Women of the war

by Barbara McLaren

Russell

To face page [141]

XXVIII

LADY LUGARD AND THE WAR REFUGEES COMMITTEE

In her work for the great population of Belgian refugees, who came over to England in the first months of war, Lady Lugard has helped to carry out one of the highest missions to suffering humanity. Quick to grasp the significance of the German advance through Belgium, Lady Lugard, in the first week of war, turned her thoughts to the plight of the unfortunate women and children driven from their ruined homes with nothing left to them save life itself. Where were they to go, and what was to become of them? Obviously England offered the only safe refuge.

Lady Lugard knew of the complete and detailed arrangements which had been worked out during the summer of 1914 for the reception of refugees from Ulster, in the event of the anticipation of civil war being realised. Understanding the importance of rapid action and the value of a good organisation, Lady Lugard asked the help of the Ulster leaders, who willingly placed their machinery at the disposal of workers in such a worthy cause. After enlisting the support of Cardinal Bourne and the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, and having obtained the consent and advice both of the Foreign Office and of the Belgian authorities, Lady Lugard, with the help of Mrs. Alfred Lyttelton, formed a committee. But there was little time for deliberation or arrangement before she and her helpers were rushed into action. Warned on one day that a shipload of possibly a thousand refugees might be with them on the next, they had immediately to arrange offices, raise funds, and prepare accommodation. Mr. Norrie-Miller, the manager of the General Accident Fire and Life Assurance Corporation, placed offices at the committee’s disposal free of charge, and secured the nucleus of a clerical staff. The organisation decided to be known as the War Refugees Committee. Its non-political and non-sectarian character was marked by the fact that Lord Hugh Cecil became chairman and Lord Gladstone treasurer, while the Roman Catholic and Jewish Churches were represented among its members. Lady Lugard and Mrs. Lyttelton at once proceeded to issue an appeal through the newspapers. The response was overwhelming. All England was burning with admiration and pride at the great part which Belgium was playing. Throughout the country, from homes humble and great, rich and poor, money and offers of help flowed in on such a scale that, even with the best endeavours, it took many days before they could be acknowledged and classified. Eagerness to help the victims whose suffering was part of the price Belgium had to pay in her fight for honour was England’s tribute of admiration.

The next question was the momentous one of temporary accommodation for the refugees on arrival. With the assistance of an ever-increasing group of willing volunteer workers, the War Refugees Committee soon arranged for beds and food to be prepared in the buildings placed at their disposal. These were hastily improvised as hostels, with the help of generous loans of linen and crockery. If the accommodation at first was sketchy, there were at least beds and food for all who came, and eager sympathy and welcome.

They needed all the help and comfort which could be given to them, these dazed and terrified people, with the haunted look of horror on their faces. They had endured experiences which our civilisation could have ascribed only to a bygone age, and which we little thought could pollute the earth again.

During the next weeks the stream of refugees flowed into London in ever greater numbers. The work of the War Refugees Committee soon classified itself automatically into departments. The clerical department had to cope with correspondence which, within a fortnight, had mounted to many thousands of letters a day containing money contributions and placing accommodation for 100,000 people at the disposal of the committee. Refugees had to be received on arrival and temporarily housed. The question then arose of their allocation to more permanent quarters and of arranging that offers of hospitality from all over the country should be responded to by suitable allotment of refugees. From the first it was found advisable to decentralise as much as possible and to allow the local committees formed throughout the country to make most of the detailed arrangements for allocation. These committees numbered before long between two and three thousand. Questions of transport and clothing were in the hands of other rapidly organised departments.

Every day the number of refugees increased, and members of the committee worked almost without rest day and night. In the first week of September a Government invitation was published offering refuge in England to the Belgian civilian population. The magnitude of the task thus became beyond the management of a group of private individuals, and the committee was relieved of a certain amount of anxiety by the provision of refuges on a big scale in London at Government expense. Though the work was now extended and receiving Government assistance, it was to the War Refugees Committee, which about this time was placed by mutual consent under the general direction of Lord Gladstone, that the authorities turned to carry on the great task. The committee has continued to work throughout in close co-operation with the Government Departments, particularly the Local Government Board. Large buildings, such as the Alexandra Palace and the Earl’s Court Exhibition Buildings, were taken over and prepared for the reception of the refugees, serving as clearing-houses whence they could be sent on to the provinces, where arrangements for hospitality were made both by local communities and by private individuals. The staff of voluntary helpers in London soon reached 500, who threw themselves with undaunted energy and devotion into the task which Lady Lugard herself has described as “the consolation of a nation by a nation.”