Belgian refugees in Britain during the First World War

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.

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).

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 Léon Delacroix.

[28] Representing the British nation was Lord Curzon, the then Foreign Secretary and friend of the Belgian King Albert.