When Britain happily accepted 250,000 desperate refugees

At the outbreak of World War I in the summer of 1914, Germany invaded Belgium on its way to France, sending hundreds of thousands of Belgian refugees fleeing for their lives.

A quarter of a million Belgians managed to make it across the English Channel to…

Source: When Britain happily accepted 250,000 desperate refugees

A tiresome time – April 1915

attinghamww1stories

Teresa Hulton (1890-1972)

In early April Teresa decided to give up her work at the Postal Censor office and to stop translating secret documents. She wrote that the work required her to be a ‘blend of Sherlock Holmes and Scarpia,’ which she felt did not suit her. [Scarpia was the Chief of Police in Tosca, a French play and later an Italian opera set in Rome in 1800.] Her war work elsewhere was also coming to a close. Although she still found helping the Belgian refugees fulfilling, by April there were few new arrivals and most of the Belgians had left to work in places all around Britain.

Censura mark on letter. Click here to watch a film about postal censorship during the war.

Eager to remain in Britain, Teresa thought of applying for a job teaching languages in Manchester. Being fluent in several languages, including Italian, French…

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