Medical Services

..." there is a wound , and who shall staunch it up "... W. H. Auden

Dr Edward K. Barsky: born 6/6/1895, New York. Led the first American Medical Bureau (AMB) to Spain in January 1937. He was responsible for sending and co-ordinating a fully outfitted medical team of doctors, nurses, and technicians to Spain. Oversaw the establishment of Base hospitals and convalescent homes in schools and monasteries. Emergency units were set up on the front lines, inside of existing ambulances and make-shift tents. A mobile medical hospital outfitted with a battery-powered operating room was also created. Edward Barsky died 11/2/1975.

Dr Leonard Crome: born Lazar Krom in Dvinsk, Latvia on 14/4/1909. Joined the Scottish Ambulance Unit and arrived in Spain in December 1936. In March 1937 Crome and three others left to join the International Brigades. He became Assistant Chief Medical Officer for the 35th Republican Division, before being made Chief Medical Officer. Joined the Communist Party on returning from Spain. WW2, Royal Army Medical Corp in North Africa and Italy. Awarded the Military Cross for bravery at the Battle of Monte Cassino. Died 6th May 2001

Dr Reginald Saxton: born 13/7/1911, Cape Town, South Africa. Cambridge Graduate. Doctor. CPGB. Enlistment Address; 213 Kings Road, Reading, Berkshire. Spain in September or December 1936. British Medical Unit. Worked at Grañén near Huesca on the Aragon front. Joined the 35th Medical Division Unit, attached to the French Battalion, XIV International Brigade. Worked at field Hospital at Villarejo de Salvanés dealing with the Jarama wounded. Provided medical assistance at the Battle of Teruel. Worked with innovative Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune on blood transfusion, using this new technique at the battle of the Ebro. Worked in the 'Cave' hospital. During WW2 saw service with the British Army Transfusion Service. Died 27/3/2004

Ann Cargill Murray: (Knight upon marriage) Born 10/4/1910, Tornaveen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Family later moved to Perth, Scotland. CPGB. Nurse. Volunteered to work in Spain throught the British Medical Aid Association. Enlistment Address; 6 Belgrave Place, Edinburgh. Arrived in Barcelona in September 1936, and was sent to work in the Primere Unidad Ingles Hospital in Granen near Huesca on the Aragon front. After a year she was move to Huete and appointed head nurse. Annie also worked in Polenino turning a private house into a working hospital. In late May 1938 she was nursing on a hospital train just behind the front lines at the Ebro. Annie said of her time in Spain that is was the "most important thing in my life.'' died 4/11/1996

Ada Louise Penny Phelps, (Feiwel upon marriage) born 24/4/1909 in Tottenham, North London. Nurse. Age: 27. CPGB (1933) Arrived in Spain: 15/1/1937. She became medical officer to the Garibaldi Battalion becoming responsible for the health of 600 men. Contacted Typhoid and had to return to the UK, where she raised money for the Spanish Republic. Penny returned to Spain but was injured by a bomb and sent home for surgery. There she met her future husband Dr Michael Feiwel. Died 6/1/2011

Patience Darton: born: Orpington in 1911. In February 1937 she went to Spain and nursed Tom Wintringham at the Pasionaria Military Hospital in Valencia. Patience saved Tom's life by correctly diagnosing that he was suffering from typhoid and a form of septicemia. She also nursed at medical units at Aragón, Brunete, Teruel and Ebro. Joined the Communist Party on her return from Spain in 1938. Patience died in Madrid in 1996.

Wilhelmina Mary Lowson: born: 11/4/1898, Hobart, Tazmania, Australia. Age: 41. Teacher. Nursing Sister. Nursing Association, New South Wales. Communist Party Australia (July,1935) Address given as Bayview Hotel, Burnie, New South Wales, Australia. Political commissioner to four Australian nurses. Left Sydney for Spain in October 1936, arriving in Barcelona on 3/12/1936. Nursed at the IB hospital in Albacete. Returned to Australia for a propaganda tour on behalf on the Republic. Returned to Spain on 29/4/1938.

Mary Elizabeth Slater: born 24/1/1903, Preston, Lancashire. CPGB. State Registered Nurse. Age: 35. Arrived in Spain 29/09/1936. as part of reinforcements for the SMAC Unit. Nursed on the Aragon front with the 27th Division and later in the British hospital in Polenino and Huesca. Worked in Vic hospital in Barcelona (July 1938) Repatriated in August 1938.

