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Negative comments
The records include assessments of the volunteers made by their political superiors in the latter part of the war in Spain. Many are highly derogatory, referring to desertion, drunkenness and indiscipline, but should be taken with a pinch of salt, sometimes a very large amount. They were written for internal use, primarily as an assessment of suitability for future membership of the Communist Party at home and were often made by a party representative who may have had a grudge against certain individuals or may simply have been wrong. Many volunteers with outstanding military records in Spain – including senior ranking officers – received extremely critical assessments.
Bruce Campbell
Other name: 
Place of birth: ???
Year of birth: ???
Political organisation:
Occupation:
Date of arrival: 3rd October 1936
Brigade ID: Muerte es Maestro Centuria.
Date of departure: 18th November 1936
Date of death: ???
Where killed:
Comments: Member of MM Centuria. With David Mackie he decided to leave Spain.
Source: IBA Box 50a File AI/3.
Archibald "Jock" Campbell
Other name:  Jack
Place of birth: Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland
Year of birth: 17th August 1919
Political organisation: NUS
Occupation: Seaman
Date of arrival: 17th July 1937
Brigade ID: Not issued
Date of departure: June 1938
Date of death: 11th October 1972 - Krung Thep, Krung Thep, Thailand
Where killed:
Comments: Address given as: 92, Maple Drive, Dalmuir, Glasgow. 153 Mx Brigade. Deserted whilst awaiting repatriation for being under age. Arrested Valencia. Repatriated.
Source: RGASPI 545/6/113/40-45.
James Campbell
Other name: 
Place of birth: Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Year of birth: 1st July 1904
Political organisation: AEU '30 & NUWM '33 & Co-op '30
Occupation: Brassfinisher
Date of arrival: 28th December 1936
Brigade ID: 223
Date of departure: 20th June 1937
Date of death: ???
Where killed:
Comments: Address given as; 5, Richard Street Glasgow. According to Barry McLoughlin, he was arrested in Barcelona and expelled from Spain by police order on 20 June 1937. 1939 charged and fined after a demonstration to prevent an eviction. Possibly emigrated to USA in 1947.
Source: IBA Box D-7 File A/2, RGASPI 545/6/40/102 & 545/6/91/58. NA KV5/119/DSCF2668-69. Daily Record - 22 September 1939 p11.
John Campbell
Other name: 
Place of birth: County Antrim, N. Ireland
Year of birth: 1910?
Political organisation: Sheet metal workers '32-34.
Occupation: Sheet metal worker
Date of arrival: 14th January 1937
Brigade ID: 169
Date of departure:
Date of death: 27th February 1937
Where killed: Jarama
Comments: Address given as; 39, Woodstock Road, Belfast. Served with the Lincolns. Killed during the attack on Pingarron at Jarama,
Source: IBA Box D-7 File A/2 & IBA Box 21 File A, RGASPI 545/6/40/102 & 545/6/89/83 & 545/6/91/54 & 545/6/113/22.
William "Bill" Campbell
Other name:  Robert
Place of birth: Lumphinans, Fife, Scotland
Year of birth: 12th June 1907
Political organisation: CP '37 & Fife MU & NUWM
Occupation: Miner
Date of arrival: 14th February 1938
Brigade ID: 1686
Date of departure: 27th October 1938
Date of death: 1982 - Cowdenbeath, Fife, Scotland
Where killed:
Comments: 1935 charged and fined following a demonstration over the King's Jubilee. Address given as: 46, Mungall Street, Lumphinans, Fife. Responsible for Anglo-American Section. Missing Aragon March 1938. POW at San Pedro de Cardeña. Repatriated. Travelled to Spain with George Jackson. In 1940 he married Jackson's widow.
Source: IBA Box D-7 File A/1 & A/6, RGASPI 545/6/91/156 & 545/6/98/2 & 545/6/99/21 & 545/6/113/50-51. NA FO371 & KV5/119/DSCF2671. Dundee Courier - 14 June 1935 p6. Edinburgh Evening News - 1 July 1938 p11. Daily News (London) - 28 October 1938 p17. Information from great-niece, Anne O'Kane, in July 2024.
James Campbell
Other name: 
Place of birth: Londonderry?
Year of birth: 1903?
Political organisation:
Occupation: ???
Date of arrival: 27th January 1937
Brigade ID: 996
Date of departure: 12th August 1937
Date of death: ???
Where killed:
Comments: Address given as; 22,Tyrconnell Street, Londonderry. Arrested in Barcelona, July 1937. Expelled from Spain by police order, 20.06.1937. Arrived UK 12.08.1937."Insubordinate". Not to be confused with James Campbell 223.
Source: RGASPI 545/2/112/104 & 545/6/40/103 & 545/6/91/107 & 545/6/93/29 & 545/6/113/48. Londonderry Sentinel - 5 December 1922 p8. Irish Weekly and Ulster Examiner - 8 January 1938 p14. Londonderry Sentinel - 6 September 2000 p22.
Stanley Baggarley
Other name:  Frederick
Place of birth: Holborn, London, England
Year of birth: 28th November 1916
Political organisation:
Occupation: Baker
Date of arrival: 27th August 1937
Brigade ID: 1313
Date of departure: 7th December 1938
Date of death: ???
Where killed:
Comments: Surname also misspelt as Baggerley. Gave his brother's address, Percy Baggarley, 88 Campbell Buildings, Lambeth, London. (In 1939 brother is living at no 36). XV Brigade. Assessment: 'Antifascist. Not very reliable.' "Working well when he wanted to." Hospital 8/2/38 - 10/4/38.
