The Refugees Return

Although we can find some evidence of Belgians returning to north Wales as visitors (examples include Mathilde Wens who came to Abergele to pay her respects at her mother’s grave – read about Mathilde here https://refugeesinrhyl.wordpress.com/abergele/, and the Family Everaert who came back many times to holiday and reconnect with old friends in Llandudno – see https://sway.cloud.microsoft/cJf5HOPcyvJYTvRI?ref=Link) we can only find details of one family of Belgians who returned to north Wales for a second time as War Refugees, and they were the Family Verbeeck who were exiled to Conwy Borough during both World Wars.

The head of the family was one Henri (H. T.) Verbeeck. He was married to Jeanne Verbeeck, née Van Driessche, and they had three children: John, Maurice and Wilhelmine. Henri was a tailor, said to have worked for the King of the Belgians, and his son John also became a tailor. We can find additional documentary evidence of John working as a tailor’s cutter in Folkestone in the 1950s.

Unusually, this family stayed here for quite a few years after the First World War ended before some of them returned to Belgium in 1924. John had married a local girl, and her connections facilitated the Verbeeck family’s return to Conwy Borough when the Second World War hit their home in Belgium.

After the First World War Henri and John set up a tailor’s shop in Conwy. It was situated at 7, High Street. There is a copy of a draft lease in Conwy Archives, and it contains some interesting pieces of information – for example, it gives us Henri’s middle name – Theodor – and tells us that his son John was his witness upon signing the lease. The document also has the confirmation of the family’s original address in Conwy, which was Number 1, Old Road. Most importantly, the lease has a copy of Henri’s signature. We can’t reproduce the full lease for copyright reasons, but we have made a transcription which appears at the end of this chapter. It’s a little wordy, but makes for an interesting read.

Henri Theodor Verbeeck’s signature on the lease.

The company that drew up the lease, Amphlett & Porter, still exists as Amphletts Solicitors Ltd., and practices from offices in Colwyn Bay. The company was established in 1897.

The agreement is between one John Vaughan Roberts of Tyddyn Cynnal, Conwy, and H. T. Verbeeck of Number 1, Old Road, Conwy. The rent was £60 per annum. Prior to taking on the lease, Henri had operated his business from his home address – and an advertisement in the North Wales Weekly News of February 19th, 1920, confirms this.

A search through newspaper archives revealed the marketing campaign around their tailoring business. This recreated advertisement from July 1923 is typical of many ads the Verbeeck family placed in the North Wales Weekly news over several years:

7, High Street is now the lovely coffee shop, L’s Coffee and Books.

The home address on the lease, Number 1 Old Road, was not the only address we found the Family Verbeeck living at in Conwy. Our friend Mireille, a researcher in Belgium, found the family’s records in the Belgian Archives for us: The registration document gives us their home address at the start of the First World War, Rue de Mayence 68, Brussels, and a second address in Conwy: Thorn Villa, Mount Pleasant. Also, this document shows the route the family took before finally getting to Conwy, staying first in Earl’s Court in London (which along with Alexandra Palace was taken over by the Metropolitan Asylums Board in September 1914 to provide beds for Belgian Refugees) and then Winchester. They registered at Thorn Villa on March 11th, 1915, having originally arrived in Conwy in October 1914.

Both the sons served in the Belgian forces, and one newspaper report published during the family’s time in Conwy discusses Maurice, and gives us the first mention of both boys’ connection to the Conwy Scout Troop, which seemed especially important to them during the First World War:

North Wales Weekly News, December 9th, 1920

ON LEAVE

Mr. Maurice J. Verbeeck, son of Mr. H. T. Verbeeck, tailor, of Conwy, is home on leave from the Rhine, where he is with the Belgian army of occupation. Mr. Verbeeck, who has just received his diploma from the Engineering Training Corps, was a patrol leader with the Conwy Scouts.

