From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
During the First World War between 1914 and 1918, many
Belgian refugees
fled to the
United Kingdom
.
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 in
Belgian Refugee Relief in England during the Great War
by Peter Calahan (Garland Publishing, New York and London, 1982).
Locations
[
edit
]
- Millfield House
on Silver Street in
Edmonton
, North London, is first mentioned in 1796 when it belonged to John Wigston of
Trent Park
. Later that year it was let to the Imperial Ambassador of the
German Empire
. The house was sold in 1849 to the Strand Union Guardians for a school for London
workhouse
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
housed
Belgian
refugees
. The house was converted into the St Davids Hospital for
Epileptics
in 1915 by the Metropolitan Asylums Board. By 1971 the house was acquired by the
London 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 of
Stoke Heath, Coventry
was built up between 1900 and 1920 and was closely tied into the need for munitions workers during the
First 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 Sir
Thomas 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 the
Borough of Dartford
,
Kent
. The demand created by
World War I
meant that output at the local
Vickers
factory multiplied, with a positive effect on the local economy. Burroughs-Wellcome chemical works (later incorporated into
GlaxoSmithKline
) made Dartford a centre for the
pharmaceutical industry
. During the war, many Belgian refugees arrived in the town. Unable to accommodate them all, many people were housed with volunteers.
- The
Porch House
, is a large
Georgian
house, dating from the late 18th century, in
Nantwich
,
Cheshire
, England. Currently divided into two houses, the Porch House has previously served as a day and boarding school. During the
First World War
it housed refugees from Belgium, leading to the house being popularly called "Belgium House".
- In the
First World War
the town of
Folkestone
in
Kent
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 an
AA
four star
hotel in
Sandbanks
, near
Poole
,
Dorset
on the south coast of England.
Guglielmo Marconi
established a
wireless
transmitter at The Haven Hotel in 1899, and carried out some of his first
wireless telegraphy
experiments from the hotel.
[3]
Other notable guests include
Robert Browning
and
John Major
. The Haven Hotel housed Belgian refugees during the
First World War
and was a military contact point during the
Second World War
, and was at one stage a Naval detachment. In 1976, The Haven Hotel was purchased by the hotel chain, FJB Collection.
- The
Spalding Gentlemen's Society
, a
learned society
in
Spalding, Lincolnshire
was founded in 1710 by
Maurice Johnson
(1688?1755) of
Ayscoughfee Hall
and is still active today. The Society's museum on Broad Street, Spalding, opened in 1911 with extensions in 1925 and in 1960.
[4]
The carved panels on the exterior are crafted by Jules Tuerlinckx, a Belgian refugee from
Malines
during the First World War.
- The name
Rhyd-y-gors
or
Rhydygors
has been associated with two historic sites near the market town of
Carmarthen
in Southwest
Wales
. The first was the
Norman
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 during
World 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.
- Royton
is a town within the
Metropolitan Borough of Oldham
, in
Greater Manchester
, England.
[6]
During
World War I
, Royton Hall was used to house Belgian refugees.
- Spier's School
, at
Beith
, in
North 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 ancient
Glasgow 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]
- Somerset.
Norton House
,
Midsomer Norton
a now-demolished Georgian mansion, housed Belgian refugees during World War 1.
[8]
- The county of
Shropshire
hosted over 400 refugees from September 1914 onwards, the majority living in the parish of
Atcham
, and many at
Cound Hall
owned by the McCorquadale family.
Notable people
[
edit
]
- Leopold III
(1901?1983) reigned as
King of the Belgians
from 1934 until 1951, when he abdicated in favour of the
heir apparent
, his son
Baudouin
. As a prince, Leopold,
Duke of Brabant
, fought as a private during
World War I
with the
12th Belgian Regiment
while still a teenager, but was sent by his father to
Eton College
in the
United Kingdom
, in 1915. After the war, in 1919, the
Duke
visited the Old Mission and Saint Anthony Seminary in
Santa Barbara
,
California
.
- Walter Hume Long, 1st Viscount Long
PC
,
FRS
,
JP
(13 July 1854 ? 26 September 1924), was a British
Unionist
politician. In a political career spanning over 40 years, he held office as
President of the Board of Agriculture
,
President of the Local Government Board
,
Chief Secretary for Ireland
,
Secretary of State for the Colonies
and
First Lord of the Admiralty
. He is also remembered for his links with Irish Unionism and served as Leader of the
Irish Unionist Party
in the
House of Commons
from 1905 to 1910. With the formation of the wartime coalition government in May 1915, Long returned to office at the Local Government Board, and there dealt with the plight of thousands of Belgian refugees.
