An Oxford college has submitted plans for a plaque to commemorate Belgian refugees who were housed there during the First World War.
New College wants to install the small commemoration on a building in New College Lane.
The college housed Belgian refugees in the building during World War One and the small grey plaque will be a reminder of their "special relationship".
The application was submitted by college home bursar Gez Wells to Oxford City Council.
It has had no public comments in support or objection.
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"The Warden and Fellows of New College Oxford seek to commemorate the fact that Belgian refugees were housed at the college during the Great War. They were housed both in New College Lane and in a property in Longwall which the college rented at that time.
“The proposal is for a restrained stone plaque, mounted centrally between two ground floor windows on the brickwork external wall of No.8 New College Lane, where Belgian refugees were housed 1914-18. The plaque has been designed by a very fine young Oxford letter-cutter.”
It added: “The Belgian Refugees in the United Kingdom during the Great War was the largest influx of refugees in British history to date (and exceeding those recently coming from Ukraine).
"Some 250,000, part of a 1.5 million displaced persons in total, sought refuge following the violation of Belgian neutrality and the invasion of 1914.
"A major national relief effort was set up to assist them. Oxford was a significant destination.
"The episode has been largely forgotten and ignored by academic research, but it does speak to the importance of receiving refugees in need, and the nation's tolerant disposition to do so.
“The intention of having a plaque in a place where refugees lived will, it is hoped, prompt interest in this story.
“It should also be said that New College has a special relationship with Belgium, as the owner of the Courtrai Chest, which also manifests itself in other ways (for instance the college is the home of the University Belgian Society).”
The plan has had support from the Warden of the College Miles Young, the Dean and Chattels Fellow Professor Michael Burden, Dr William Poole, Professor David Parrott and the archivist Michael Stansfield, as well as the equality and diversity fellow Professor Barbara Rossi and the chair of the University Belgian Society Rakoen Maertens.
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