John Clement Verbeeck married a woman who was local to Conwy Borough, Blodwen Davies, in 1921. By 1953 the couple were living in Surrey. We found passenger records for John and Blodwen which show they travelled to the West Indies: They sailed on the steamship “De Grasse” from Southampton bound for the West Indies on January 10th, 1953, and their disembarkation point was Cartagena, Columbia. They travelled “Cabin Class” which is superior to “Tourist Class” and inferior to “First Class.” Their address was listed as 25 Bouverie Square, Folkestone, Kent.

John was 54, still a tailor, and Blodwen was 51, a housewife. The passenger manifest spells their name “Verbeek.”

The wedding was reported in the North Wales Weekly News on September 8th, 1921. This also gives us the information that John was awarded the Belgian Croix De Guerre.:

WEDDING
The wedding took place at Chester, yesterday morning, of Captain John C. Verbeeck, Croix de Guerre, late of the Belgian army, and eldest son of Mr. H. T. Verbeeck, senior partner in the firm of Messrs. H. T. Verbeeck & Son, tailors, High-street, Conwy, and Miss B. J. Davies, of Llandudno Junction.

It’s worth noting that although the wedding took place in Chester, it was registered in Conwy. Thanks to Blodwen’s family being native to Conwy Borough there was a safe haven once again when the Verbeeck family needed it. The next report we can find, from the North Wales Weekly News, discusses the circumstances around the family returning to Wales and what they experienced as the Second World War devastated Belgium. This was published on May 30th, 1940:

REFUGEES A SECOND TIME

THE VERBEECK FAMILY

Sixteen years ago, a family who came to Conwy as Refugees when the Germans invaded Belgium in 1914, returned to their native land to start life afresh, and the father again established a tailoring business in Ghent, the capital of Eastern Flanders, which has a population of more than 200,000.

Less than a fortnight ago, following the ruthlessness of the Nazi bombers, the same family joined a Refugees’ column a second time, and after a trying experience, which resulted in the loss of most of their possessions they have returned to the Conwy district.

Mr. Henri Verbeeck, aged 65, and his wife, aged 62, with their daughter, Miss Wilhelmina Verbeeck, their son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. John Verbeeck, and grand-daughter, Patricia, aged 13, a few days ago arrived in Llandudno Junction, and they are now staying with Mrs. John Verbeeck’s sister* in Marl Avenue. For some years, until their departure in 1924, the family lived in High Street, Conwy, where Mr. Henri Verbeeck was in business. [*Mrs. John Verbeeck = Blodwen]

In a chat with a Weekly News reporter on Tuesday, Mr. John Verbeeck, who speaks Flemish, English, French, Dutch, German and a smattering of Welsh, said that he had kept a tailoring business in Calais, which is about 80 miles from Ghent. His brother, Maurice, who used to work at a Conwy garage, was serving in an engineering unit of the Belgium army, and they were anxiously awaiting news of him. His parents and sister arrived in Calais on May 20 after a long trek. The following day they left Calais in a British destroyer. Mr. and Mrs. John Verbeeck last visited Conwy on holiday in the summer of 1939. “Little did I think then that I would return in such tragic circumstances within two years,” he said.

QUESTION MARK IN THE SKY

Mr. John Verbeeck was re-united with his family following a message delivered in Calais by two Belgian motor-cyclists who had promised his sister, whom they met in the Refugees’ column, to try and get into touch with her brother. John Verbeeck met his family not far from Dunkirk and motored them to his Calais home.

“My parents were in an exhausted condition but, fortunately, they had escaped air attacks, although other sections of the column are understood to have been harassed,” he said. As the destroyer bringing other Refugees to Britain was leaving Calais it was attacked from the air, and a few bombs exploded on the quayside a short distance away.

“I have seen several air combats in the Calais area,” said Mr. Verbeeck. Once an aeroplane, which he could not identify, circled the port, and smoke from its rear formed a large question mark. Curious, he spoke to an expert, who said that the Germans would probably bomb the district that night. And they did.

