This talk will explore the interactions between Belgian refugees and the residents of Yorkshire in the First World War, considering the way in which attitudes evolved on both sides, particularly from 1916 onwards. It focuses in particular on the case of a large house near Bradford in which several Belgian families were accommodated throughout the war, and which was run by a charitable committee of local residents, the minutes and correspondence of which have been preserved. It looks at the way in which these encounters involved 'culture clashes' not only between British hosts and Belgian refugees, but also between social classes, different faith groups, different generations, and between men and women from both nations.
In Flanders Fields Museum, Gateways to the First World War and the University of Kent present a series of eight seminars, free and open to all.
Seminars will take place in Canterbury during the autumn term and in Ypres during the spring term.
Venue: The reading room of the In Flanders Fields Museum, Sint-Maartensplein 3, Ieper
