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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.
 
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Leslie Ireland
Other name:  John
Place of birth: Wandsworth, London
Year of birth: 26th September 1916
Political organisation: BTWF
Occupation: Builder/Decorator, later paperhanger
Date of arrival: 26th December 1936 & 10th January 1937
Brigade ID: 153 & 1004
Date of departure: 28th December 1937
Date of death: 26th April 1945 - St Jame's Hospital , London.
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Comments: Address given as; 114, Southcroft Road, Tooting, London. (Living here in 1939). Wounded at Jarama 27/2/37 and in the upper arm at Brunete, July 1937. OTS for two months. Note proposed repatriation for Union work, but also a note suggesting he deserted.
Source: IBA Box D-7 File A/2, RGASPI 545/6/91/53,107 & 545/6/152/14-16 & 545/6/915/11-12. Cyril Sexton memoir MML SC/EPH/10/12 p36. South Western Star - 11 May 1945 p3
 
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Memorials search results

News search results

 Minutes of the 2023 Annual General Meeting

Draft minutes of the IBMT’s Annual General Meeting held in the Georgian Theatre, Stockton on Tees, 7 October 2023… In attendance: Kate Armstrong, Mike Arnott, Ann Atkinson, Sharon Bailey, David Chanter, Paul Coles, Megan Dobney, Barrie Eckford, Pauline Fraser, Sheila Grey, Christopher Hall, Robert Hargreaves, Hilary Jones, Jim Jump, Sean Kettle, Denis Lenihan, Alan Lloyd, […]

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The 'extraordinary' men from Teesside who went to Spain

Here's the speech given by IBMT Chair Jim Jump at the commemoration on 7 October 2023 at the memorial to the International Brigaders from Stockton-on-Tees… It’s a great honour to be able say a few words here on behalf of the IBMT during this our Annual General Meeting weekend in Stockton-on-Tees. This is a town […]

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At the KFSR annual meeting

Nancy Phillips reports from the KFSR international annual meeting in Berlin on 25-27 August… The annual meeting of our German comrades, Kämpfer und Freunde der Spanischen Republik 1936-1939 (KFSR) included guests from Spain, France, Italy, Ireland and the United States.  The subject of the meeting was the XII International Brigade, which was formed in Albacete […]

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Our 2023 annual commemoration

Here is a slideshow of photos taken by Andrew Wiard at the IBMT's annual commemoration on Saturday 1 July at the International Brigade memorial in Jubilee Gardens on London’s South Bank. This year's guest speakers included Nancy Wallach, daughter of Lincoln Brigader Hy Wallach and board member of the New York-based Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives […]

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A memorial fit for Stockton’s heroes

Tony Fox writes… Throughout the world there are many memorials to the International Brigades. Yet, until now, there has been no public memorial to the International Brigades on Teesside. Thanks to John Christie this omission is now remedied. It was back in April 2018 after the first performance of ‘The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff’ by […]

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Joe Mulheron: a tribute

Lynda Walker of the Belfast-based International Brigade Commemoration Committee writes… It is with great sadness that we heard of Joe Mulheron’s death on 9 May. Joe was born in Belfast and lived in the New Lodge, but he made his home in Derry. He was a political activist for civil rights and many other causes.  […]

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Remembering Bill Alexander

In August 2021 the Sandhurst Trust published, via their Facebook page, a celebration of Bill Alexander (1910-2000), who served as a commander of the British Battalion and a Sandhurst alumnus. The IBMT acknowledges the post as a welcome surprise as the International Brigades and their service in Spain are virtually never recognised by the armed […]

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Unveiling of memorial to Basque refugees included tribute to Southampton Brigaders

On Saturday 22 October a memorial plaque was unveiled at Southampton’s Town Quay Park to mark the 85th anniversary of the successful evacuation, organised by ordinary people, of almost 4,000 Basque refugees to Britain. The event was attended by Josephina Stubbs, aged 95, one of the Basque children who had arrived in Southampton on 21 […]

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Stockton unveils memorial to local Brigaders

On 16 September, a memorial and plaque commemorating the eight International Brigaders from Stockton-on-Tees was unveiled in Wasps Nests Yard, Stockton. It was the result of a successful fundraising campaign led by local publican and IBMT member John Christie, who offered for the memorial to be placed adjacent to the beer garden of his establishment, […]

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Map of memorials

An up-to-date, interactive map of all International Brigade and Spanish Civil War memorials in Britain and Ireland is available via Google Maps. It is made with Google My Maps and based on an original map produced by Stichting Spanje 1936-1938, the Dutch International Brigades memorial association. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 […]

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Leslie Ireland

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Friend of the IBMT mug

Two thousand five hundred volunteers from Britain and Ireland joined the legendary International Brigades to fight fascism in the Spanish Civil War. This mug bears the emblem they wore with pride. Made from ceramic and produced by Red Molotov for the IBMT.

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Events search results

Minutes of the 2023 Annual General Meeting

The 'extraordinary' men from Teesside who went to Spain

At the KFSR annual meeting

Our 2023 annual commemoration

A memorial fit for Stockton’s heroes

Joe Mulheron: a tribute

Remembering Bill Alexander

Unveiling of memorial to Basque refugees included tribute to Southampton Brigaders

Stockton unveils memorial to local Brigaders

Map of memorials

Leslie Ireland

Friend of the IBMT mug

1 2 3 4 … 10
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