After expressing his surprise at the decision of King Leopold, Mr. John Verbeeck, who is aged about 40, and is a member of the Calais branch of the British Legion, said he hoped to enlist in the British army, or, failing that, in the French forces. His daughter, Patricia, on Monday, attended school at Conwy.

Maurice, of whom the family were awaiting news, survived the war. He visited an old friend from the Conwy Scout Troop in 1958, and the North Wales Weekly News wrote about the visit on August 21st of that year:

THIS STORY STARTED IN 1915

In February 1915, forty Belgian Refugees arrived in Conwy, and among them were Mr. and Mrs. Henri Verbeeck, their two sons, John and Maurice, and daughter Wilhelmine.

Before enlisting in the Belgian Army, both boys were members of the Conwy troop of Scouts and thus became friendly with Mr. Arthur L. Ralphes, now Town Clerk of Conwy.

Mr. Henri Verbeeck, a tailor to the Belgian Royal Family, liked Conwy so much that he opened a business in High-street and remained there for 16 years, long, of course, after other Refugees had left, before returning to his native Ghent.

John Verbeeck is now in business as an outfitter in Calais; Maurice works in Brussels and their sister has recently settled in Vardre-avenue, Deganwy, following long service as a broadcaster in Belgium. Last week there was a reunion at Deganwy when Maurice paid his first visit to the borough for 33 years, and among those he met was his war-time friend.

Mr. Ralphes said Mr. Verbeeck did not think Conwy, inside the walls, at any rate, had changed very much, but he was surprised by the extent of development at Deganwy.

It seems that Maurice and John’s sister, Wilhelmine, liked north Wales so much that eventually she decided to retire here, and applied for British naturalisation:

North Wales Weekly News, March 31st, 1960

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Wilhelmine VERBEECK, of Greenhills, Bron Vardre Avenue, Deganwy, Caernarfonshire, is applying to the Home Secretary for naturalisation, and that any person who knows any reason why naturalisation should not be granted should send a written and signed statement of the facts to the Under Secretary of State, Home Office (Nationality Division), Princeton House, 271 High Holborn, London, W.C.1.

We cannot find a death notice or burial order for Wilhelmine, but we know she was still in the area as late as 1970. The North Wales Weekly News of April 16th, 1970, reports on her providing hostess duties at a public talk:

DECIMALISATION was the subject of a talk by Mr. Lemuel Jones, manager of the National Westminster Bank, Conwy, to the Electrical Association for Women at the Llandudno Junction centre on Tuesday. Miss N. Holliday presided.
Hostesses were Mrs. Irving; Miss Hiltern, Miss D. Jones and Miss W. Verbeeck.

John Clement Verbeeck – unsurprisingly, given that he’d married into a local family – visited the area in 1927. The North Wales Weekly News of August 4th, 1927, reported:

Mr. J. C. Verbeeck, who was a Belgian Refugee at Conway during the war, and who later set up business as a tailor and outfitter in High-street, is at present spending a holiday in the district. He is staying at Llandudno Junction. He is now resident in Belgium.

A report in the April 21st, 1977, edition of the North Wales Weekly News tells us what became of John, and includes valuable information retold by the boys’ old friend in the Scouts, Arthur Ralphes:

DEATH OF A WARTIME BELGIAN REFUGEE

A Belgian Refugee who arrived in Conwy in the First World War and married a local girl, has died at Dorking, Surrey. He was Mr. John Clement Verbeeck, who became an interpreter in the Second World War and later lived at Llandudno for a time. Mr. Arthur L. Ralphes, of Victoria Drive, Llandudno Junction, who until retirement 15 years ago was Conwy’s town clerk, writes this appreciation:

Shortly after the outbreak of war in August 1914, Conwy Borough Council were requested by the Government to provide accommodation for Refugees from Belgium, and in October a party of more than forty men, women and children arrived in Conwy. A vacant house in Whinacres, Conwy, was secured, and in response to appeals by the council, furniture was obtained. Not a member of the party understood English. The Scoutmaster and members of the 1st Conwy Troop of BP Scouts met the train which brought the Belgium party to Conwy railway station and helped carry the personal luggage of the Refugees to the house. Among the party were Mr. and Mrs. Verbeeck, their sons John Clement and Maurice, and a daughter, Wilhelmine.

