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diff --git a/77327-0.txt b/77327-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..abb16bb --- /dev/null +++ b/77327-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,953 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77327 *** + + + + + THE WORK OF + THE WAR REFUGEES COMMITTEE + + + AN ADDRESS + + GIVEN BY + + LADY LUGARD + TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS + MARCH 24th, 1915 + +[Illustration: [Logo]] + + LONDON + + G. BELL AND SONS, LTD. + + 1915 + + + + + THE WORK OF THE + WAR REFUGEES COMMITTEE + +[Illustration: [Logo]] + + +I have been asked to speak to-day about the work of the War Refugees +Committee. + +The work of the War Refugees Committee is intimately associated with +what will, I believe, hereafter be regarded as one of the most acutely +pathetic chapters of our island history. Because we are an island, +because a stretch of sea lies between us and Europe, because, above all, +we have a Navy which for a thousand years has known how to defend that +strip of sea, we have been able, not for the first time in our history, +to offer refuge to a people stricken and driven out from their proper +home. + +There is no need for me to speak now of what Belgium has done—we all +have the knowledge in our hearts. In the Titanic struggle in which we +are engaged Belgium bore for a time the burden of the world, and the +world can never forget, and never repay. + +We all remember the shock of horror with which we read the first +accounts of the atrocities perpetrated at Visé and Liège. But we have +almost forgotten that only a few days before the outbreak of this war +our eyes were turned towards another theatre of disturbance, and the +outbreak of civil war in Ireland was the catastrophe we feared. For a +moment I must recall it in connection with the refugees, for, strange as +it may seem, the War Refugees Committee is, in a sense, the lineal +descendant of the Ulster Council. + +The preparations of Ulster in the early summer of last year were +sufficiently public to be known to anyone who chose to be acquainted +with them. Like most Irish Protestants, I was aware that in view of +coming contingencies arrangements had been made for the removal of many +thousands of women and children from the area which was likely to become +a theatre of war. These arrangements had been made with great +thoroughness. Registration and all other necessary forms had been +prepared, transport had been organized and safe homes had been secured +in England. The outbreak of European war mercifully averted the +misfortune of war in Ireland, and when the news of the first atrocities +came through from Belgium they suggested the idea, “Why not use the +Ulster organization to get the Belgian women and children out if +possible from under the German guns?” At that time we had of course no +conception of the development which the Refugee movement was ultimately +to take. The thought in my mind was mainly of women and children. I +telegraphed to Captain Craig to ask whether, if such a scheme proved +feasible, he would let me have the use of the Ulster organization. He +telegraphed back immediately that everything they had was at my disposal +for such a purpose. He sent me all their registration forms—forms which +we are to-day using at the War Refugees Committee—and put me immediately +in touch with people who had the necessary information. In twenty-four +hours I had the embryo of an organization in my hands. + +But it was evidently necessary to change what I may call the “sentiment +base.” The next step was to approach the Catholic Church and to ask of +Cardinal Bourne that the Catholic institutions of Great Britain and +Ireland might be circularized in order to ascertain how many homes of +undoubted security could be placed at the disposal of Belgian refugees. +I was received with a cordiality which, I would like to say here once +for all, the Catholic Church has constantly maintained towards the +movement. I was assured by Monsignor Bidwell, whom Cardinal Bourne +deputed to discuss the matter with me, that assuming the movement to be +properly organized and to be viewed with favour by the Government, the +Catholic authorities would be very ready to help. + +With this amount of preparation I approached the Foreign Office, and was +assured of the sympathy of Sir Edward Grey. The Local Government Board +signified their approval, and the Foreign Office was good enough +ultimately to arrange an interview for me with the Belgian Minister, +directing me that in placing the scheme before him I was to inquire what +steps his Government, in the event of their viewing the proposal with +favour, would take to make the scheme known in Belgium. In accordance +with these instructions I laid the scheme before the Comte de Lalaing, +and in due course an answer was received from the Belgian Government +accepting the proposal with gratitude, and saying that they would make +the scheme known in Belgium, and would direct intending refugees to come +to Ostend, whence they understood that we would take steps to bring them +away. + +While these negotiations were in progress the position in Belgium was +becoming every day more acute, and efforts which had already been +started in other quarters to alleviate this distress were suddenly +brought into line with my endeavour. Lord Lytton had begun collecting +contributions towards the Belgian Relief Fund from exhibitors at the +recent Brussels and Ghent Exhibitions. This had led Mr. Wintour, of the +Exhibitions Branch of the Board of Trade, to pay a visit to Ostend, +where the homeless refugees were already congregated in large numbers. +On August 22nd I was informed by Mr. Reyntiens and Mr. Wintour that they +had the promise of a transport, from the Admiralty, with which they were +immediately going to fetch over refugees, and that they hoped to return +on the following Monday with a ship-load. I asked Mr. Reyntiens how many +they proposed to bring back. He said “As many as we can get—anything +from 100 to 1,000.” To the inquiry “What do you propose to do with your +refugees when you bring them back?” his reply was, in effect, “We leave +that to you!” There was no time to discuss the matter; it was necessary +for him to go at once and get his papers ready, and I was left on +Saturday morning in full sympathy with the adventure, but with the +knowledge that on Monday I might be expected to receive in England 1,000 +refugees. + +No Committee had as yet been formed. It was evident that between +Saturday and Monday a Committee had to be created. I will not delay you +with a relation of the details of that Saturday and Sunday afternoon, +interesting as they were at the moment to those engaged in the work. The +only condition which I made was that the Committee should have no +politics and no religious distinctions, and it is enough now to say that +thanks mainly to the exertions of Mrs. Alfred Lyttelton and Mr. H. E. +Morgan a Committee was formed under the required conditions and in the +required time, Lord Hugh Cecil consenting to be our Chairman and Lord +Gladstone our Treasurer. + +By the kindness of Mr. F. Norie-Miller, General