The Reading was about the Belgian War Refugees and Irish Protestant Refugees. Flora Shaw and later known as Lady Lugard. Flora Shaw was awarded the Dame of the British Empire award in 1916 for her help with the war refugees . In the two documents that are placed side by side each reflect the work she has done. One was her giving a speech at 'The work of the War Refugees committee" and the other was a speech given in her honor. When World War I started she stated that it didn't matter the political or religious beliefs. Not only did she provide the refugees with housing and with a livelihood. The committee also helped after the war with finding homes and livelihoods.
'Lady Lugard's Hostels for Belgian Refugees"
Was given in her honor given by Stuart Hogg. There are 11 houses and 400 people are housed in them. Two were used as hospital like locations. Part of Lady Lugard's goal was to make each of the houses a little like the home county. All of the expenses to make the houses like homes come from the committees accounts. Also the public helped by donating food and clothing. They also have a factory for the newly arrived refugees to stay. These are just a few of of the things that Hogg stated.
'The Work of the War Refugees Committee'
It an address given by Lady Lugard to the committee. She discusses the stories that she has heard from the refugees, She mentions ones about a family who lost all their children who were killed by the German soldiers. She tells the committee how and what needs to be done to help those who arrive . She expresses thanks to those who have helped. She says that those who have helped and volunteer should be written in gold.
The website has first hand accounts of those that lived through the war.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I wanted to clarify that the first document is, as I understood it, a request for donations to Lady Lugard's efforts in aiding Belgian refugees. The article does admirably describe the hostels and the service performed by Lady Lugard, but was in effect a solicitation for the hostels.
In the second document,a speech given by Lady Lugard (also essentially with the aim of increasing public support)there were a few elements that surprised me. First, why were the refugees not allowed to work in England? What would be the reasons for preventing them from doing so? Why is it that when the "different class of refugees" arrived, this policy changed? The other interesting detail I noticed was that refugees were housed according to their class. I'm curious to know if this lasted throughout the war. I doubt it. Once refugees were allowed to work, did some families' class positions shift?
Based on our discussions, keeping class lines is very important throughout European history for social stability. Even in the midst of World War I and the good intentions of Lady Lugard to provide for Belgian refugees, maintaining class order seemed to be the main motivator for her actions. Although she does not blatantly say this, she wants the class lines to be maintained—specifically in housing—for the refugees.
Post a Comment