Belgian refugees WW1 Op de Beeck

[emomerency]

Hi,

I am a Belgian woman living in France trying to trace my ancestors.
I am wondering if you could help me or point me in the right direction to search.

I am looking for the whereabouts of my Belgian grandmother and great-grandmother and their family who were Belgian refugees from the Antwerp region during WW1 and came to England in August 1917.  They were given a number by the Belgian consulate in London on the 30th of August 1917.
Their names are:

Joanna SCHEPERS (born 17 April 1883)  number 23222 (my great-grandmother)
Maria Adelia OP DE BEECK ( born 25 December 1889) number 23223 (my great-aunt)
Maria Joanna OP DE BEECK (born 7 April 1901) number 23224 (my grandmother)
+ 3 younger sisters and a brother

I strongly suspect they were in the Yorkshire region and that it was there that my grandmother Maria Joanna (called Marie) met my unknown grandfather. I have a strong DNA connection to Yorkshire.
I would like to find out where they stayed and when they came back to Belgium.

I know that the University of Leeds was working on a project on Belgian Refugees but I can’t find any records online. Nor anywhere else.

Any help would be very appreciated.

[StefanD99]

Hi,
I don't know if you have seen this:
https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2018/12/14/tracing-the-belgian-refugees/
However the links given on the site appear to be broken, but you could try contacting the Library.
Localandfamilyhistory@leeds.gov.uk

There is also this:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/2020-09/ahrc-esrc-iwm-exhibition-research-bookletFINAL.pdf
and
https://forstaff.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/5107/professor-alison-fell
which you have probably seen.

Stefan

[StefanD99]

Hi again,
I don't know how common the family name of Op de Beeck is, but it might interest you to know that there are three people of that name, who were born in Antwerp, in England on the 1921 census. There are also three people of that name born and living in Yorkshire.

Stefan