Manager of the General +Accident Fire and Life Assurance Corporation, Ltd., offices were placed +at our disposal entirely free of charge. The nucleus of a clerical and +typewriting staff was secured. A name was chosen. An appeal was sent to +the papers on Sunday night, and as a net result of our exertions we were +enabled on the following Monday morning to take possession as a +Committee of the empty offices which have since developed into the +well-known headquarters of the War Refugees Committee at Aldwych. That +first morning we had hardly pens and ink, we had not chairs to sit upon, +the offices were almost entirely without furniture, and while we were +trying to organize our immediate plan of operations the response to our +Appeal, which had appeared only in that morning’s papers, took the +embarrassing if at the same time encouraging form of no less than 1,000 +letters, all containing offers of hospitality and help. + +The response of the country to the movement was absolutely phenomenal. +The 1,000 letters of that day became 2,000 on the following day, then +3,000, then 4,000, then 5,000, and on the day on which we received 5,000 +letters there were also 1,200 callers at the Office. Every letter and +every visitor brought proposals of help in one form or another. Within a +fortnight we had at our disposal hospitality for 100,000 persons. +Cheques, clothing, food, offers of personal service flowed in upon us. I +could spend hours rather than minutes in telling you the details of that +first outpouring of public generosity. The sense of the country was made +absolutely clear that if it could not share the acute suffering caused +to the people of Belgium by the war it desired to diminish that +suffering by every means that it possessed. These offers came not from +one class nor from one place, but from all classes and from all places. +Catholic and Protestant, Jew and Nonconformist, high and low, rich and +poor united, all unaware, in a spontaneous tribute of sympathy and +respect. Nations, like individuals, have their moments of unconscious +self-revelation. It was a moment which unmistakably revealed the heart +of England. + +The enthusiasm and volume of the movement were cheering, and no offers +touched us more deeply than the hundreds we received, often on +postcards, from the very poor. But the suddenness of the movement +brought with it accompaniments which it must be admitted were difficult +to cope with. We were soon accused, and justly accused, of not answering +our letters, of not acknowledging our cheques, of not receiving our +visitors with due consideration. It was all true! though it remained so +only for a few days. To have done otherwise was a physical +impossibility, for what were we among so many? We were only a willing +company of amateurs suddenly called upon to deal with the conditions of +a large business created in twenty-four hours. And while this volume of +external business was pouring in the true object of our existence +remained in our opinion the providing of homes for our coming guests. We +contented ourselves with safeguarding our cheques, and gave our thoughts +to the refugees. + +They began to come on the first day. They increased in numbers, not +being immediately brought in ship-loads, but trickling through on their +own account from various sources to the number of perhaps 100 or 150 a +day. Our first difficulty with regard to finding homes for them was met +by the kindness of Sir James Dunlop-Smith, who obtained from the India +Office permission to place at our disposal a small house at 49, St. +George’s Road, usually occupied by the King’s orderlies, but standing at +the moment empty and furnished. This was the first place of refuge +offered in this country to Belgians. It seemed to us a suitable +coincidence that it should come, even indirectly, from the King. The +Borough Council of Camberwell was, if my memory serves me rightly, the +next to offer us beds for Belgian refugees. They had organized Dulwich +Baths as a hospital, and they placed at our disposal between 80 and 100 +beds. Battersea followed their example. Private offers were added to +these, and in two or three days we had a couple of hundred beds upon +which we could count. + +We reached the third day of our existence before any news came of the +ship-load of refugees for whose reception the Committee had been so +hastily organized. It was on Wednesday evening at about half-past seven +o’clock, as we were separating after a heavy day’s work, that a telegram +was brought in saying, “One thousand refugees arriving Folkestone +to-night. Can you take 500 in London tomorrow?” The moment had come. We +afterwards discovered that this was not “the” ship, and as a matter of +fact Mr. Wintour’s refugees never did come over in a special transport +chartered for them. I give you our impressions, however, only as we +received them then. We had provided with the greatest difficulty for +250. To provide suddenly for 500 more seemed at first sight impossible. +But to let you have one instance of the early work I will describe how +it was done. + +Among the offers which had been made to us was one from the Army and +Navy Stores proposing to lend us an empty shirt factory conveniently +situated just opposite Victoria Station. It was in a perfectly sanitary +condition, clean, with gas, light, and water laid on, but stark empty. +At eight o’clock on Wednesday evening we accepted the offer. Mrs. Walter +Cave took direction in this particular act of energy, and I believe she +was up all that night. The Army and Navy Stores let us have beds at cost +price. The Chairman of the Rowton Houses lent us crockery and linen. +Willing help came from every side, and the result was achieved that +before three on the following afternoon the shirt factory had been +converted into a hostel, where 250 beds were made up with clean sheets +and pillow-cases; a kitchen was arranged downstairs with eight +cooking-stoves; dining-tables were ready laid; and a hot dinner for +several hundred people awaited the arrival of the refugees. Our first +batch of 250 arrived there that afternoon. We disposed of the others in +different places, and from that day, though we continued to receive +refugees in London at the rate of several hundreds per day, and were +often at our wits’ end what to do, not one who reached our hands was +ever left without food and lodging. + +The experience of this first week gave us the formation of the principal +Departments of the War Refugees Committee. I do not propose now to +detain you with any full description of our organization. For anyone who +is interested the details are recorded in the Blue-Book issued by the +Departmental Committee of the Local Government Board appointed to +consider and report on questions arising in connection with the +Reception and Employment of the Belgian Refugees in this country. I will +indicate merely the framework of the machine which circumstances +immediately brought into operation. + + + LADY LUGARD’S HOSTELS + FOR BELGIAN REFUGEES. + + _Committee_—_Lady Lugard._ + _The Hon. Mrs. Roland Leigh._ + _Stuart Hogg, Esq._ + +These Hostels have been instituted by Lady Lugard