Source: NA FO371/22654 & KV5/118/DSCF2342. IBA Box D-7 File A/1, RGASPI 545/6/91/129 & 545/6/96/6 & 545/6/103/5-8.
Donald Carson
Other name:  Gillies
Place of birth: Govan, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Year of birth: 30th December 1904
Political organisation: CP '23 Govan & ASW 1922
Occupation: Carpenter
Date of arrival: 10th March 1938
Brigade ID: 1782
Date of departure: 27th October 1938
Date of death: 24th November 1967 - Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Where killed:
Comments: Addresses given as; 20 Carmichael Street & Mrs Campbell (Sister), 242, Homelea Road, Glasgow. Captured at Gandesa 3/4/38. POW at San Pedro de Cardeña. Repatriated. 1948 FTO for Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers.
Source: IBA Box D-7 File A/1 & A/6, RGASPI 545/6/91/164 & 545/6/98/2 & 545/6/113/108. NA FO371/22654 & KV5/119/DSCF2695. Bridge of Allan Gazette - 10 October 1936 p7. The Scotsman - 1 July 1938 p11. Daily News (London) - 28 October 1938 p17. Newcastle Evening Chronicle - 29 November 1944 p5.
George Jackson
Other name: 
Place of birth: Cowdenbeath, Fife, Scotland
Year of birth: 20th November 1909
Political organisation: KCMF
Occupation: Miner
Date of arrival: 4th February 1938
Brigade ID: 1697
Date of departure:
Date of death: 19th August 1938
Where killed: Sierra Pandols
Comments: Royal Scots 1930-36. Addresses given as; Wife, 34, South Street, & 161, Stanley Street, & Paul Place, High Street, all Cowdenbeath. Travelled to Spain with his friend William Campbell. VG. According to Tom Murray, he was hit by a shell that also killed Charlie McLeod and Malcolm Smith. (IM p.318). "He died on August 19th 1938, in the Battle of the Ebro, when the British Battalion was in the area of Hill 666, in the Pàndols mountains." William Campbell married his widow in 1940.
Source: IBA Box 21 File A, Box D-7 File A/1 & Box C File 2/2, RGASPI 545/6/51/76 & 545/6/91/157 & 545/6/153/3-7. https://justicia.gencat.cat/web/.content/memoriademocratica/recerca/alvahbessie/Regne_Unit_UK_Alvah_Bessie_ACC.pdf Edinburgh Evening News - 8 September 1938 p13. https://international-brigades.org.uk/news-and-blog/content-30th-anniversary-miners-strike/
William McKie
Other name: 
Place of birth: Gateshead, Durham, England
Year of birth: 24th March 1913
Political organisation: CP '36 & NUR
Occupation: Clerk
Date of arrival: 27th February 1938
Brigade ID: 1758
Date of departure:
Date of death: 3rd April 1938
Where killed: Gandesa
Comments: Address given as; Mrs Campbell, 308, St. Leonards Road, Poplar, London.
Source: IBA Box D-7 File A/1, RGASPI 545/2/127/50 & 545/6/51/90 & 545/6/91/161 & 545/6/170/102-103 & 545/6/941/16.
Griffin MacLaurin
Other name:  Campbell
Place of birth: Auckland, New Zealand
Year of birth: 19th September 1909
Political organisation: CP '34
Occupation: Bookshop owner
Date of arrival: October 1936
Brigade ID:
Date of departure:
Date of death: 10th November 1936
Where killed: Casa del Campo
Comments: Left NZ for St John's College, Cambridge. Owned a left wing bookshop in Cambridge. Served in No 4 Section of the Machine Gun Company of the Commune de Paris Battalion. 'A Rhodes Scholar asked by Harry Pollitt to offer his expertise with a machine gun' BA p.34. Nicknamed 'Mac'. Killed with Stephen Yates and Robert Symes giving covering fire with a Lewis machine gun. BA p.57.
Source: IBA Box 21 File A & BA p.34. "Kiwi Companeros; New Zealand and the SCW" Edited by Mark Derby p35-42. Daily Herald - 8 December 1936 p2.
Archibald Williams
Other name:  Campbell McAskill
Place of birth: Southsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England
Year of birth: 3rd October 1904
Political organisation: CP
Occupation: Unemployed
Date of arrival: December 1936
Brigade ID: Not issued
Date of departure: 31st May 1937
Date of death: 26th June 1972 - Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Where killed:
Comments: Usually known as AC Williams. Migrated to Canada in 1923. Ended up in one of the notorious Unemployed Relief Camps where, having been gaoled for taking part in a riot at a camp in Saskatchewan, he was deported back to the UK in December 1935. Address given as; 70, Broad Street, Old Portsmouth. One of No 2 (Machine-Gun) Company captured at Jarama. Was unemployed before travelling to Spain. Identified as a 'rabid agitator' by British security services. Later managed the Portsmouth Left Book Club shop. 1939 working at Wellworthy Engineering Company in Lymington, with fellow Brigader Charles West. Special Branch claimed he "instigated an unofficial strike".
Source: NA V2/1611/76b & KV5/131/DSCF2588-89. Star-Phoenix - 20 September 1934. "Our Fathers Fought Franco" Edited by Willy Maley p141-171. "Hampshire Heroes: Volunteers Fighters in the SCW" by Alan Lloyd p27-32.

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 Bruce Campbell
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Bruce Campbell

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