One hundred years ago this autumn, the first wave of an estimated 250,000 Belgians made their way to England as refugees of the hostilities in their native land.
Rowntree’s Haxby road factory (now Nestlé’s home of Kit Kat) welcomed scores of Belgian refugees to York. Here at the Nestlé UK Archive we’ve been collecting photographs and memorabilia relating to the refugees to add to our online commemoration. One local resident kindly brought in her grandmother’s autograph book which was signed by two of the refugees in 1917.