for the reception of +Belgians who have hitherto lived on their private means but have come to +the end of their resources. Also for some of a poorer class who have +received hospitality offered for a definite period which has now come to +an end. + +There are at present eleven houses, accommodating a total of about 400 +people. Two of these are more in the nature of hospitals, the rest are +carried on like private hotels or boarding-houses. Care is taken to make +the life as pleasant as possible. Guests are placed in the different +houses according to their social rank; there is a capable manageress in +every house, a Belgian cook, and to a large extent the other servants +are Belgian. + +In many cases, where the refugees have some small means of their own, it +has been found desirable to assist in payment of the rent of flats, or +by direct contributions. At present 125 are helped in these ways. + +Lady Lugard’s aim has been to make each house a “little corner of +Belgium,” as one of the guests happily expressed it. There is a +committee of ladies, who visit these houses regularly and see that the +inmates are as happy and comfortable as possible. + +All expenditure is accounted for to the Central Committee, and care is +taken that there is no waste. + +The scheme has a certain amount of financial help from the War Refugees +Committee, but all expenses of furnishing, rent, lighting, and general +upkeep are borne by Lady Lugard’s Committee. + +Your help is asked to carry on this undertaking, which is one of the +attempts to repay a small portion of the immense debt we owe to the +unhappy Belgian nation. + +Cheques and postal orders should be made out to Lady Lugard, and +addressed to her at + + 51, RUTLAND GATE, S.W. + + +Our first need was obviously a Card Index and Correspondence Department. +This Department has since been placed under the very efficient +management of Mr. Arthur Chadwick, assisted by Mr. Berks and Mr. +Barsdorf, and with the Cashier’s Department under our excellent cashier, +Mr. Bourne, has completely rescued us from the reproaches of the first +days. + +We needed a Transport Department to meet refugees at the stations to +convey them to and from the Refuges. We were helped at first by Mr. F. +M. Guedalla, who also did yeoman service with Mr. Basil Williams and +others in the reception of the refugees at Folkestone. By the kindness +of Sir Albert Stanley and the London General Omnibus Company the +services of one of the officers of that Company, Mr. Henry Campbell, +were placed at our disposal, and under Mr. Campbell this Department has +become one of the most important and efficient branches of our practical +organization. Mr. Campbell’s grip and comprehension of the work of the +War Refugees Committee is so complete that I believe if the whole +Committee were swept away and Mr. Campbell were left standing, the work +would still be satisfactorily carried on. + +Our next obvious need was an organized system of fitting the refugees +into the offers of hospitality which were received for them. This has +remained from the beginning the most complicated and difficult work we +have had to do. A Department, afterwards known as our Allocation +Department, was organized at once under Lady Gladstone, Mrs. Alfred +Lyttelton, and Mrs. Gilbert Samuel, who have been assisted in the work +by an army of willing volunteers. The work of this Department, of which +a beginning had been made in the Belgian Consulate even before the War +Refugees Committee came into existence, has since been carried on in +four main divisions. There has been our Central Allocation Department, +of which the direction has remainded in the hands of Mrs. Gilbert +Samuel. There has been a very important development of subsidiary +branches in the Rink under Mrs. Alfred Lyttelton, helped of course by +many willing workers, to all of whom she would, I am sure, wish to offer +a tribute of gratitude. There has been the Allocation of the Belgian +Consulate, also carried on at Aldwych, under the direction of the Misses +Rothschild and a group of helpers, and there has been the Allocation of +the Catholic Women’s League, under the direction of Miss Streeter, +working always in co-operation with Aldwych, but carried on from their +own headquarters in Victoria Street. In addition to these there has been +also the Allocation, carried on independently of Aldwych, by the Jewish +community, who from their own private offers have provided for upwards +of 6,000 people. The Catholic ladies have allocated upwards of 6,000. In +the Miss Rothschild’s room at Aldwych some 30,000 have been either +allocated or helped in other ways. Our own two branches of Allocation +have since the beginning of the movement arranged for the placing of +between 50,000 and 60,000 persons. In all its branches the War Refugees +Committee has found homes for about 100,000 persons. + +A Department taking its rise in the same necessities as the Allocation +Department proper is the Department of Local Committees, which early in +the movement formed themselves throughout the country for the better +management of local offers of hospitality, while working in +correspondence with Aldwych. This Department at Aldwych has been from +the beginning under the supervision of Lord Lytton, who has directed it +with an ability and devotion for which the War Refugees Committee have +every reason to be grateful. The number of Local Committees with which +his Department maintains touch is now nearly 2,000. + +To these Departments one other of great importance was added in the +first days. It was our Clothing Department, with headquarters at 23, +Warwick Square. Here Lady Emmott, ably assisted by Lady MacDonnell and +other devoted ladies, has been enabled by the generosity of the public +to distribute nearly a million garments, including much-needed boots and +shoes. + +The creation of our different Departments was, as I have said, +immediately imposed upon us by the conditions of the problem with which +we were dealing. The general work of direction and coordination, and the +creation of new means of meeting each new necessity of the situation had +also to grow from the simple beginnings of the early days. It was soon +found that it was desirable to place the Management under one direction, +and it was decided to ask Lord Gladstone, who was prepared to give the +time and devotion necessary to such a work, to accept a position which +is, I suppose, equivalent to that usually held in a commercial company +by the Managing Director. Mr. Morgan was at first associated in this +direction, but found himself afterwards unable to devote the necessary +time, and Lord Gladstone has from the beginning borne the brunt of the +central work of the Committee. It is only in a later chapter, to which I +shall have occasion to refer, that he has been assisted in a Management +Committee by Lord Lytton, the Rt. Hon. W. H. Dickinson, M.P., and Mr. A. +Allen, M.P., to whom was added in the capacity of Honorary Secretary Mr. +A. Maudslay, who has been from the beginning one of the most constant +and devoted of our voluntary workers. I should mention here that Mr. +Maudslay was among the most active of