Belgian Memorial Unveiling

Souvenir programme of the Unveiling of the Belgian Memorial on the Thames Embankment, Tuesday 12th October 1920. Ethel Sladden was the Honorary Secretary of Badsey Belgian Refugee Committee. She was invited by The Committee of the Belgian Memorial and the General Council of the Anglo-Belgian Union to the Unveiling Ceremony of a Belgian Memorial. The memorial was erected as a token of gratitude by Belgian people who had found refuge in England during the German occupation of their country.

The Belgian War Memorial is on Victoria Embankment in London, opposite Cleopatra’s Needle. Its main feature is a central bronze sculpture by Belgian sculptor, Victor Rousseau, who himself spent time as a refugee in London during the war. The memorial depicts a Belgian woman accompanied by a boy and a girl carrying garlands. The bronze stands on a stone plinth which bears the inscription: “To the British Nation from the grateful people of Belgium, 1914-1918”. As part of the Portland Stone surround there are relief sculptures representing “Justice” and “Honour”.