Maulden Schools,
1916 [Z1306/77/17]
Monday
25th January 1915: Five Belgian refugees
are living in a comfortable cottage in Maulden which has been lent and
furnished with good antique furniture by Mr W. P. Gordon. They are being
maintained by the people of Great Barford and Maulden, and by gifts given by
other friends. The two boys have settled happily at Maulden School
and are fast learning English.
Monsieur Charles Van Huffel, his wife and
two boys, aged 10 and 7, come from Ghent and
their friend Madame Rombaux from Bruges .
Monsieur Van Huffel is the general agent at Bruges for all the French newspapers. He was
in the city with his wife and Monsieur and Madame Rombaux, when they heard that
the Germans were approaching Ghent .
They decided to walk the 27 miles there, collect the boys and bring them to Bruges , but on the journey the Germans arrived at Bruges making it
impossible for the men to rejoin their wives. They left Bruges
on a crowded train for Ostend , from where they
travelled first to Dunkirk , then to Calais , and from there to
the refugee centre at Earls Court .
After staying at Earls Court for 17 days the men went to
Dulwich and Monsieur Van Huffel managed to obtain the passports needed to return
to Ghent via Holland to search for his family and Madame
Rombaux. He discovered the two women had gone to Bruges where they were bravely trying to
carry on his business as newsagent. On the day he found them there three young
priests were shot for looking at an enemy aeroplane through binoculars, and a
young man for being on the streets after curfew. They went back to Ghent on foot, collected the children from friends who
were caring from them and left for England
where they found Monsieur Rombaux, a soldier, had left for Belgium to
attempt to rejoin the Army. After ten days at Dulwich Baths the refugees left
for their new home in Maulden, which they greatly appreciate.
A sixth refugee, Monsieur Joseph Schwartz,
also came to Maulden but has gone in search of his family as he has not been
able to get any news of them. Monsieur Schwarz had a general stores, coal and
flour business in the village
of Tintigny , where he
lived with his wife, their seven children, including twins just eight months
old, his own parents and his wife’s parents. He belonged to the Reserve
Artillery and was called up on 1st August. A few days later his home, along
with almost the entire village, was burnt by the Germans. He was wounded at
Aerschot and treated in an Antwerp
hospital for a week before he was forced to leave when the Germans entered the
city. Friends managed to get him to England
three days before the Germans entered Ostend and
he was treated at a Military
Hospital in Folkestone.
After time in Sussex ,
Dulwich and Maulden Monsieur Schwarz left last week to try to find his family,
having been unable to get information from any of the Consuls in Holland , France ,
Belgium or England .
Source:
Bedfordshire Standard 29th January 1915
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