Mrs. Lyttelton’s helpers in the +first organization of the Rink, and that at a later period he succeeded +our first Secretary, Mr. Hennessy Cook, as Honorary Secretary to the War +Refugees Committee. Lord Gladstone’s position has been no sinecure, and +we all, if I may be permitted to say it, give ungrudging recognition to +the absolute sincerity and unselfishness of purpose with which he has +performed his work. We do not claim as a Committee—and I am sure Lord +Gladstone would heartily agree with me—to have been perfectly organized +or perfectly directed, or that our staff, amounting at one time to +upwards of 500 devoted volunteers, have always perfectly understood or +perfectly carried out the intentions and instructions of headquarters. +We are willing to accept in a chastened spirit all reasonable criticism. +The only claim we are concerned to make is that the War Refugees +Committee throughout has been a willing instrument. In ourselves we have +been nothing. The power by which we have been worked has been the +country. We are proud only to have been privileged to represent a +movement which may claim to take its place in history as the consolation +of a nation by a nation. + +It is as a task of consolation that we have from the beginning conceived +of our work. I regret to have detained you so long with a description of +the machinery by which the work was done. I take you back now to the +days when the first refugees, fleeing from the terror of fire and sword, +began to reach our shores. These refugees were different from the +refugees who are now arriving. They had actually borne the first +onslaught of German fury. Men had seen their wives and daughters shot, +and worse than shot, before their eyes. Fathers and mothers had seen +their little children trampled to death under German feet. Old and young +had alike been driven before the bayonet and placed as shields to +protect the enemy from Belgian bullets. Some had been forced to dig +graves, and even to bury men who were not yet dead. All had been smoked +and burned out of their pillaged homes, holding themselves lucky if they +were not forced back to be consumed in the funeral pyres of their +domestic possessions. It has become the fashion now to cast doubt upon +the authenticity of deeds fit only for the annals of the Middle Ages. +Those of us who helped at that time nightly to receive the refugees as +they arrived can never forget the tales of inconceivable horror which +were poured into our ears, nor the convincing simplicity of narration +which made it impossible to doubt their general truth. I remember the +first refugee with whom I happened to speak about herself. It was not a +horrible case—on the contrary, quite simple—but it brought home to me +with a shock of realization what was happening within an ordinary day’s +journey of London. It was only a mother feeding her child with a basin +of bread and milk in one of our Refuges. I asked her where she came +from. She said “Charleroi.” “Then you have seen the fighting?” “Oh, yes, +I carried him—indicating the baby—out under the German guns.” It was +nothing. She had had the luck to escape, but the contrast between the +peacefulness of her actual occupation and her words brought home what +she had escaped from. In the same Refuge on a later day there was a man +whose face was like the face of a tragic fate. He did not speak, he did +not move. The ladies who were working in the Refuge approached him for +some time in vain. One reminded him that he had his wife, while many had +lost their wives, and at last he spoke. “Yes,” he said, “I have my wife! +But we had five children, and we have not one left. Four of the little +ones were trampled to death under the feet of a German regiment, and my +little girl, my eldest, fourteen years old, was given to the German +soldiery, who misused her before my eyes. Afterwards they took her away +with the regiment.” And he fell back to the only thing he seemed able to +say, “We had five children—we have not one left.” The stories which we +heard at that time, daily and nightly, from not one alone, but from +practically every refugee who reached us, were such as surpass all +imagination of horror and brutality. We heard them; we became in a sense +accustomed to hearing them, but the details of many were such as I could +not possibly repeat in a public assembly such as this. An observant +friend who accompanied me one day to a Refuge said, as we came out, +“These people look as if they had all seen ghosts.” They _had_ seen +ghosts! They had seen spectres of carnage, cruelty, lust, and +brutality—such evil spirits as, thank God, are not often let loose upon +the face of earth. You will readily understand that to us who were with +them at that time, who heard these stories every day, no extenuation of +German conduct which can ever be produced will efface the impression +that these awful things were literally true. It was also abundantly +evident that they were not the isolated acts of brutal or drunken +individuals. Evidence was unanimous, and to our minds conclusive, that +the crimes were committed in pursuance of a general order from above. + +I will not hold your imagination in this atmosphere. Let it be placed to +the credit of twentieth-century civilization that the universal +abhorrence aroused by the conduct of the German army towards civilians +was such as to force German authorities to a recognition of the mistake +they had committed. Orders to terrorize the population were apparently +withdrawn, and, so far as we are aware, the brutalities of the first +weeks of the campaign have for the present ceased. + +It was on the 24th of August that the War Refugees Committee received +its first refugees. Until the 9th of September they were received, as I +have told you, in our own Refuges, where we tried to make them as +comfortable as we could. Some little difficulty and hesitation existed +at first as to the question of facilitating the transport of refugees +from Belgium. But this and all other doubt upon the matter was set at +rest by the public offer of the hospitality of the nation which was +made, as you will remember, by the Prime Minister in the House of +Commons on the 9th of September. From that day the Government has stood +behind the movement, and the War Refugees Committee has worked in close +and friendly relation with the Local Government Board. + +The first chapter of Government intervention was to relieve the War +Refugees Committee of the expense and difficulty of providing Refuges in +London.