BELGIAN
REFUGEES
IN FAVERSHAM
IN THE GREAT WAR
Peter Vandenabeele
ABOUT FAVERSHAM No 119
The
nation we know as Belgium won its independence less than 200 years ago. Before that its territory always belonged to
some other European power – Spain, Austria, France and Holland in succession. After separating from Holland in 1830, the
new state, with its own monarchy, was recognised by the 1839 Treaty of London,
signed by Great Britain, Prussia, France, Austria and Russia. It was to be eternally neutral and free
from invasion.
Within
weeks of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, crown prince of the Austro-Hungarian
empire, in late June 1914, its neutrality was violated by Germany, keen to
break through into France on its northern flank. On 4 August, as a guarantor of its
neutrality, Britain declared war on Germany.
Despite
heroic resistance by the small Belgian army, the Germans soon over-ran most of
the country, committing crimes against humanity in the process. Liège, Brussels and Namur in August, followed by Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges and Ostend
in October, fell in quick succession.
Their advance was checked only at Nieuwpoort, an ancient town close to
the sea, like Faversham, which in medieval and early modern times had been one
of its trading partners. 150 miles from
Faversham, it is closer to it than towns like Bedford in the UK.
By
late October the town formed a key part of the front line, and was bombarded by
the enemy, virtually to extinction. But
with support from the French and the sea water, and
as a result of the ingenuity of the Belgian defenders, who deliberately flooded
the surrounding area with sea water, it
was held. In its desolation it was no
place to live, and all of its civilian population sought refuge elsewhere.
In
all, 20% of the nation’s people fled abroad. Some returned after a few weeks or
months, others stayed abroad for the duration of the war – 325,000 in France,
140,000 in Britain and 100,000 in Holland.
Many were to land at Folkestone, and then be found homes there or in the
rest of Britain.
A
national War Refugees Committee was formed in August, and local committees soon
formed in its wake. Faversham’s was
formed in October, after the fall of Antwerp, when the influx was at its
height. Soon offers of rent-free
accommodation were made. Harry Pover,
an architect and surveyor, offered 50 East Street, and Dr Frederick Gange 58
Newton Road.
Among
the first refugees to arrive, on Saturday 17 October, were the wife and
3-strong family of Emiel Vandenabeele, a Nieuwpoort boat-builder, together with
6 other relatives. They were housed
temporarily with hosts at 35 Norman Road and 10 Queen’s Road. They were joined by Emiel himself on 21
December. Later one of the families
moved to 17 Stone Street and the other to 35 South Road, where they were to
remain for the greater part of the war. Both families returned to Nieuwpoort in
1919.
Emiel’s
great-grandson, Peter Vandenabeele, has now traced the story of all Faversham’s
World War1 Belgian refugees in a detailed account, generously illustrated in
black-and-white and colour, published by the Faversham Society as No 119 in its
popular series of Faversham Papers.
The 96-page A4 softback, Belgian
Refugees in Faversham in the Great War, costs just £6.50 ( by post £9.00
within the UK, £11.50 within the rest of the EU). This is the first of several initiatives planned
by the Society to mark this year’s
centenary of the outbreak of the War.
Peter,
born in Ghent in 1959, studied English and Dutch at the university there. He lives in De Pinte, nearby, and has
worked for the Flemish Government since 1995.
In all,
68 Belgians, of all ages, found refuge in and around the town, fewer than those
in the Ashford, Deal and Hythe areas, but more than in Canterbury,
Sittingbourne and Whitstable. They
included a Baron (Edgar Forgeur) who was an engineer by profession. With his family he found accommodation –
which he found ‘charming’ – at Mountfield in Hernhill, kindly made available by
the Dawes family of Mount Ephraim.
Most were middle-class professional people, the lawyers among them
finding it difficult to gain employment because the Belgian and British legal
systems were different and their command of the English language was
insufficient. Emiel Vandenabeele
himself ended up as a shipwright.
The local refugee relief committee, headed up
by local solicitor Arthur Smith as Hon Secretary, found Faversham people
generous with cash gifts. In some other
towns local committees had to look for funding from the national committee, but
– true to form – the Faversham committee managed without. The members were mainly women, like
Nephzebah Vinson, wife of a local farmer, and Carrie Alexander, wife of the
Mayor, but also included three men, one of whom was Father Rhead, priest of the
small Catholic church in Plantation Road.
Since most, or all, of the refugees were Catholic, they brought a
welcome boost to his congregation.
Belgian Refugees in
Faversham in the Great War by
Peter Vandenabeele, Faversham Society, 2014 ISBN 1 900214 75 X
Peter Vandenabeele p.vandenabeele@scarlet.be
