Refugees in Luton

Many refugees from across Europe, but more specifically Belgium, were accommodated in Luton during WW1. The stories in this section relate to the plight of refugees fleeing the Great War, and their experiences in Luton.Belgian Refugees in Europe

Meeting with a Belgian Refugee

Event Start and End Date: 

13th October 1914

Luton councillor Murry Barford wrote an article in The Luton News (October 15th, 1914) about an encounter with a Belgian refugee on the 12.15 train from St Pancras on Tuesday.

"It is not war, it is massacre," said the man. He, his brother, a man servant, with two boys of the  tenderest years, were on their way to Derby to receive from some kind-hearted householder asylum and a home, the only gift we Britishers can offer these noble people, bereft of all they once possessed.

The overcoat worn by the man servant was torn in half a dozen places by shrapnel from the German artillery. The shot had entered the roof of an unpretentious mansion upon the outskirts of Malines, and was the forerunner of a cannonade which reduced the houses in that district to so many heaps of rubble. Before the bombardment, greedy "cultured" hands had removed all the family treasures to waiting railway trucks labelled for Berlin. What of the furniture could not be thus easily disposed of was smashed in the mere lust of destruction, piled into heaps to start the fire which was soon to add to the ghastly light outside.

My new-found friend had been prosperous in business, invested his savings in Malines property and retired, as he thought, to enjoy his later years in peace, and realised a few mornings since that his property was all demolished, himself destitute, and was now ready to accept with a grateful acknowledgement a sandwich from a stranger.

In the next compartment, under the care of two daughters, was an old lady stricken with paralysis. Propped up in a corner, her hands shaking like leaves in the autumn wind, one was impressed by the devotion that had seen her safely from the broken city up to the coast, across the sea to Folkestone, on to London, down to the Alexandra Palace, and now back again to St Pancras. The voice of one of the daughters was breaking with tears as she inquired what time they would reach Derby.

The day before I had watched the departure of some sixty or eighty refugees to Manchester. There were women carrying all they now possessed in brown paper parcels tied with odd lengths of string or in a sheet snatched hurriedly from the bed they would never sleep upon again - women of the artisan class, who had spent their lives in the fertile fields now laid waste under under the devastating heel of the modern Hun - women of the tradesman class who had seen the shops that had given them and their families a comfortable living in Malines smouldering in ruins.

One poor soul with three little boys under 12 years of age had been driven from the city so hurriedly that she had lost sight of her two daughters of 16 and 18 years. Whether  they were dead or alive she did not know, but she was praying that the good God would take them rather than that should fall into the hands of the rapacious Barbarian.

No one with a heart for humanity can pass down Aldwych at this time without experiencing a thickening sensation at the throat. Hundreds of Belgians, rich once, poor now, pass into the committee's waiting rooms side by side with those complacent resigned souls who have never known riches. To these latter, troubles are not so rare, their lives have been one long struggle against adversity, but the grace with which they accept every service offered bespeaks them as a people not devoid of the finer instincts of this downtrodden nation, who in her sorrow is shedding tears of joy that she has the throbbing heart of Greater Britain to sustain her.

 

NB: Murry Barford died in February 1937, having been Mayor of Luton four times. His obituary in The Luton News says he had completed his education as the only English student at a school near Paris which made him "especially qualified to assist the Belgian refugees who came to Luton, and as an interpreter he did much useful work".

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Thursday, October 15, 1914

Oct 1914 Luton Helps Belgian Refugees

Event Start and End Date: 

22nd October 1914

Luton was responding to the plight of Belgian refugees displaced as their homes became swallowed up and often destroyed by the German advance.

 

  • "These are the times when you find out the folk who have hearts in the right place," said Luton Mayoress Mrs Primett in The Luton News of October 22nd, 1914. And more and more Lutonians were opening up their hearts and their homes to the refugees.

 

  • Acting medical officer of health Dr Sworder offered a furnished house in Park Street West rent free;

 

  • Mr Frank Moody offered a six-roomed house in Chapel Street rent free and accepted whole responsibility of the inmates for at least three months; wheelwright Mr Sanders offered the use of a bungalow at Limbury; butcher Mr A. E. Fisher offered 50 lb or 60 lb of meat weekly; and Mrs Oakley, of Lawrence End, Mrs Crawley (Stockwood) and Mrs Brigg (Woodside) each offered a cottage on their respective estates while also accepting full responsibility for the homeless people committed to their charge.