[1] The Government took the Alexandra Palace, and in that and +other available public institutions it organized immediately, under the +Metropolitan Asylums Board and the Board of Guardians, Refuges which had +a total capacity of about 8,000 persons. After the fall of Antwerp, +Earl’s Court Camp, with a further capacity of 4,000 persons, was added +to the government Refuges. Up to the middle of September the War +Refugees Committee had had difficulty in receiving as many as 500 a day. +Since that time, so far as the great majority, which consisted of +working class refugees, are concerned, the War Refugees Committee has +been relieved of anxiety. The first needs of shelter and food were +supplied, and admirably supplied, by the Government Refuges. I should +like in passing to offer my tribute of praise to the splendid work done +by the officials alike of the Metropolitan Asylums Board and the Board +of Guardians. I was for many weeks in close relation day and night with +what was being done, and I can speak from personal observation of the +devoted zeal, the kindness of heart, and the untiring industry with +which the work of receiving, housing, and feeding the refugees was +carried out. + +Footnote 1: + + For a full description of what was done by the Local Government Board + the reader is referred to White Book, Cd. 7763. + +The organization of the Alexandra Palace, where at first about 1,500 +were received, may be taken as a sample of the rest. The Alexandra +Palace, as you know, is a large glass building originally intended for +public recreation, and conveniently situated in its own grounds on a +hill overlooking the North of London. Its central halls, with their +merry-go-rounds and swing-boats, lent themselves readily to the +reception of refugees, and in the early days visitors who went to +condole with the victims of tragic misfortune were usually saluted with +shouts of delight proceeding from children profiting with all the +unconsciousness of their age by the unusual opportunities of enjoyment! +The glass roofs of the building admitted sunshine to every corner. One +of the central halls was converted into a great dining-room, where +sufficient and comfortable meals were served with order and regularity. +Beyond the dining-room there was a nursery and hospital, bright with +white beds and flowers. Beyond the hospital a large hall has been +converted into a bathroom with curtained cubicles, where upwards of 100 +baths, fitted with hot and cold water, are at the disposal of the +refugees. Another large room is used as a schoolroom and kindergarten +for the children. A cinema theatre was converted into a chapel. Rooms +were set aside for workrooms and the distribution of clothing. The many +rooms surrounding the central halls were converted into dormitories +holding each from 60 to 100 beds. In one room the beds had pink +coverings, in the next they had blue. Screens covered with chintz gave a +certain privacy to groups of beds. Crucifixes were fixed on the walls. +Everything that could be done to give a homely and pleasant aspect to +the place was done with the utmost goodwill. These were the arrangements +made before the fall of Antwerp for the general mass of refugees. +Upstairs in a more private wing of the building there was accommodation, +with a comfortably furnished sitting-room and dining-room, for about 100 +persons who might for any reason on their first arrival be distinguished +from the ordinary crowd. Before the fall of Antwerp, since which period +the rush of refugees has caused too great a pressure of overcrowding, +there was a grace, almost a certain charm, in the arrangements. Her +Majesty the Queen showed her sympathy with the refugees by visiting them +in the Alexandra Palace, and expressed her gracious approval of the +arrangements which had been made for them. + +Alexandra Palace was, of course, only one place. The spirit which +dictated its organization presided also over the organization of the +other Refuges. At Alexandra Palace the ladies of Wood Green and the +locality gave devoted service in the development of Clothing, Sewing, +and other departments designed for the comfort of the refugees. At +Earl’s Court Camp the ladies of the Local Government Board have taken +these departments under their charge, and have devoted themselves to the +development of educational and other facilities. + +The first refugees arrived usually in a state of absolute destitution. +Their constant prayer was that they might be immediately allowed to work +and to earn for themselves some portion back of what they had lost. But +an opinion was at that time held that no attempt should be made to +obtain employment for these refugees in the ordinary labour market of +the country, and the lavish hospitality which was offered to them +encouraged the hope that they might be amply provided for by private +beneficence during the continuance of the war. + +The first work of the War Refugees Committee when the refugees arrived +in the Government Refuges was, therefore, to supply them as far as +possible with immediate necessaries. They needed everything. Besides the +substantial requirements of clothes and shoes, they wanted combs, +brushes, soap, hair-pins, boot-laces, braces, needles, cotton, +thimbles—everything that even the poorest find necessary in daily life. +The men, of course, urgently wanted tobacco; the women wanted +knitting-needles and wool to knit. We did our best to supply all these, +and among the small articles which at that time were distributed freely +none were more eagerly accepted than rosaries. We gave them away by +thousands. The exodus had been so sudden that they had apparently in +many cases been left behind, and men and women alike among the first +arrivals from the Walloon country seemed anxious to possess themselves +of this usual accompaniment of prayer. + +There are subjects about which one hesitates to speak in public, yet I +would like just to place on record the impression we received from these +first refugees of simple faith. They seemed themselves to realize, in +the tragic extremity of their distress, that they had lost everything +except their God, and I cannot easily convey the touching fervour of the +prayers in the chapels of the Refuges at which I once or twice +incidentally assisted. Piety, courage, extraordinary fortitude, and +overflowing heartfelt gratitude for all that was being done for them in +England were the principal characteristics that enlisted our sympathy +and admiration for our guests. + +I know it may be said that the heroic note has not been consistently +sustained. That is only to say that human nature remains human in all +circumstances. And I would ask, if Oxford had suffered the fate of +Louvain, if Canterbury had been destroyed instead of Rheims, if +Manchester or Birmingham or Leeds had been bombarded and their +population driven out homeless and penniless to foreign shores, do you +believe that the whole exodus would have been an exodus of heroes? From +the days of Israel onward some members of every great migration have +been found to murmur and to cry for quails as well as manna in the +desert. None grieve for this occasional backsliding more sincerely than +the majority of the better-disposed Belgians themselves. I only wish to +bear testimony to the other side, which I have myself seen and admired, +of patient and even magnificent endurance. + +The refugees were supposed to remain in the London Refuges for a period +of only three to five days at the outside. Once rested and re-fitted it +was the work of the War Refugees Committee to pass them on to the +permanent homes so cordially offered by the hospitality of the country. +It was in these homes that their real reception awaited them, and in +these that was prepared for them by the kindness of individual English +hearts the “haven where they would be.” With what happened after they +left our hands we had, of course, little or nothing to do. Everyone gave +to his own guests according to the fullness of his means. We received +many letters of enthusiastic thanks expressing the content and joy of +the refugees, but our business was only to organize the passing of the +refugees from the London Refuges to their homes. + +The brunt of this work fell, of course, on our Allocation Department, +which, as the pressure grew more and more acute through the months of +September and October, was obliged steadily to increase its forces. It +employed at one time upwards of 100 volunteers. The work of these ladies +and gentlemen consisted in receiving from the Correspondence Department +overnight cards upon which the offers of hospitality made to the +Committee were indexed. With the cards they went on the following day +into the Refuges, and subsequently into hotels in which better-class +refugees were housed, and their object was—acting with as much tact and +sympathy as possible—to find from the information given on the cards the +most suitable accommodation for the many differing parties of refugees +who presented themselves. At the beginning of the movement refugees had +to be dealt with only at the rate of 100 or 200 per day. From the date +of the public offer of national hospitality made by the Government, the +number increased steadily until, during the rush created by the fall of +Antwerp, which marked the maximum pressure of the movement, it became +necessary for the Allocation Department to deal with upwards of 2,000 +persons every day. It is difficult for the public to realize the +magnitude of the task thus performed. It involved not only the delicate +personal decisions which had to be made by each individual Allocator, +but it carried with it all the complicated arrangements of registration, +transport, and warning of hosts. All four branches of the Allocation +Department were at this time worked to their utmost. + +The arrangements for transport of these separate branches fell upon the +Transport Department. Every refugee who arrived from the Continent had +to be met and taken to a Refuge or a hotel. Every refugee who left one +of the Refuges or a hotel to take up the hospitality allotted to him in +the country had to be provided with a pass over the railway, had to be +convoyed to the railway station, and his host had to be warned at what +hour and at what station he was to be received. During the stress +created by the fall of Antwerp, when upwards of 4,000 refugees arrived +in one day in London by trainloads from the Continent, and as many as +2,000 had to be sent in small individual groups to different stations of +the British Isles, a total of 6,000 had to be handled every day! It has +been estimated that during this period as many as 8,000 and 10,000 +refugees crossed the Channel daily to our shores. No warning nor +preparation could be given as to the numbers to be dealt with. While the +crisis lasted they poured in day and night, taxing the energies of the +whole organization almost to breaking-point. Not only Transport and +Allocation, but Clothing, Correspondence, and Local Committees, with all +their subsidiary branches, were heavily overworked. They bore the +strain. There was no break-down. We were able to meet and deal with the +crisis. It may readily be imagined that in work of a delicate nature +accomplished under such pressure, some mistakes were inevitable; but we +worked with the consoling thought present to our minds, that if the +public could have realized the conditions under which the work was done, +it would have been surprised rather at the few than at the many errors +into which we fell. + +The fall of Antwerp brought us to a new chapter of our work, of which I +would have much to say but that I have already kept you longer than I +would have wished. I must touch only as briefly as possible on the +aspects of the question which now present themselves. + +The crisis lasted only a couple of weeks. The occupation of Ostend by +the Germans on October 17th closed the Belgian coast and stopped the +daily transport service. Since that time refugees have been only able to +reach us by way of Holland, and though this country has continued to +provide such facilities as are possible for their transit, the figures +of the daily arrivals have fallen considerably. The total for November +was the lowest for any month since the beginning of the war. In December +and January the numbers again mounted, giving a total of 12,000 for +December and 14,000 for January. Refugees are still, notwithstanding the +dangers of mines and submarines and the prohibition of our blockade +zone, arriving in numbers which are to be counted daily in three +figures. But the rush is over. We are no longer working under the same +conditions of pressure. + +There are noticeable also some other remarkable differences. We are +working now with a different class of refugee. The simple country folk +of the first exodus have given place to the urban population of the +great towns, and they come to us under different conditions. The early +refugees had, as I have told you, suffered in their own persons all the +worst horrors of war. Since the fall of Antwerp the flight has been +rather—though not of course wholly—from “the wrath to come.” Many +refugees are fleeing from what they fear may happen rather than from +what has actually happened. I speak chiefly for the moment of the +working-classes. Many of those now coming have been attracted to this +country by the accounts sent back in the first moments of relief and +gratitude by the earlier refugees. In the Refuges and Hostels we saw +many of the postcards written by the first refugees, and they +represented this country and people as something so near Paradise and +the angels, that expectation based upon such description could hardly +fail of disappointment. It need not therefore be a matter of surprise if +some difference is observable between the attitude and tone of the +refugees housed in the Government Refuges to-day, and those with whom +the same Refuges were filled in the earlier stages of the movement. + +The gradual development of the situation which has brought us a +different class of refugee has also brought about a very important +modification of opinion with regard to the conditions of their +reception. It has been decided that the employment of refugees instead +of being deprecated should now be encouraged, and that instead of +depending for subsistence on the hospitality of the country they should, +as far as possible, be enabled to support themselves. A Government +Committee has been appointed, as you know, under the Chairmanship of Sir +Ernest Hatch, to consider the conditions under which effect can be given +to this new view of the situation. Belgian Labour Bureaux working in +connection with the Central Labour Bureaux have been established in the +Government Refuges, as also in the Rink at Aldwych. Recruiting Bureaux +have been established in the Government Refuges, by means of which +Belgians of military age are enabled to join their colours and return to +the