Belgium - September 3rd 1920
In 1920, Isabel Fry was invited to Brussels in Belgium to view and share knowledge with a Reformatory school in Beernem.
This diary extract describes her journey back to Dover at the end of this visit. During her journey Isabel encounters some English officers, likely coming from Constantinople, which was still occupied by Allied forces at this time.
As both a pacifist and someone who has close friendships with people from this occupied area, Isabel is unable to muster any particular sense of pride in her fellow Englishmen. During her journey Isabel’s concerns turn to home and contemplation of the state that it is now in.
Isabel is eager to return home in anticipation of the news that she hopes to receive on doing so.
It is a period of turmoil, not only for Britain which is still recovering from the aftermath of the First World War and where talks of coal strikes are currently raging, but also for the rest of Europe, with Poland currently at war with Russia, and Turkey still occupied by allied forces. As a women with widespread friends and acquaintances, Isabel is eager to receive their assurances.