 

  • The Luton News said relief fund money was also coming in pretty steadily, and another direction in which the Mayoress was receiving support was from Belgian ladies resident in Luton, who may be expected to serve a very useful part on the arrival of the guests.

 

  • Thirteen Belgian refugees had arrived in Luton on the Tuesday and were being accommodated in a house which was the property of King Street Congregational Church and for some years had been used for classrooms and committee meetings.
  • "This house has been put into a habitable state and suitably furnished for their accommodation by members of the church and congregation, who will also subscribe the cost of their maintenance for a period of six months," said the newspaper. "So the refugees will be provided with a comfortable retreat in Luton, and in a  manner which, thanks to the charitable enterprise of the King Street people, will involved no charge on any relief fund whatever."

 

  • Mr A. Bavister, of Park Street, undertook the cleaning, sanitary and decorative work free of charge; Messrs T. and E. Neville, of Castle Street, gave a full size bath and fitted up the bathroom; Mrs H. Arnold and Co, of New Bedford Road, supplied for nothing the timber required to put certain floors in a proper state; the Davis Gas Stove Co Ltd provided a geyser; electric lighting was attended by Messrs Shoolbred and Connell, and some bricklaying and plastering was done by Mr J. George, and Mr Frank Neville saw to the carpentering.

 

  • Furnishing of the building was done entirely by members of the congregation who supplied all the things necessary to fit up the house accommodation for about 15 people. Messrs Blundell Bros offered the loan of a furniture van to collect the goods. Six bedsteads were quickly forthcoming, with all the necessary bedding. Other gifts included various kinds of chairs and tables, cutlery and glass for the tables, all the utensils for the kitchen, a sewing machine to help the women make their own clothes, and all the things, large and small, which go to make a house comfortable.

 

  • The refugees were not expected until today (October 22nd) and, consequently, when a message was received from the Central Executive in London that they were to come on Tuesday the work fitting up the house had to be hurried along with great haste in order that it might be ready for occupation by night.
  • The house being there, and all the furniture required being available without the necessity to purchase anything, one other important matter had to be settled. This was the cost of the food supply, estimated to amount to about £6 a week.
  • A scheme was formulated by the Rev E. B. Mahon and referred to at both morning and evening services. That involved members of the church and congregation subscribing one shilling per week for a period of six months, if it should be necessary, to maintain the home for that time. Within a very few minutes the 120 subscribers required had come forward.

 

  • Thirteen refugees had been sent, composed of three related families, and it was stipulated that they should be able to speak French rather than Flemish so that it might be easy for members of the committee to act as interpreters.
  • In addition to the 13 refugees at King Street, there were six at 31 Chapel Street, where Mr Moody had placed his house at their disposal; four had been taken by Mrs Walker, of Windmill Street, High Town; two by Mr Facer, of Hart Hill until they go to King Street; and three were with Mrs Crawley's chauffeur at Farley Cottage.

 

  • Four or five more refugees were expected to arrive that day, and the Belgian Refugees Committee still required the use of one or more houses, either rent free or at a nominal amount.

 

  • A smoking concert and a boxing tournament (arranged by Mr French) were held in the Castle Street Hall in aid of the local Belgian Refugee Fund yesterday (Trafalgar Day). Contributing to an enjoyable musical programme were Corpl Conquest (of the Black Watch, who was wounded in the Battle of Mons), Miss Nellie and Master Bert French, Miss Dolly Clark, Paddy French and Messrs Donovan, Ern Allen, Harold Fairey, W. Albone and B. Foothorape.
  • Results of the boxing were: Three rounds (10 stone 6 lbs) Will Jones (Luton) beat Pte Ford, R.A.M.C.; three rounds (11 stone) Driver Brown, A.S.C. beat Pte Barton, 5th Beds, knock-out (the finest bouts of the evening); four rounds, J. Clifton (Luton) v Stan Philpott (winner of the Grand Theatre Challenge Cup) - declared a draw; three rounds (9 stone) Corpl Dixon, 5th Lincs, beat Corpl McClive, 5th Lincs. An exhibition contest was given by Sapper Pettingell, R.E., and Sergt McKay, 5th Lincs. Judge and referee, W. Ralley and C. Poole.

 

  • A concert was given on Monday evening at St Mary's Hall, Luton, to raise money for the refugee fund. Although the hall was not filled to overflowing, there was influential support for the event, and it was the cheaper seats that were empty.

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Thursday, October 22, 1914