Frida Stewart: born 11/11/1910, Cambridge. Royal College of Music (Violin) CPGB. Aid Spain Committee, Spanish Medical Aid Committee. Drove an Ambulance donated by Scottish miners to Spain. Worked in a children's hospital for refugees in Murcia.

Kenneth Sinclair-Loutit: born in 1913, Monmouthshire, Cornwall. Cambridge University Graduate. Medical Student. Age: 23. Administrator of the British Medical Aid Unit. Left for Spain (Barcelona) 23/08/1936. Worked at Granen then Jarama. Returned to the UK. Married nurse Thora Silverthorne. Medical Officer in Paris during WW2. died 31/10/2003.

Norman Bethune: born 3/3/1890, Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada. Surgeon. WW1 stretcher-bearer. Designer of 12 -14 medical and surgical instruments. Communist Party. Arrived in Madrid on November 3rd 1936. Set up innovative mobile blood transfusion units taking blood to volunteers on the front line. Died of blood poisoning on 12 /11/1939.

Douglas Waddell Jolly: born in Cromwell, Central Otago in 1904. Joined a British volunteer medical unit in Spain at the outbreak of war. He was given the rank of captain in the Republican Army and instructed to lead a 12-person mobile surgical unit. Worked in the emergency hospital which was set up in a huge cave alongside the Ebro River in 1938. For this he was awarded the Republican Army’s Medalla del Ebro. Died 10/12/1983

Thora Silverthorne: Nurse. Born in Abertillery, Wales. Worked as volunteer nurse for hunger marchers who passed through Oxford. Travelled to Spain with the Spanish Medical Aid Committee in August 1936. Theatre nurse. Returned in September 1937.

Florence Mildred Stevenson Pike: aka Florence Mildred Tew: born: Paris, Ontario, Canada. Widowed with three children. CPC (January 1937) Travelled to Spain 15/5/1937. Nurse.

Saleria O'Reilly, nee Kea: born 13/7/1917 in Milledgeville, Georgia, United States. Harlem Hospital School of Nursing. CP. Volunteered for Spain in March 1937. American Medical Bureau. Helped establish a field hospital at Villa Paz near Madrid. Nursed at Units in the Aragon, Lerida and Barcelona. Wounded in a bombing and was repatriated to the States in May 1938. Married Irish volunteer John Patrick O’Reilly. Died 18/5/90 in Akron, Ohio

Dr Alexander Ethan Tudor Hart: born: 3/9/1901, Italy. CPGB (1929) Age: 36. Cambridge (1920-1924) NUGMW (1934) Royal College of Surgeons. British Medical Association (1931-1935) Enlistment Address: 128 Alexandra Road, London NW 8. Arrived in Spain: 31/12/1936 or 3/1/1937. British Medical Unit. Doctor at Huete and Mataro Hospitals. Repatriated in December 1938. Died in 1992.

Dr Henry Saunders Bury: Born 1912. CPGB. 1937 applied to join Ambulance unit in Spain. (PF82. 051) Spain 13/05/1938 arriving in Barcelona. Worked at Santa Coloma de Farners, Gerona. British Battalion doctor at Ripoll where the Battalion was posted prior to being withdrawn from Spain. In charge of the Hospital train repatriating the British wounded on 20/12/1938 (Pf 82 051)

Dr Moisès Broggi: born 1908, Barcelona. Studied medicine at Barcelona University graduating in 1931. Head of the International Brigade surgical unit. Introduced the mobile operating room. British Nurse Thora Silverthorne was his theatre nurse.

Archibald Leman Cochrane: born 12/01/1909, Galashiels, Selkirk, Scotland. Medical student at University College hospital, London. Spain in January 1937. (vol 15 446b) Based at Granen, near Huesca. Joined the 35th Medical Division Unit, attached to the French Battalion of the XIV International brigade. Worked in the field hospital (an old country club) at Villarejo de Salvanes treating the wounded of Jarama. Returned from Spain in January 1938. Qualified as a doctor in 1938. WW2, Captain, Royal Army Medical Corp. POW. Medical officer in POW camp. Died 18/06/1988

Dr Randall (Randolph) Sollenberger: born 17/07/1902, 115 West Lanvale Street, Bolton Hill, Baltimore, USA. West Point Graduate. (1924) Studying in Britain at London University at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil war. Age: 35. Married. Volunteered for Spain and left with the first British SMAC Unit on 23/08/1936. British Battalion doctor. Rank: Captain. Killed at Villaneuva de la Canada, Brunete, on or around the 20th July 1937. He was traveling with two ambulances picking up the wounded from the front line, when he was shot through the head by a sniper.