front at Flanders. By these agencies in conjunction with the +Government Refuges, and other forms of Government Relief for urgent +cases the problem of the reception of working class refugees may, I +think, be said to have been met and disposed of. + +Outside these questions the problem with which since Christmas we have +been most acutely preoccupied is the problem of giving suitable help to +the urgent needs of the propertied and professional classes. This is a +class with which I have myself been thrown into close and constant +touch, and the sorrows and difficulties of their position are very vivid +to me. They have suffered, of course, horribly in regard to their +material possessions, and the numbers increase daily of persons +accustomed to live in the comfort of comparative affluence who are +reduced to absolute penury. Such cases call for the sincerest sympathy +and for practical help. Where only material possessions are concerned +they do not, it must be recognized, make quite the same poignant appeal +to elemental emotions that was made by the earlier refugees. But there +is seldom a day in which some special case does not present itself. A +day or two ago it was a case of a man of good position and once ample +means who had seen his wife and daughter shot by the Germans, and who +came in search of some educational facilities for his little boy, the +only member of the family now left to him. He was entirely penniless. +The next day it was a manufacturer from Louvain who had shared in all +the horrors attending the destruction of that town. His town house and +his country house, with all that they contained, had been destroyed. He +himself had been taken as a hostage by the Germans. He was three times +blindfolded and ordered to be shot, and three times at the last moment +the order was countermanded. He was beaten and spat upon. He was forced +to march with other Belgians as a covering rank in front of the German +advance. As he said in very quietly relating these experiences: “It is +doubted whether the Germans really used Belgian civilians as a +covering-shield for their soldiers. I _know_, because they have used me. +They put us in the front of their attack, and bullets whistled between +us as we advanced.” But these things were all as nothing to the anguish +of knowing that the soldiery which had marched him away in one direction +had taken his wife away in another. It was impossible for him to know +anything of her fate. After some days of marching in front of the German +troops they came in touch with Belgian outposts. He was able to effect +his escape, and he reached Antwerp through the Belgian lines. Still +unable to obtain any news of his wife, he advertised in the hope that +the news he gave of himself might reach her eyes. It did. After long +delay the news was brought to him that she was alive, that she had +escaped without serious injury from the Germans, and that she was in +hiding in the neighbourhood of Louvain. To reach her he went on foot +from Antwerp to Louvain, passing as he could through the German lines, +hiding at times in ditches and swamps, wading through rivers to avoid +the guarded roads. He told me the whole story with absolute calm, and +only when he came to the climax of their meeting he suddenly broke +down—“My wife!” he said, “she had been living in the woods and fields +with practically nothing to eat. She was a black skeleton, mere skin +drawn over her bones.” He could say no more. I didn’t wish that he +should. My business was merely to find him some means of living now that +he and his wife were together in a place of safety. You can understand +that after hearing such a story one’s only feeling is that peace and +security must somehow be assured. + +In the early part of the movement such cases as these were provided for +by private hospitality, and I come now to the greatest change of all +which the movement has undergone. The movement of private hospitality, +which has provided from first to last for a figure approaching to +something like a quarter of a million refugees, has, as was to a certain +extent inevitable, exhausted its first impulse. About Christmas time we +began to realize that the offers of hospitality had ceased. No fresh +offers came, and hosts who had previously had Belgians in their houses +wrote that they would shortly be needing this accommodation for other +purposes. Our Allocation Department became a Department of +Re-Allocation. Gifts of clothing also sensibly diminished. + +The funds of the War Refugees Committee, which have been devoted to the +relief of Belgians in England, have never been very great. Public +contributions in money have been more usually given to the Belgian +Relief Fund, which is entirely devoted to the relief of Belgians in +Belgium. We have sometimes thought that the public did not clearly +understand the distinction between the two Funds. Our wealth has +consisted mainly in offers of hospitality and gifts in kind. When these +began to cease we saw ourselves in danger of being unable to continue +our work for want of means, and this situation introduced the present +and latest chapter upon which we have entered. + +I am sorry that I am not able at present to enter into a full +explanation of schemes which are as yet imperfectly developed. A time +will come when all necessary information will be freely given. For our +present purpose I will ask you only to take from me that we have under +certain conditions a command of funds which enable us to give relief in +cases of strict necessity. The money so available is not to be regarded +as a substitute for, but as a supplement to, private generosity. It is +in certain cases sufficient for the necessities of a working man. The +part of private generosity for better-class refugees still remains to +bring the bare necessities of life up to the standard which the nation +would wish to offer in such cases as those I have just now cited. + +There are many obvious ways in which this can be done. Among the most +generally successful so far has been the organization of large houses on +the basis of gratuitous hotels. I have myself organized two or three +such houses, notably, one at Harrington House in Kensington Palace +Gardens, lent to me for the purpose by Lord Harrington, another at +Hambro House in Prince’s Gate, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Eric Hambro, and a +third in the King’s Weigh House Parsonage, furnished and lent by the +congregation of the King’s Weigh House Church in Duke Street. In these +three houses I have been able to receive about 120 refugees, who make +with regard to them very charming expressions of content. What I have +done has also been done by many others. Houses of this description are +springing up like mushrooms through the country, and it has been thought +that many people who are no longer able to entertain Belgian refugees in +their own homes may be willing to contribute towards a system of +organized hospitality under which suitable homes can be provided. + +Another way of meeting the necessities of the class of refugees of whom +we are now speaking is by paying the rent of furnished flats, in which a +very small