In all her personal intercourse with the Belgian refugees, especially of the working class, Lady Lugard has said that what struck her most was their pathetic fortitude and the way in which in their hour of desperate need they clung to their religion. Chapels and oratories were rapidly established wherever Belgians were received, and the Roman Catholic Church and community worked unremittingly to comfort and console them. “I don’t know how many thousand rosaries I distributed in those days,” said Lady Lugard afterwards; “wherever I went the Belgians seemed to clamour for them above everything.” It should also be mentioned that the Jewish community in London took a very active part in helping their co-religionists among the refugees.
From September till Christmas, 1914, the flow of refugees continued—the fall of Antwerp in October bringing a tremendous rush of work amid surging crowds. On one day in October the number of refugees handled by the Committee amounted to 6621. By February, 1915, their arrival in anything like large numbers had practically ceased; but other problems sprang up. It became obvious that the war was to last longer than the few months which optimists of the early days prophesied. It was therefore decided, after considerable hesitation, that it was better, both in their own interests and in those of the community at large, that the Belgians, who had lived almost entirely as guests, should be allowed to work and to become gradually self-supporting.
In the two years which have elapsed, the working-class people who formed the bulk of the refugees, while giving still some occasion for pre-occupation and expense to their own and to the British Governments, have become practically absorbed. In the ever-increasing demand for labour, the Belgians, who are known to be among the best craftsmen and labourers in Europe, have found a ready market for their work.
There has remained the comparatively small number of refugees of a different class, unaccustomed to earn their own living, but rendered destitute as the poorest artisans by the devastation of their country. The great initial work accomplished, Lady Lugard and the many others who had by this time become absorbed in the work of consolation turned to making suitable provision for this group, which included families of high social position, artists and professionals in many spheres of work, men and women suddenly snatched from circumstances of prosperity and ease and confronted with the problems of bare existence. To assist these unfortunate people Lady Lugard organised a small hospitality committee. She and her helpers proceeded to arrange a system in London, and similar arrangements have been evolved on private initiative in the great centres in the provinces. In London large houses were placed one by one at the committee’s disposal, and social groups of Belgian families were established in them. In these hostels, family life is as far as possible reproduced, questions of education, health, and clothing receive special care and attention, and the attempt has been made to classify the houses in such a way as to bring friends and potential friends into the same circles. The results have been most satisfactory. The domestic management is undertaken in each house by a competent manager, sometimes Belgian, sometimes English, appointed by Lady Lugard’s committee. Many of the managers are lady volunteers, who give the whole of their time to the promotion of happiness and comfort in what one of the guests has described as “ces petits coins de Belgique.” The one rule of the committee is to try and make the Belgians happy. If their lives are necessarily restricted and limited by circumstances, these Belgian guests are at any rate living in quiet resting-places, recovering, it is hoped, from the shock of their experiences, educating their children, and meanwhile possessing their souls in patience till the day of their country’s liberation.
The numbers in which the Belgian population took refuge in England from first to last have been so great, and the rush in the beginning so bewildering, that it would have been impossible to carry out a work of necessity hastily improvised without mistakes and difficulties. Lady Lugard is the first to admit how far the schemes fell short of the perfection which she had hoped to achieve. But when the story of this flight of a nation is told, history will remember, not the misunderstandings, the mistakes in detail, or the want of foresight, which seem inevitable in all human undertakings, but the way in which the English people opened their arms in welcome to the Belgians, and their desire to comfort and to heal. To Lady Lugard personally must be ascribed full recognition for a truly great service. By her promptitude, her imagination and her unsparing gifts of energy and devotion she stands out amongst the throng of splendid volunteers in the service of Belgium.
XXIX
MISS CHRISTOBEL ELLIS
Since the early days of the war, the aspect of our streets has undergone many changes; but there is no more certain sign of the times than the sight of women in khaki uniforms and military badges driving Army motors and lorries. Though these enterprising women excited surprise some months ago, they are fast becoming as numerous as men drivers.
The women drivers of the Army are under the management of a department of the Women’s Legion, and form a part of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps. At the head of the motor branch is Miss Christobel Ellis, who has in her hands the development of a great new scope of activity and usefulness for women workers. Miss Ellis, already an experienced motorist, offered her services to the French Red Cross in September, 1914, and for some months she drove for them, and also for the British Red Cross Society, in France. During the days of the battle of the Marne and the heavy fighting near Paris, the shortage of ambulances and drivers was so great that Miss Ellis sometimes drove for twenty hours at a stretch. At the end of 1914 she went to Serbia, where she managed the commissariat, storekeeping, and military returns for a group of five Red Cross hospitals for over a year, till the final torrent of invasion swept over that unhappy country.