Dr Colin Charles Bradsworth: born 1897. Member of the Clarion Cycling Club (Midlands) University of Birmingham graduate. (Medical degree) CPGB (1935) Age: 42. Enlistment Address; 59 Highfield Road, Washwoodheath, Birmingham. Left for Spain 30/12/1936. (PF. 42 113) Arrived in Spain 3/1/1937. Medical captain XV International Brigade. Attached to Tarazona training base as Medical Officer. First British Battalion doctor. Also Mackenzie-Papineau Medical staff. Wounded twice at Jarama in February '37. Returned 30/4/1938. (PF 42 113) Died in 1958.

Ray Harris: born: Winnipeg. Home: New York. US Citizen. Attended Nursing College for 4 years. Single. CPC. Travelled to Spain on 16/1/1937 aboard the SS Paris with the AMB (American Medical Bureau) Survived.

Nancy Green, nee Farrow: born: 1904, Beeston, Nottingham. ILP. CPGB. Married to George Green who was killed at the Ebro. two children. Hospital administrator at the English hospital in Huesca and the convalescent hospital at Valldeganga. Secretary to Chief Medical Officer of the 35th Division, Dr Len Crome. Worked in the cave hospital during the Ebro campaign. Honourary Secretary of the Spanish Medical Aid Committee. Returned home from Spain in October 1938. (V 54, 1432a)

Angela Haden Guest: born: 26/8/1912, London. Enlistment Address: 192 Sloan Street, London, SW 1. Occupation: Student. Age: 24. Sister of David Guest (killed on Hill 481) CPGB. UGT (Spain) Fluent in Spanish, French, German, English. Arrived in Spain: 9/9/1936. Sanatario Service (medical) with the 3rd Battery, Artillery Unit, Carlos Marx Division on the Aragon front in September 1936. Served with the UGT medical section in Barcelona Interpreter for the English ambulance drivers on the Brunete front. Action's present at: Aragon (Tardienta) October 1936-February 1937. Cordoba (May-June 1937) Brunete (July-August 1937) Joined the XIII IB and was secretary at the hospital in Benicasim. Rank: Sergeant (September 1937) Returned to London. Killed in a car crash in South Africa in 1965. Picture courtesy of the Working Class Movement Library, Salford, Manchester.

Dr Gonzalo Augilo Mercader: from Majorca. Chief Surgeon at Polenino Hospital. Married Edinburgh nurse Susan Sutor.

James Isidore Neugass: born 1905, New Orleans. Age: 32. Arrived in Spain in November 1937. Ambulance driver. Worked at Villa Paz hospital and assisted the wounded on the the front lines of Teruel and the Aragon campaign. Returned to the States. Subject of the book and documentary 'War is Beautiful'

Margaret Lily?Powell: born 26/3/1913, Llangenny, Wales. Trained as a nurse and also qualified as a midwife. On 25/3/1937 she left with British Medical Aid Unit (vol 26 627c) Nursed wounded volunteers at the Aragon, Teruel and Ebro hospitals. Interned with Spanish refugees in a French concentration camp in Argeles sur Mer as she fled the fascist advance. Released in part due to the efforts of a Quaker relief team. Married former International Brigader Sam Lesser in 1950.

Lillian Urmston: born 7/6/1915, Staylbridge. Qualified as a State registered nurse. Initially rejected for the British Medical Aid Unit as she was not a member of the Communist Party. Eventually accepted and was in Spain by June 1937. Nursed on the Aragon front and at Teruel. Nursed in the 'cave' hospital at La Bisbal de Falset at the Ebro. Repatriated late 1938. Army Nursing Officer during WW2.

Aileen Yvonne Palmer: Age: 21. CPGB, CPA (1935) Occupation: Secretary. Enlistment Address: 7 Ridgeway Avenue, Melbourne, Australia. Single. Arrived in Spain 30/8/1936. Enlisted: 2/9/1936. 35th Division. Nurse.

