Graham Davies, author of ‘You Are Legend: The Welsh Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War’ (Welsh AcademicPress, 2018), writes… On 19 April 1937, at 10pm, Capt William Roberts’s Seven Seas Spray, owned by the Veronica Steamship Company in Cardiff, without permission from the harbour master and without navigation lights, slipped out of the French port […]
The IBMT is launching a major project to update and enhance the online directory of memorials across Britain and Ireland dedicated to the International Brigades – whether sculptures, plaques or memorial benches and trees. Along with a database of volunteers who served in Spain, the directory enables IBMT members, historians and researchers to search for […]
Author Chris Hall previews his new book about the volunteers at home and in Spain… Ninety years ago, a civil war broke out in a then little-known country. For thousands of British, Irish and Commonwealth people, the Spanish Civil War was their main focus for three years. Over 2,500 ‘British’ (including Irish and Commonwealth) men […]
Rob Hargreaves welcomes the Oldham memorial back to its rightful home… Oldham’s moving memorial to the town’s fallen International Brigade heroes has come home at last. Thanks to the painstaking efforts of North West International Brigade Memorial Group, the memorial to six Oldham volunteers killed in Spain is back on display, enjoying pride of place […]
Some 40 children and grandchildren of International Brigaders attended a reception on 1 December at the Spanish embassy in London to celebrate the granting of Spanish nationality to the descendants of International Brigade volunteers. In a moving ceremony (see links and photos below), Ambassador José Pascual Marco Martínez warmly welcomed the new compatriots and honoured […]
IBMT Scotland Secretary Mike Arnott reports on plans for the 18th annual commemoration of the Battle of Jarama. This, he says, is the available information as at 25 November 2025. Thursday 19/ Friday 20 FebruaryWe understand that hosts AABI – the Madrid-based Association of Friends of the International Brigades – are proposing to organise a […]
MPs marking the 50th anniversary of the death of Spanish dictator Franco have praised the ‘vital educational and commemorative work’ of the IBMT in preserving the memory of the volunteers who fought fascism during the Spanish Civil War. The praise is contained in an Early Day Motion tabled in the House of Commons by Labour’s […]
The 2024 Len Crome Memorial Conference, held on 1 November 2025, is now available to watch online. Three leading historians of the Spanish Civil War – Paul Preston, Helen Graham and Richard Baxell – discuss the topic 'Toxic legacy: the lasting impact of Francoism on Spanish Democracy’. Paul Preston is one of the world’s foremost historians […]
Spanish dictator Francisco Franco died 50 years ago today [20 November]. Jim Jump looks back at his blood-soaked rule and toxic legacy on Spain today. ‘Spaniards, Franco has died,’ came the announcement 50 years ago on Spanish TV. If there was any truth to the widely-held story that Barcelona immediately ran out of cava, the […]
Bernard McKenna’s ashes were buried in Caspe, Aragón, on 15 November. Patricia Ure reports on the event, which was attended by six members of his family: children Peter, Neil, Nicki, Joss, grandson Scott, and son-in-law Robert. The programme to remember Bernard McKenna began at Caspe’s International Brigades monument, inaugurated in 2018 to commemorate the 80th […]
Our thanks must once again go to a group of volunteers in Madrid who are tending the memorials to the International Brigades in Fuencarral cemetery in the north of the city. The volunteer gardeners have replanted the flower beds to ensure plenty of autumn colour. And they visit the cemetery every week to do the […]
News report from the Agencia EFE Spanish news agency… October 31, 2025 Madrid (EFE) - Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced that the Council of Ministers will approve next Tuesday the granting of Spanish nationality to the nearly 170 descendants of the International Brigades who have requested it under the Democratic Memory Law. Sánchez made […]
