Belgian Refugees in Britain 1914 - 1919

When Germany invaded Belgium on 4 August 1914 and stories about atrocities by the German troops quickly spread, many Belgians fled their homes. Eventually, one out of five Belgians, some 1.5 million, sought refuge abroad. Initially more than a million went to the Netherlands, but by the end of the war barely 100,000 Belgian refugees were still in exile there. (1) About 325,000 refugees went to France, most of whom stayed there throughout the war, in part because the Belgian government in exile was located at Le Havre. Roughly a quarter of a million Belgians crossed the Channel during the war years. (2) Other destinations were Switzerland, Spain, Cuba, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Only a few academic studies have uncovered anything about this little-known mass migration. (3) However, with the Centenary of the First World War approaching, the topic is receiving increasing attention