3-046-951 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The English Volunteers at Ghent: Reception at the Hôtel de Ville, 1872. British Army soldiers in Belgium. 'On the arrival at the Hôtel de Ville the volunteers were marched into a grand hall, where ladies were waiting with little silver medals. The British were here joined by a detachment from Holland, under Lieutenant-Colonel Wilkens, of Rotterdam, The Burgomaster of Ghent, Count de Kerchove de Denterghem, welcomed them. Colonel Gourley, M.P., on behalf of the Anglo-Belgian Council and of the English volunteers, thanked the people of Ghent. Three cheers were given by the English, with "one cheer more for the ladies," and the medals were then distributed, the ladies attaching one to each volunteer's breast; the vin d'honneur was offered in the form of plentiful libations of champagne. Captain Mercier, with his staff, who had superintended the arrangements, was warmly congratulated on the success which had attended his labours'. From "Illustrated London News", 1872.