- Sir James Macklin
,
DL
,
JP
(1864?1944) was an English jeweller and farmer, active in public life in
Wiltshire
. Macklin served six successive terms as
Mayor
of Salisbury, commencing in November 1913, and coming to an end in 1919. His incumbency of the office coincided with the
First World War
. Macklin was married in 1890
[9]
to Barbara Emily Main, the daughter of George John Masters Main and his wife, Emily Mariah (nee Hayter). She was born in 1870.
[10]
She was appointed
Member 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 the
Order 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.
- Sir Ernest Frederic George Hatch, 1st Baronet
(1859?1927) was a British politician. The son of John William Hatch of London and Matilda Augusta Snell of
Callington
,
Cornwall
, Hatch was an
MP
for Gorton until 1904. After he disagreed with
Joseph Chamberlain
over free trade he crossed the floor to the
Liberal Party
.
[12]
In 1908 he was created a
baronet
, "of Portland Place, in the
Metropolitan Borough of St Marylebone
".
[13]
He was appointed chairman and treasurer of
University College Hospital
,
London
During the
First World War
he chaired the Government Commission on Belgian Refugees, and was made a commander of the Belgian
Order of the Crown
.
- Violet Florence Mabel Mond, Baroness Melchett,
DBE
(1867?1945), nee
Goetze
, was a British
humanitarian
and activist. She was the sister of the painter and sculptor
Sigismund Goetze
. In 1894 she married the businessman and politician
Alfred Mond
, who had been introduced to her by her brother. She was an active political hostess and worker, first for the
Liberal Party
and then, after her husband changed allegiance in 1928, for the
Conservative Party
. She worked hard to promote her husband's political career and used her influence with
David Lloyd George
to secure Mond's appointment to ministerial office in December 1916. As
First Commissioner of Public Works
, Mond proposed the idea of a
national 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 the
Queen Alexandra's Hospital for Officers
at
Highgate
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 her
London
home to Belgian refugees. For these services she was appointed
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
(DBE) in the 1920 Birthday Honours.
- Jef Denyn
(1862–1941) was a
carillonneur
from
Mechelen
. In 1922, he founded the world's first and most renowned international higher institute of
campanology
, later named after him, the
Royal Carillon School "Jef Denyn"
in Mechelen. During the
First 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 in
Tunbridge Wells
.
- Dame Elizabeth Mary Cadbury,
DBE
(nee Taylor; 1858?1951), was an English
philanthropist
and wife of
George Cadbury
, the chocolate manufacturer. She and her husband played a great role in the development of
Bournville
and opened the 200th house there herself. In 1909 she opened the Woodland Hospital, which became the
Royal Orthopaedic Hospital
. She also built
The 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 active
pacifist
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 the
National Peace Council
, becoming its treasurer and then its vice-president. Along with
Lady 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 the
League of Nations
Union. During the
Second 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 British
Liberal Party
politician and businessman. In 1908 he was appointed as an
Alderman
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 King
Albert 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-born
opera
and
oratorio
star with a
bravura
to show off. A florid, ostentatious style or a passage of music requiring technical skill technique who became the most eminent English
baritone
and male concert singer of the
Victorian 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 the
Mansion 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 English
astronomer
who during her life did a lot of volunteer work, including caring for Belgian refugee children during
World War I
.
- Herbert
Pa
[18]
Austin, 1st Baron Austin
KBE
(1866-1941) was an English
automobile
designer and builder who founded the
Austin Motor Company
. For the majority of his career, he was known as Sir Herbert Austin, and the new
Northfield 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 the
Belgium Order of the Crown
of
Leopold 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 as
David Lyall
and later
Mrs Burnett Smith
. She was a popular writer of
romantic fiction
for young women during the
Victorian 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 the
First World War
, Swan resigned her editorial position and volunteered for the
British 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]
- In
the Mysterious Affair at Styles
it is revealed that fictional detective
Hercule Poirot
is a Belgian refugee.
