IRELAND AND THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

I've collected  a series of articles, over the summer I'll add more to the site.
They do give a lot of small details of the Irish involvement.
Additional pieces from the 1980's were added over the Xmas holidays. Read them here
Added 9th June. 2004 and updated Dec.30th.

Bibliography of Ireland and the SCW

Updated and Revised Bibliography of material on Irish involvement in the Spanish Civil War. I had initially included a bibliography on the site but here is a revised bibliography, revised early 2004, which is substantially longer.
Additions, or corrections, would be welcome. Ciaran Crossey.

Here is the initial list [1999 and amended 2001] list was compiled for the various books, articles and other material I've seen over the years. Hopefully you will find it useful in tracking down any material you think may be of use in your research. If you do locate additional material of interest to this subject, Irish involvement in the Spanish civil war, please e-mail me with the details so it can be added to this list. And let me know of new material as it comes out.

Salud!
E-mail address: cpcrossey@hotmail.com

Some interesting nuggets

What I have pulled together here are a number of short extracts from various books, papers, etc. which reflect on some detail of Irish involvement in the Spanish Civil War. CC 15.4.00

Readers are reminded that all the copyright of this material rests with the authors, so any quotation from them must be fully acknowledged and properly cited. The publishers of this site have approached the publishers and are grateful for their advice. CC 15.4.00

1. Notes by Louis MacNeice
2. Notes on censorship and the Catholic Church
3. Notes on life in Cork in 1936, some points on SCW.

Irish medics in Spain

I've drawn together a list of the Irish medics who served on both sides of the Spanish Civil War. Would anyone with additional names or details, please pass them onto me.                    cpcrossey@hotmail.com

Among other material found in the local papers I've established that there were a number of Non Combatants from here who were in Spain during the Civil War. Added 2nd Feb. 2003.

Recently we were able to get an article carried in the North Belfast News on local involvement in the SCW. There are a few details wrong, but we'll leave that for now. Added 26th Nov. 2001.

An extract from a Russian book International Solidarity with the Spanish Republic 1936-1939, published in 1976, i.e. the chapter on Irish involvement came before Michael O'Riordan's book, The Connolly Column.

Review of the Connolly Column

© belongs to the I.R.S.P. 1980. Added 22nd November 2000

Dail debate concerning Spanish Civil War expenses!

15th Feb. 1939. This brief note refers to the costs of repatriation of Irish nationals, and the operational costs of participation in the Non Intervention Committiee.

Local newspaper coverage

I went into the provincial press in Northern Ireland. I've added a lot (approx 50 A4 pages worth) of notes on material carried in the Irish News from July 1936 to Dec. 1938. Lots of small points, and material I found useful.

Belfast Newsletter

What I hope to present here are extracts from the coverage of/reaction to the SCW in the papers in Northern Ireland. This will include some of the main papers in NI, i.e. the Northern Whig, News Letter, etc. along with local papers.o:p>

Belfast Telegraph

This paper is the only evening paper in NI, and as such is read by both communities. 5 pieces from December 1938.

Belfast Weekly News – reports and editorials, Feb – June 1938.

There are a number of articles here, with references to an attempt by O’Duffy to support Franco by trying to ‘seize’ ships in Derry and Belfast. Other ref. to solidarity support for refugees includes mentions of Kathleen McColgan and the Earl of Antrim, Randal McDonnell.

Fermanagh Herald

This paper was checked from July to Nov. 7^th 1936. Essentially it carried a number of horror stories about the persecution of the Catholic Church in Spain.

Irish Independent reports on the SCW

June-July1937

Reports from the Irish News

The main local paper for Catholics in Northern Ireland has been the Irish News, published in Belfast but with a wider circulation. In order to get as accurate an impression as possible of the local involvement with the Spanish Civil war I went through the papers taking notes as I went.

These notes are now available here, but a word (or two) of explanation. My interest was in Irish involvement in the war, so the notes reflect this. I was not writing notes on the general war coverage, of which there was a lot in the early period. Notes [marked like this] are my summaries of the contents of the particular article in the paper. Generally any notes without those brackets are direct quotes. Bear with me, I’m sure I made errors in this, but the principle is sound. The contents should be fairly clear when you read the notes.

July to September 1936                                 October to December 1936      

January to June 1937                                     July to Dec. 1937             
January to June 1938                                     July to Dec. 1938        

Northern Whig -  Extracts

The Northern Whig was a daily paper published in Belfast throughout the period.

July –Dec. 1936              1937 Jan-July                             

Labour movement responses

A few bits and pieces dealing with the Irish labour movement's response to the Spanish Civil War.

Labour News (extracts)

Northern Ireland Labour Party, Conference record

Newry Labour Party (extract of minutes)

Belfast Trades Council minutes (extracts corrected, 14th April 2000)

Added 23rd February 2001

Socialist Party of Northern Ireland

Some notes, added 15th April 2000

Archives

Some of the material we've checked out can be found in these archives.

Midgley

Articles by and about Harry Midgley, leader of the Northern Ireland Labour Party.

Article about Belfast involvement

This is from a new book by Raymond Quinn, ©, called Rebel Voices. ©

Links

This section of the site will link through to items of value to people interested with the SCW.
Feb. 21st 2003

Here are four good sites, but go through to the Links page for more.

1. John Corcoran, a researcher who has published material on volunteers from the North East of England, has created a site giving photographs of a recent trip he took to the battlefields of Jarama. Click Here.

2. One of the most interesting people in the SCW was Salaria Kee, the only black female American to go to Spain. This pamphlet gives some indication of her political - sexual - racial struggles. One small point, it fails to mention that she married an Irish volunteer, Paddy O'Reilly, and lived with him for nearly 40 years!! Another copy of this article is stored as there seems to be a problem with the earlier link.  10th April 2005

3. A new German pamphlet, Souvenir of Spain, has been added, 26.4.01 Not really of Irish interest, but I think it's worth a look.  Another copy of this article is stored as there seems to be a problem with the earlier link.  10th April 2005

4. There is a very good connection for the American veteran's site allowing anyone to search back copies of their journal, The Volunteer. Make sure your computer has Adobe downloaded (it's free) so you can access this paper.