864–1944) was an English jeweller and farmer, active in public life inWiltshire. Macklin served six successive terms asMayor of Salisbury, commencing in November 1913, and coming to an end in 1919. His incumbency of the office coincided with theFirst World War. Macklin was married in 1890[9] to Barbara Emily Main, the daughter of George John Masters Main and his wife, Emily Mariah (née Hayter). She was born in 1870.[10] She was appointedMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1919 for work among Colonial and British troops during the First World War and was awarded the Golden Palms of theOrder of the Crown, by the King of the Belgians in 1921 for work among Belgian refugees during the same conflict.[11] She died in Salisbury on 19 November 1960.
Violet Florence Mabel Mond, Baroness Melchett,DBE (1867–1945), néeGoetze, was a Britishhumanitarian and activist. She was the sister of the painter and sculptorSigismund Goetze. In 1894 she married the businessman and politicianAlfred Mond, who had been introduced to her by her brother. She was an active political hostess and worker, first for theLiberal Party and then, after her husband changed allegiance in 1928, for theConservative Party. She worked hard to promote her husband's political career and used her influence withDavid Lloyd George to secure Mond's appointment to ministerial office in December 1916. AsFirst Commissioner of Works, Mond proposed the idea of anational war museum in February 1917. Lady Mond wished to play an active part in the success of this venture. As a member of the Women's Work Sub-Committee, Lady Mond was asked to undertake the gathering of information on home hospitals. She appears to have been very diligent. In the autumn of 1914, Sir Alfred Mond had enthusiastically supported a scheme proposed by Herbert J. Paterson for a hospital for officers. Reportedly, Mond took only two minutes to give the idea his assent and financial backing, and theQueen Alexandra's Hospital for Officers atHighgate was established. The hospital received nine hundred of the worst cases, and its reputation and record were both noble and happy. Original surgical treatments were evolved and many officers owe the full use of their limbs to the care in convalescence at Melchet Court. Violet Mond herself had turned her country home,Melchet Court,Hampshire, into a sixty-bed convalescent hospital, and opened herLondon home to Belgian refugees. For these services she was appointedDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 1920 Birthday Honours.
Jef Denyn (1862–1941) was acarillonneur fromMechelen. In 1922, he founded the world's first and most renowned international higher institute ofcampanology, later named after him, theRoyal Carillon School "Jef Denyn" in Mechelen. During theFirst World War, he, his wife Helene, his son and his four daughters were among those Belgian refugees who fled to England. The Denyn family were taken in by organist and musicologist William Wooding Starmer in his house inTunbridge Wells.
Dame Elizabeth Mary Cadbury,DBE (née Taylor; 1858–1951), was an Englishphilanthropist and wife ofGeorge Cadbury, the chocolate manufacturer. She and her husband played a great role in the development ofBournville and opened the 200th house there herself. In 1909 she opened the Woodland Hospital, which became theRoyal Orthopaedic Hospital. She also builtThe Beeches, to provide holidays for slum children. Throughout her life she campaigned for the education and welfare of women as a convinced but non-militant suffragist.[14] An activepacifist she was the first chair of the Peace and International Relations Committee of the National Council of Women, established in 1914. In 1916 she was elected to theNational Peace Council, becoming its treasurer and then its vice-president. Along withLady Aberdeen,Millicent Fawcett, and Mrs Corbett Ashby, she pressed for the inclusion of women's issues in the agenda of the Congress of Versailles. She was an energetic supporter of theLeague of Nations Union. During theSecond World War, she worked with Belgian refugees, and after that war continued her efforts with the International Council of Women.[15]
Sir Frederick Whitley Thomson (2 September 1851 – 26 May 1924), was a BritishLiberal Party politician and businessman. In 1908 he was appointed as anAlderman of Halifax Borough Council and served as the mayor of Halifax from 1908-11. He was Chairman of the Finance Committee of Halifax Borough Council from 1913–19. He was Chairman of Halifax War Refugees Committee, and received from KingAlbert I of Belgium the Medaille du Roi in recognition of services to Belgian refugees, resident in Halifax and district during the Great War.[16]
Sir Charles Santley (28 February 1834 – 22 September 1922) was an English-bornopera andoratorio star with abravurato show off. A florid, ostentatious style or a passage of music requiring technical skill technique who became the most eminent Englishbaritone and male concert singer of theVictorian era. His has been called 'the longest, most distinguished and most versatile vocal career which history records.'[17] Even though he made his Covent Garden farewell in 1911 he performed again in 1915, at the request of London's Lady Mayoress, when he sang at theMansion House concert for Belgian refugees, when the accurate intonation, fine quality and vigour of his voice were still apparent.