Aileen Sparling: born: 1900, Preston, Lancashire. Nursed at Salford Hospital and qualified in 1928. Specialised in Maternity and Surgery. Nursing in the Foreign Colonies Hospital in Barcelona since 1930. CPGB (1934) Arrived in Spain; 23/2/1937? During the Spanish Civil war she worked in IB hospitals at Albacete and Santa Coloma de Gramenet. In 1938 evacuated to the hospital in Farnes de la Selva to await repatriation. Information from 'Salud! British Volunteers in the Republican Medical Service during the SCW' by Linda Palfreeman.

Suggested Reading:
'Salud! British Volunteers in the Republican Medical Service during the Spanish Civil War' Linda Palfreeman
'For us it was Heaven, The passion, grief and fortitude of Patience Darton' Angela Jackson
'English Penny' a memoir by Penny Phelps
'The Last Mile to Huesca, An Australian Nurse in the Spanish Civil War' Judith Keene

Detained while travelling to Spain, New Zealand Nurses: from left: Renee Shadbolt, Isobel Dodds and Millicent Sharples.

Australian Red Cross Unit, Barcelona, Spain,1936. Front Row (L-R): Agnes Hodgson, May Macfarlane, Mary Lowson and Una Wilson. The men behind are Jack Barry of the Tom Mann Centuria and an unknown journalist. On the right is Aileen Palmer, an Australian woman who joined the British Medical Unit in London.

Scottish Ambulance Unit; Miss Fernanda Jacobson (centre) Tommy Watters (second right)

26/10/1936: Australian nurses, Una Wilson, May Macfarlane and Mary Lowson embarking for Spain aboard the Oronsay

Dr Len Crome (left) in Spain.

Barcelona 1937: British Ambulance men: Roy Poole (second left) Peter Harrison (second right) John Boulting (first right)

American Medical Bureau: Sailing on the SS Paris 16/01/1937. back row left: Mildred Rackley, Taos, New Mexico; Dr. Nathan Bloom, New York; Dr. Albert Byrne, San Francisco; Dr. Edward Barsky, New York; Dr. Edwardo Odio y Perez, Havana, Cuba; Harry Wilkes, New York; Dr. Phil Goland, Cincinnati; and Helen Freeman, Brooklyn, N.Y. front row left: Lini Fuhr Paterson, N.J. Salaria Kea, New York; Frederica Martin, New York; Ray Harris, New York; Anna Taft, Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Rose Freed, New York.

Members of the British Medical Unit at Londons' Victoria Station embarking for Spain 23rd August 1936. left; Dr Randall Sollenberger (US Doctor, Killed at Brunete, July '37) Leonard Le Vann, (Edinburgh) Dr AA Khan (London) Kenneth Sinclair-Loutit (standing at the back) Margot Miller (Nurse), Doris Bird (Nurse) Seated are: Arnold Kallen (US medical student at Glasgow) Believed to be Alec Wainman (in glasses) Frank Farr (London, who became an Ambulance driver) is seated at the front.

Members of the second Scottish Ambulance Unit: left: M. Linden (Glasgow) R. MacFarquhar (Inverness) A. Boyd (Bearsden) J. MacKinnon (Ayr) G. Burleigh (Kilsyth) T. Penman (Glasgow) unknown, T. Waters (Tillicoultry)

American nurse Salaria Kea at work in Villa Paz American No.1 Hospital, Saelices, Madrid.

Dr R S Saxton performing a blood transfusion in the cave hospital near Bisbal de Falset in July 1938. Welshman Harry Dobson lying on the stretcher died later that day from wounds received on Hill 481.

Theatre nurse Thora Silverthorne and Dr Alex Tudor-Hart in the operating theatre.

Norwegian Doctor Gunnar Finsen with S.A.U. personnel. George Burleigh (third left)

Dr Len Crome (third right) with an ambulance unit.

British nurse Penny Fiewel (front row third left) pictured at Quintanar with members of the Garibaldi Battalion.

La Pasionaria Hospital, Murcia. Left: Borka Demic

The cave hospital at La Bisbal de Falset.

Jarama wounded at Colmenar de Oreja Hospital. Sam Wild (second left middle row)

July 1938: Some of the walking wounded queue for treatment at the hospital train just behind the front line at the Ebro.

Patience Darton. Location unknown

Scottish Nurse Ann Murray and Ambulance

American Medical Bureau set sail for Spain, 19/5/1937

March 1937; Staff on the terrace at Polenino Hospital. British Nurse's Anne Murray seated second left and Margaret Powell third from right.

Nursing Staff at Huete hospital.