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The start of World War One saw the biggest ever influx of refugees coming to Britain. Most Lancashire towns played host to some of the quarter of a million men, women and children who came from Belgium when the Germans invaded.

It's reported that around 270 Belgians came to the area in and around Preston.

In Blackburn, the effort to help the refugees originally centred on a Georgian property on Richmond Terrace, which was the head office of the local Belgian Relief Association. As more arrived, the headquarters moved to a larger property on East Park Road in the town – it also acted as accommodation for Belgian men, including soldiers who visited on leave because they couldn't go to their own country for rest and recuperation.

Many Belgians moved in and out of Blackburn during the war, but around eighty made it their home for the duration of the conflict.

The effort to help the Belgians in 1914 was one of the first ways British civilians could really join the war effort. But, as the conflict went on and more British soldiers were killed, many people lost interest in helping the refugees. So the government had to step in and provide more of the support.

Soon after the end of the war the vast majority of Belgians returned home, although a few remained to continue their new lives in Britain.

Location: St Silas Church, Blackburn BB2 6PS
Image: Belgian refugees outside St Silas Church

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