Mary Adela Blagg (1858–1944) was an Englishastronomer who during her life did a lot of volunteer work, including caring for Belgian refugee children duringWorld War I.
HerbertPa[18] Austin, 1st Baron AustinKBE (1866-1941) was an Englishautomobile designer and builder who founded theAustin Motor Company. For the majority of his career, he was known as Sir Herbert Austin, and the newNorthfield bypass is called "Sir Herbert Austin Way" after him. The company turned its resources to the war effort in 1914 and, in 1917, Austin was knighted for his services and also received theBelgium Order of the Crown ofLeopold II, for the employment of 3,000 Belgian refugees at Longbridge.[19]
Annie Shepherd Swan (1859–1943) was a Scottish journalist, novelist and story writer. She used her maiden name for most of her literary career, but also wrote asDavid Lyall and laterMrs Burnett Smith. She was a popular writer ofromantic fiction for young women during theVictorian era and published more than 200 novels, serials, short stories and other fiction between 1878 and her death in 1943.[20][21][22][23] During theFirst World War, Swan resigned her editorial position and volunteered for theBritish war effort. During the First World War she went to France on a morale-boosting tour and also worked with Belgian refugees.
Sir (Thomas) Duncombe Mann (1857-1949) was a barrister and Clerk to the Metropolitan Asylums Board from 1891 - 1923. As such he had overall responsibility for all incoming refugees, mainly Belgians, during the World War I.[24] Officer, Order of Leopold. National Portrait Gallery 42192-42195.[25]
The Falkirk Herald is a weekly newspaper and daily news website published byJohnston Press. It provides reportage, opinion and analysis of current affairs in the towns ofFalkirk,Grangemouth,Larbert andDenny as well as the neighbouring villages ofPolmont,Redding andBonnybridge. The paper's circulation area has a total population of 151,600, the fifth largest urban area in Scotland. A fundraising drive on behalf of Belgian refugees from the First World War earned a formal thank you from the King of Belgium.[citation needed]
On 12 October 1920, theAnglo-Belgian Memorial was unveiled atVictoria Embankment Gardens in London. The memorial was intended as proof of Belgian gratitude to the people of Britain who had accommodated the Belgians so well during the First World War. It features a central statue by the Belgian sculptorVictor Rousseau, himself a refugee.[26][27] At the unveiling Belgium was represented by Princess Clementine, several members of the Royal Family, and the Prime Minister Léon Delacroix.[28] Representing the British nation was Lord Curzon, the then Foreign Secretary and friend of the Belgian King Albert.[28]
^Arthur Eaglefield-Hull,A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians (Dent, London 1924), 435.
^Roy A Church,Herbert Austin: the British Motor Car Industry to 1941, Europa, London, 1979ISBN9780905118291 "the father figure of "Pa" Austin was at the top and what he said was law."
^Aitken, William Russell.Scottish Literature in English and Scots: A Guide to Information Sources. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. (pg. 170)ISBN0-8103-1249-2
^Sutherland, John.The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1990.ISBN0-8047-1842-3 (pg. 200-201)
^Varty, Anne, ed.Eve's Century: A Sourcebook of Writings on Women and Journalism, 1895-1918. London and New York: Routledge, 2000. (pg. 254)ISBN0-415-19544-6
^Anderson, Carol and Aileen Christianson.Scottish Women's Fiction, 1920s to 1960s: Journeys Into Being. East Linton, Scotland: Tuckwell Press, 2000. (pg. 165)ISBN1-86232-082-9
^Ayers, Gwendoline M. 'England's First State Hospitals and the Metropolitan Asylums Board 1867-1930'. London: Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, 1971.ISBN0854840060 (pg.153)
^Cahalan, Peter. 'Belgian Refugee Relief in England during the Great War'. New York & London, Garland Publishing. 1982.ISBN0-8240-5152-1.
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