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During WW1 over 240,000 Belgian refugees were evacuated to towns and cities in Great Britian. In September 1914 the British government offered "victims of war the hospitality of the British nation." The Belgian refugees were the largest refugee movement in British history. A number of Belgian people were evacuated to Ossett as the fighting raged in their country. The "Ossett Observer" for Saturday Oct 24 1914 notes that "Ossett has taken into its care some 66 Belgian refugees. They are staying at the Primitive Methodist Sunday school in Queen Street." Thanks to Neville Ashby for the "Ossett Observer" reference.

This picture shows a group of Belgian refugees who worked in a local armourment factory called Moses & Naylor making shell caps for 18 pound shells. Often seen as job stealers, they didn't always get on well with the British and tended not to mix. The language barrier will not have helped. Generally, in the country, tensions surfaced between the refugees and their hosts and an anti-Belgian riot broke out in May 1916 in London particularly over problems of housing and jobs. Refugees were accused of a lack of enthusiasm for work. However, citizens were asked to accept that the refugees possessed the same qualities and flaws as anyone else and that the problems were caused by a small proportion of the refugees.

Virtually all the refugees went back to Belgium after the war was over, but there were still 9,892 Belgian refugees in Britain as late as 1921.