Mr. Verbeeck was formerly tailor to the King of Belgium, and he too quickly learnt English. Later, the family secured the tenancy of house in Mount Pleasant, Conwy, Thorn Villa, where they lived for some years.

Mr. Verbeeck and John set up in business as women’s and men’s tailors at No. 7 High Street, Conwy, and for 16 years were successful. When John, the eldest son, reached 18 he was called up for service in the Belgian Army, but the rest of the Verbeeck family remained in Conwy.

John Clement married Miss Blodwyn [sic] Davies, Llandudno Junction. He mastered the Belgian and French languages, and set up as a women’s and men’s tailor in France, later returning to England to open a business in Margate.

At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 Mr. John Clement Verbeeck was commissioned in the Belgian Army, and his knowledge of languages soon secured for him the position of interpreter in the Belgian Army. After the war, Mr. and Mrs. John Clement Verbeeck returned to North Wales and lived for some years in the Oval, Llandudno, later joining their daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Pat Slade, in Ashley Road, Westcott, Dorking, Surrey.

In Belgian newspapers, we can find only one mention of any of the Conwy Verbeecks: In De Stem uit België, published on August 6th, 1915, an article about the National Day of Belgium in 1915, when the Conwy & Deganwy Belgians made and sold brooches, flags and bows. This raised a total of £24, which was given to wounded Belgian soldiers’ funds. The participating Belgians were: The Family Van Braecken, Miss Van Braecken, Miss Eulaers, The Family De Klercq, Mme. De Kock, Ms. De Kock, Ms. Verbeeck, Ms. Soumagne, Ms. De Greef-Gondry and Ms. Van de Brande.

Presumably, the Ms. Verbeeck mentioned is Wilhelmine. There’s more about the Families Eulaers and Van Braecken on our Conwy page and here: https://refugeesinrhyl.wordpress.com/vanbraecken/

John became a British National in 1949. Blodwen died aged 96 in Dorking, Surrey, in March 1998. John and Blodwen’s daughter Patricia married Ronald Slade in Bideford, Devon, in 1945.

This report, from the Bideford Gazette of April 28th, 1945, discusses Patricia Verbeeck and Ronald Slade’s wedding. It gives an update on John’s involvement in the Second World War, but also contains a fascinating hint at Patricia and John’s involvement in the French Resistance:

THE FORTUNES OF WAR

BIDEFORDIAN’S BRIDE FROM RESISTANCE MOVEMENT

Romance and the fortunes of war shone on the marriage solemnised at Bridge Street Methodist Church, Bideford, on August 10th, of Capt. Ronald Slade, R.A.C, second son of Capt. and Mrs. Slade, of 29, Bridgeland Street, Bideford, and Miss Patricia Verbeeck, only daughter of Lieut. and Mrs. Verbeeck, of 100, Boulevard Jacquard, Calais, France.

The bridegroom, who comes from a well-known family of five brothers, all Old Boys of Bideford Grammar School, speaks French well, and worked for European Resistance Movements before and after D-Day. His most active work came after D-Day in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. In the course of his duties, he met his wife, who was playing her part in the Resistance Movement. His wife, who was of Belgian nationality with her home in Calais, France, spoke English without accent. Recently Capt. Slade played for the British Army in an international rugby match at Brussels.

The bride’s father was unable to attend the wedding service owing to military duties in Europe.

The Rev. H. Wilkinson officiated at the ceremony and Mr. K. G. Laycock was at the organ. The hymns were “The voice that breath’d o’er Eden” and “Lead us, Heavenly Father” and the voluntaries included “Liebestraum” (Liszt) and “Ave Maria” (Schubert).

Given away by Mrs. Verbeeck, the bride was attired in a full-length ivory satin gown with her net veil edged with silver, and she had a head-dress of orange blossom. Her bouquet was of red roses and maidenhair fern. She was escorted by Mr. E. A. Slade, a brother of the bridegroom.