Archive material
[
edit
]
- The Falkirk Herald
is a weekly newspaper and daily news website published by
Johnston Press
. It provides reportage, opinion and analysis of current affairs in the towns of
Falkirk
,
Grangemouth
,
Larbert
and
Denny
as well as the neighbouring villages of
Polmont
,
Redding
and
Bonnybridge
. 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
]
Commemorations
[
edit
]
On 12 October 1920, the
Anglo-Belgian Memorial
was unveiled at
Victoria 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 sculptor
Victor 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 Leon Delacroix.
[28]
Representing the British nation was Lord Curzon, the then Foreign Secretary and friend of the Belgian King Albert.
[28]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
James, Henry (2004-01-01).
Henry James on Culture: Collected Essays on Politics and the American Social Scene
. U of Nebraska Press.
ISBN
978-0-8032-7619-2
.
- ^
"Belgian Exiles & Chelsea War Refugees Committee - War Memorials Online"
.
www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk
. Retrieved
2020-07-07
.
- ^
My Father, Marconi
, Degan Marconi, Guernica Editions, 1996,
ISBN
1-55071-044-3
Google Books, retrieved 3 August 2008
- ^
"Museum"
. Spalding-gentlemens-society.org
. Retrieved
2014-03-08
.
- ^
"Carmarthenshire County Council Website : Gwefan Cyngor Sir Gr"
.
www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk
. Archived from
the original
on 23 December 2012
. Retrieved
26 January
2022
.
- ^
Greater Manchester Gazetteer
, Greater Manchester County Record Office, Places names ? O to R, archived from
the original
on 18 July 2011
, retrieved
17 June
2008
- ^
Ayers, Gwendoline M. 'England's First State Hospitals 1867-1930.' London. Welcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine 1971.
ISBN
0854840060
.
- ^
Official signpost in place at the Silver Street Nature reserve
- ^
Marriage registered in Alderbury Registration District in the third quarter of 1890.
- ^
Birth registered in Alderbury Registration District in the second quarter of 1870.
- ^
The Ladies Who's Who
(1930), p. 426.
- ^
P F Clarke,
Lancashire and the New Liberalism
, Cambridge, 2007
- ^
"No. 28200"
.
The London Gazette
. 1908-11-27. p. 9026.
- ^
"Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury ≪ Women's History Network Blog"
. Womenshistorynetwork.org
. Retrieved
2014-03-08
.
- ^
Sara Delamont,
Dame Elizabeth Mary Cadbury
in
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
online; OUP 2004-12
- ^
"Who's Who"
. Ukwhoswho.com
. Retrieved
2014-03-08
.
- ^
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, 1979
ISBN
9780905118291
"the father figure of "Pa" Austin was at the top and what he said was law."
- ^
Lambert (1968), Appendix 3
- ^
Aitken, William Russell.
Scottish Literature in English and Scots: A Guide to Information Sources
. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. (pg. 170)
ISBN
0-8103-1249-2
- ^
Sutherland, John.
The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction
. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1990.
ISBN
0-8047-1842-3
(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)
ISBN
0-415-19544-6
- ^
Anderson, Carol and Aileen Christianson.
Scottish Women's Fiction, 1920s to 1960s: Journeys Into Being
. East Linton, Scotland: Tuckwell Press, 2000. (pg. 165)
ISBN
1-86232-082-9
- ^
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.
ISBN
0854840060
(pg.153)
- ^
Cahalan,Peter. 'Belgian Refugee Relief in England during the Great War'. New York & London, Garland Publishing. 1982.
ISBN
0-8240-5152-1
.
- ^
"ANGLETERRE - ENGELAND - London (Londres - Londen) - Belgian Refugees Memorial - Reconnaissance de la Belgique a l'Angleterre - Dankbaarheid van Belgie aan Engeland"
. Bel-memorial.org. 1920-10-12. Archived from
the original
on 2014-03-08
. Retrieved
2014-03-08
.
- ^
Historic England
.
"Belgian Monument to the British Nation (1066168)"
.
National Heritage List for England
. Retrieved
July 30,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"Belgium's Gratitude : London Remembers, Aiming to capture all memorials in London"
. Londonremembers.com
. Retrieved
2014-03-08
.
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Theatres
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Principal
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Timeline
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Prelude
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1914
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1915
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1916
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1917
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1918
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Co-belligerent conflicts
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Post-War conflicts
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Aspects
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