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72 Pennington Road\/Crothers hospital<\/strong><\/p>\n The photo above shows a large property, set in extensive grounds, providing accommodation for two\u00a0 large Belgian families: the Denyns \u2013 six children between the ages of 10 and 19, their parents and an aunt (Mrs. Denyn\u2019s sister); also the Van Noyens, a mother and father plus five youngsters between 13 and 20.<\/p>\n The Denyn children are listed in the \u201cScott\u00a0 Album\u201d by name as Madeleine, Juliette, Adolphe, Jeanne, Laura, and Emma, with their parents Joseph, the famous carilloneur of Malines Cathedral<\/a>, and Helene. The two older children were sent away to school in London while the four younger ones attended the Mark Cross Convent \u2013 which later became the home of the Legat Ballet School (where I attended rehearsals for a production of \u201cThe Crucible\u201d in 1990 and found it an interesting but somewhat creepy building with winding corridors and small , dark rooms!) and then an Islamic boarding school.<\/p>\n In Feb 1915, the Denyns were listed in a document regarding the \u201c<\/em>employment of Belgian males\u201d held in Maidstone Archives as the only Belgians living in Southborough.<\/p>\n Sometime after that they moved to 3 East Cliff Road where they remained until early 1918. The youngest daughter Emma died aged\u00a0 12 on 28 September 1916 at 3 East Cliff Road – cause of death “Status Epilepticus”.\u00a0 Her mother, Helene Denyn died a year later on 23rd<\/sup> Sepember 1917 from pneumonia, also at number 3 Eastcliff Rd. Both are buried at Hawkenbury Cemetary.<\/p>\n The other family housed in Southborough courtesy of Robertina Crothers were the Van Noyen family: banker Armand, his wife, and 5 of their 6 children, a daughter and 4 sons.<\/p>\n In the 1911 census, apart from the 13 pupils registered as living at Argyle House School with 71 year old head of the school,<\/strong> Ellen Watson,<\/strong>\u00a0 was a 27 year old Belgian woman teacher \u2013 Elvire Meternach; nothing more is known about Elvire though it can be supposed that she taught the girls some French during her stay, this of course was four years previous to the arrival of the other two families.<\/p>\n The Kent and Sussex Courier<\/em> of 30\/06\/1916 has a glowing account of \u201ca Garden Play\u201d entitled \u2018The Bride of the Emperor\u2019 being performed by Argyle House pupils up at the Crothers Hospital for the wounded soldiers being cared for up there . The audience numbered over 200 and the girls spoke up \u201cwith good dramatic force and clear enunciation.\u201d<\/p>\n I like to imagine the friendship that must have flourished between the dedicated Head Teacher \u2013 Ellen Watson, obviously so devoted to her girls and to running Argyle House \u2013 and her affluent\u00a0neighbour Robertina Crothers, living at the other end of Pennington Road but spending a great deal of time travelling in Europe with her great friend Miss Lushington.<\/p>\n I like to picture the two neighbours planning welcoming and fund raising events together, both for the Belgian refugee families, suddenly in their midst until they moved up the London Road to what is now St John\u2019s — and later on for the benefit of the wounded and recovering soldiers.<\/p>\n One last, somewhat sad little event among the many recorded, was of a young Belgian lad living at 72 Pennington Road – perhaps 13 year-old Hector Van Noyen? – \u00a0being knocked off his bike at the junction of Speldhurst and London road and taken in by Mrs Blackburn Maze, with bruises and a badly smashed up bike. So that road junction was hazardous back in October 1914. (reported in Courier<\/em> of 30th<\/sup> October 1914)<\/p>\n ______________________________________________________________<\/p>\n <\/p>\n More about the Van Noyen family from Alison MacKenzie:<\/strong><\/p>\n Youngest son Hector<\/strong> was at Skinners 1914- December 1917 according to The Leopard<\/em>, the Skinner\u2019s School magazine, of the time.\u00a0 The other 3 sons were students in London and the oldest had joined the Belgian Army,<\/p>\n Armand Van Noyen was on the Committee of the Club Albert in December 1914, but not in July 1916 when the album was presented to the Misses Scott, and the fact that he was not on the list of Belgian men available for work in February 1915 suggests they had left the area by then.<\/p>\n However we do have registration documents for daughter Yvonne which show that she moved from Pennington Road to 52 Warwick Park in summer 1915, and then in early 1916 moved on to work as a nurse at the Eye and Ear Hospital, 22 Mount Sion; from where she went to Cheshire in the autumn of 1916.\u00a0 The family had left the area by January 1917 according to Armand Van Noyen\u2019s registration document.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n Report of the Tunbridge Wells Refugees\u2019 Committee 1919<\/p>\n Kent and Sussex Courier<\/em><\/p>\n Findmypast.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 1914 Southborough was quite a small village, separated by three miles of open country from the more elegant Tunbridge Wells but very much connected to High Brooms with its Brick Works and Railway station. \u00a0I am fascinated by the\u00a0significant … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/rtwbelgians\/files\/2017\/07\/Fionas-blog-VAN-NOYEN-Yvonne_reg-doc-1-189x300.jpg\")
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