Miss Joan Whitton, cousin of the bridegroom, was bridesmaid and wore a dress of blue brocade silk, with blue floral head-dress, and carried a bouquet of mixed sweet peas.

The bride’s mother was in a black marocain gown with silver fox fur and the bridegroom’s mother in a black satin suit.

Mr. Trevor Slade, brother of the bridegroom, carried out the duties of best man.

After the ceremony, the bride was presented with a silver horse-shoe “good luck” token by Little Miss Margaret Slade, niece of the bridegroom.

The bride presented the bridegroom with a silver cigarette case, and he gave her a gold locket and chain, and a brown leather handbag to the bridesmaid.

A reception was held at Friendship’s Cafe, Bideford. The honeymoon was spent in North Devon, the bride, travelling in a Parisian blue gown and black tailored coat.

Capt. and Mrs. Slade were the recipients of many presents.

We searched old French newspapers looking for information about John or Patricia during their time in Calais. There was only one mention: In the Journal Officiel de la République Française published on October 12th, 1941, we found John Clement Verbeeck in a list of Freemasons which states he was the secretary of the lodge in 1931. He is described as a “tailleur à Calais” (“tailor at Calais”) and “outre-Manche” (“across the Channel” or “from Britain”)

One of the old Conwy Scouts, H. Russell Jones, recalled the first meeting of the Scouts with the Belgians, and what the troop did to help during the First World War. According to Mr. Jones the Scouts acted as orderlies and messengers for various organisations including the Red Cross, St. John Ambulance and the Recruiting Office. They chaperoned recruits to the railway station and bought their tickets for them and collected sphagnum moss which was used for treating wounds. Mr. Jones recalled that the Scouts assisted with the reception of the Belgian Refugees and he remembers John and Maurice joining the troop. Mr. Jones’ memories were recounted in the North Wales Weekly News of March 7th, 1985, in a showcase of the Conwy Scouts. The Scouts also featured in the Peace Day Celebrations in 1919, and we found two photographs for sale on an online auction site which show the Scouts at the Peace Day and at the YMCA in 1915 – maybe the Verbeeck brothers are on these…

It seems the Scouts was not the only organisation in Conwy to which the Verbeeck family were affiliated: At least one of them joined the Welsh Harp Lodge Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes, and gave a song at a special occasion:

North Wales Weekly News, January 6th, 1921

R.A.O.B. FAREWELL DINNER

The members of the Welsh Harp Lodge Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes held a farewell dinner at the Erskine Hotel on Thursday evening to Bro. Rowland Evans, who is leaving for America.

Songs were given by Bros. Verbeeck, Lucas, G. R. Evans, W. Parry, J. Matthews, and duets by Bros. Wm. Parry and R. Evans, and Lucas and J. O. Yates. Flute and piccolo solos were given by Bro. L. Gray. During the evening Brother Evans was presented with a silver cigarette case.

Mr. Evans, who resided at Tymawr Cottage, Gyffin, left for West Virginia on Monday.

The Verbeeck family member above is most likely John, as he is mentioned in the North Wales Weekly News of December 6th, 1923, as performing the duties of Master of Ceremonies at a Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes Whist Drive.

Our friends at History Points have added a QR Code to the former tailor’s shop on Conwy High Street. Please visit their page to see the details: https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=belgian-refugee-tailors-shop-high-street-conwy

The Draft Lease

A transcription of the draft lease as held in Conwy Archives:

Dated 12 April 1920

J. VAUGHAN ROBERTS ESQ.

-to-

MR. H. T. VERBEECK

Draft

AGREEMENT of TENANCY

of messuage or dwellinghouse & shop

known as No 7, High Street, Conwy

————

PORTER AMPHLETT & Co,

CONWY

AN AGREEMENT made the twelfth day of April 1920

BETWEEN John Vaughan Roberts of Tyddyn Cynnal, Conwy, in the County of Caernarfon, Gentleman (hereinafter called “The Landlord”) of the one part.