grant is sometimes enough to render domestic life a +possibility. Among the propertied and professional classes there are +some who have still some small resources. For these the active brain of +Mrs. Lyttelton has devised, in consultation with Lord Gladstone, a +scheme which she is administering as a branch of the War Refugees +Committee, of flats furnished by the Committee, and placed at the lowest +possible prices at the service of the refugees. The scheme deserves a +fuller description than I am able to give it. In all schemes of +hospitable relief the National Food Supply, the Belgian Refugee Food +Supply, and other charitable organizations, of which the gratuitous food +is in great part contributed as a free gift by our Colonies, play an +important part. + +I would like to have been able to do justice to other institutions for +the assistance of refugees which have from the beginning of the movement +developed as branches of the various Departments at Aldwych. I can only +permit myself just to name the Education Department, under Lady +Gladstone, Mr. Englehart (of Leper Island fame), Father Christie and the +Abbé Michiele, where, by a movement of Educational hospitality offered +by the public schools, the Catholic institutions, and the universities +of the country, free education has been provided for nearly 2,000 +Belgian young people. In this movement I am glad to be able to say that +Eton, Oxford, and Cambridge have handsomely done their part. + +Another branch of activity which has been of the greatest value +throughout the whole movement has been the Health Department, which, +under Mrs. George Montagu, assisted by Miss Page, the daughter of the +American Ambassador, has given help and relief to hundreds of cases of +the sick and otherwise disabled. In connection with this department +there is also a dispensary, where gratuitous medicine and medical advice +from Belgian doctors can be obtained. Nor is it only in the Allocation +and Health Departments that secondary branches of utility have blossomed +forth. The Rink is full of useful minor institutions, brought into being +by the necessities of the situation. The Transport Department has many +subsidiary activities. Work done for _réformé_ soldiers who have served +their country to the limits of their strength, and work done for +“undesirables” who can serve no country, are at different ends of the +scale, alike branches of benevolent utility. + +A Department which is probably doing in its way as much humane work as +any other is what we call the “Missing Relatives” Department. It is +divided into two sections—the Poste Restante section and the section +which deals with Lost Relatives. We receive a great number of letters +addressed to refugees, care of our Committee. For a time they lay +unclaimed. Then our Correspondence Department conceived the idea of +endeavouring to trace their owners, in order that they might be +forwarded. We have, of course, now registered the addresses of many +thousands of refugees. By the courtesy of the Registrar-General we are +allowed to search also daily the files of Somerset House, and in the +last three weeks alone over 500 letters have been traced and forwarded +to their owners. In the “Lost Relatives” section all urgent cases, such, +for instance, as a father or mother searching for their lost children, +or a husband his wife, etc., are handled immediately by our +Correspondence Department, who make every effort to trace the missing +person. The machinery which is used for tracing the letters is put in +operation, and I am glad to say that we frequently succeed in finding +and uniting the members of families who have lost each other in the +flight. + +In the Belgian Consulate room Monsieur Grumbar and the two Misses +Baschewitz, with their helpers, continue to earn the gratitude of their +compatriots by their constant and willing service. Of the Consulate as +such I do not, of course, venture to speak. From the beginning of the +movement it has had offices under the same roof as the War Refugees +Committee, and has been closely associated with our work. Its own work +is outside the scope of the present paper. + +I cannot leave this branch of my subject without mentioning +collectively, as I only wish I could mention individually, the admirable +quality of the voluntary work which has been freely given in every +department. The few developments I have enumerated only serve to +indicate the activity that exists, and they have nearly all been carried +out by volunteer effort. Those of us who happen to be at the head of +Departments are spoken of, and our work obtains recognition and +gratitude often far beyond its deserts. I would like to say that our +work would have been absolutely impossible had it not been for the +devoted, generous, and regular support of hundreds of volunteers who +have given every bit as much as we have given, and who have been content +to do it—to come early, to stay late, to work day after day +unflinchingly at the least interesting tasks, to spend their strength, +their emotions, their money, and their time in the background, so to +speak, of our organization, without a thought of anything but the help +that they could give. These volunteers have come from every rank. I have +mentioned 500. Had we wanted 5,000 we could have had them. I am almost +ashamed even to speak of thanks or recognition where it has been so +little sought. I would only say of many of our unmentioned helpers that +their names should be written in letters of gold, were it possible that +any true record could be kept of the service which this movement has +called forth. + +All the Departments I have mentioned and many others are still active at +Aldwych. Lord Gladstone, Lord Lytton, Mr. Dickinson, and Mr. Allen, who +have been associated in the Management Committee since the opening or +our latest chapter, have their time fully occupied. There is no sign of +any diminution of work. Neither is there on our part any diminution of +energy or of interest in the work which still remains to be done. + +You may be inclined to think from some of the particulars which I have +given you of the latest chapter of the work that the heroic moment of +the movement has passed—for England as well as for our guests. I would +only venture to say that in heroic moments resolutions are conceived—it +is for subsequent acts to give them shape. In the details which I have +given you we are simply working out the national resolution that the +exiles now in our midst shall be cared for, helped, and protected to the +limits of our ability until the day dawns for them, when they may return +to the homes they love. We see no end, and we desire to see no end, to +our exertions but the day of repatriation. Be that day near or far, it +is our hope to continue our work till it is reached, and we look with +quiet confidence and absolute assurance to the public we know to give us +the full support of its sympathy and its help. + + + CHISWICK PRESS: PRINTED BY CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. + TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES + + + ● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77327 *** |