H. T. Verbeeck of No. 1, Old Road, Conwy, aforesaid Tailor, trading as H. T. Verbeeck & Son of the other part.

WHEREBY

1. THE LANDLORD lets and the Tenant takes ALL THAT messuage or dwellinghouse shop and premises known as No. 7 High Street, Conwy, aforesaid with the fixtures therein and the outbuildings yard, garden and appurtenances used and enjoyed therewith TO HOLD from the 1st day of May 1920 for the term of 1 year and so on from year to year until the tenancy shall be determined by six calendar months previous notice in writing given by either party to the other such notice to expire on the first day of May only at the yearly rent of £60 payable by equal month payments in advance on the 1st day of each calendar month during the 1st year of the tenancy and by equal quarterly payments in advance on the 1st day of May, the 1st day of August, the 1st day of November and the 1st day of February in each year during the second year of the tenancy and until otherwise ordered by the Landlord such rent to be paid clear of all deductions except for Landlords’ Property Tax.

2. THE TENANT agrees:-

(I). To pay the rent on the days and in manner aforesaid.

(II). To pay all existing and future rates, taxes, assessments and outgoings of every description (except as aforesaid) for the time being payable by the Tenant in respect of the premises.

(III). At all times during the tenancy to keep the interior of the said premises including all the glass in the windows, grates, doors, locks, fastenings, bells, pipes, cisterns, taps, and all other internal fixtures of, in, upon, and belonging to the premises in good and tenantable repair order and condition and so deliver up the same at the expiration of determination of the tenancy (reasonable wear and tear and damage by fire, storm, tempest, and other inevitable accident only excepted)

(IV). To permit the Landlord and his agents with or without workmen at all reasonable times to enter upon the premises to examine the state of repair and condition thereof.

(V). Not to hold or permit any sale made by Auction upon the premises without the consent in writing of the Landlord or his Agents.

(VI). Not to make any alteration in, or additions to, the premises or to assign or underlet or part with the possession of the premises or any part thereof without such consent as aforesaid (such consent however not to be unreasonably withheld).

(VII). To replace and make good all such parts of the premises as may with the Landlord’s consent have been changed or altered by the tenant during the tenancy.

(VIII). To bear, pay and discharge the cost of this agreement not exceeding the sum of two guineas.

(IX). Not to do or suffer to be done any act or thing which may be or become a nuisance or annoyance to the Landlord or the owners or occupiers of adjoining or neighbouring property.

(X). At any time within three calendar months prior to the expiration of the tenancy to permit the Landlord or his agents to affix upon the premises a Notice for Re-letting or Sale of the same and during the same three months to permit persons in company with or without written orders from the Landlord or his agents on any week-day between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. to view the premises.

3. THE LANDLORD agrees:-

(I). To keep the external parts of the said premises and the main drains in good and tenantable repair and condition.

(II). That the tenant paying the rent and observing the stipulations on his part herein contained shall quietly enjoy the premises without interruption by the Landlord or any person lawfully claiming under or in trust for him.

4. IT IS MUTUALLY AGREED:-

(I). That if any rent shall be twenty one days in arrears (whether legally demanded or not) or if the tenant shall omit to perform and observe any stipulations herein on his part contained, or shall suffer a Receiving Order in Bankruptcy to be made against him, the Landlord may re-enter upon the premises or upon any part thereof in the name of the whole and the tenancy shall thereupon determine but without prejudice to any claim which the Landlord may have against the tenant in respect of any breach of the tenancy herein contained.

AS WITNESS the hands of the said parties.

SIGNED by the said John Vaughan Roberts in the presence of Lily Roberts.

[John Vaughan Roberts & Lily Roberts’ signatures]

Witness to the signature of the beforenamed Henry Theodor Verbeeck in the presence of J. C. Verbeeck.

[Henri Verbeeck & John Verbeeck’s signatures]

B. Glynne Jones,

Solicitor with Messrs. Porter and Amphlett, Solicitors, Conwy.