International Brigade Memorial Trust
The annual Len Crome memorial lectures and conferences are held in memory of Dr Len Crome.
Len Crome went to Spain with the Scottish Ambulance Unit in December 1936, before joining the International Brigades in March 1937. He eventually became the Chief Medical Officer for the Spanish Republic's 35th Division, a role he performed with great competance and imagination. By placing mobile hospitals as near to the front as possible, Len probably provided his patients with better treatment than they would have received in famous London teaching hospitals. A full obituary for Len Crome, originally published in the Independent, can be found here.
From 2002 to 2012, the lectures were given by leading historians in their fields at London's Imperial War Museum. The initial nine are available in a collected volume, Looking Back at the Spanish Civil War, published by Lawrence & Wishart in 2010 (edited by Jim Jump).
| 2002 | Angela Jackson | Beyond the Battlefield: A cave Hospital in the Spanish Civil War |
| 2003 | Helen Graham | The Return of Republican Memory |
| 2004 | Richard Baxell | Writer of Fighter? Laurie Lee and the International Brigades |
| 2005 | Paul Preston | The Crimes of Franco |
| 2006 | Enrique Moradiellos | Albion’s Perfidy: The British Government and the Spanish Civil War |
| 2007 | Julián Casanova | The Spanish Civil War: History and Memory |
| 2008 | Ángel Viñas | September 1936: Stalin’s Decision to Support the Spanish Republic |
| 2009 | Francisco J Romero Salvadó | Killing the Dream: The Spanish Labyrinth Revisited, 1898-1939 |
| 2010 | Richard Baxell | Three Months in Spain: The British Battalion at Madrigueras and Jarama from January to March 1937 |
| 2011 | Linda Palfreeman | ¡Salud! The British Contribution to the Republican Medical Service during the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 |
| 2012 | Peter Carroll | From Guernica to Human Rights: The Spanish Civil War in the 21st Century |
In 2013 the memorial event took on a new format in a new home: the Manchester Conference Centre for five years. The invidual lectures were replaced by a day of talks and discussions, but still involving contributions by leading academics from around the world. In 2018 the conference was held in Bristol’s Colston Hall and in 2019 the venue was Kellogg College, Oxford. There was no conference in 2020 because of the covid-19 pandemic. The 2021 event was held online.
| 2013 | 'Homage to Catalonia' 75 years on Richard Baxell: George Orwell and the British Battalion; Paul Preston*: George Orwell and the Spanish Civil War; Tom Buchanan: 'Homage to Catalonia': its reception and impact; Chris Hall: Not Just Orwell: the Independent Labour Party Volunteers * Paul Preston was unwell, but his paper was delivered by IBMT Secretary Jim Jump |
| 2014 | Taking Sides: Artists and Writers on the Spanish Civil War Carl-Henrik Bjerstrom: Republican Education and the Arts; Carmen Herrero: Representation of the International Brigades in Spanish Cinema; Jane Rogoyska: Gerda Taro and Robert Capa: Photographing War; Valentine Cunningham: Aestheticising Tragedy |
| 2015 | Guernica: the destruction of a town and the creation of a masterpiece Nick Rankin: Making History: George L Steer and the Tree of Gernika; Gijs van Hensbergen: The Birth of Guernica; Xabier Irujo: The Terror Bombing of Guernica; Manuel Moreno: The Basque Children and the Aid to Spain Movement |
| 2016 | Women and the Spanish Civil War Paul Preston: Pasionaria of steel: the life of Dolores Ibárruri; Helen Graham: Wars of development: Margaret Michaelis’ images of 1930s Barcelona; Sylvia Martin: Aileen Palmer and the British Medical Unit; Linda Palfreeman: Fernanda Jacobsen: Samaritan or spy? |
| 2017 | Liberty's Volunteers: the timeless legacy of the Spanish Civil War Richard Baxell: Britons in Spain: Internationalism & National Identity in the International Brgades; Giles Tremlett: The Political Legacy of Francoism |
| 2018 | Aid Spain: the molbilisation of support in Britain during the Spanish Civil War Emily Mason: No Faith In Fascism: The Christian Left and the Aid Spain Movement; Tom Buchanan: Looking Back at Jim Fyrth’s 'The Signal Was Spain' |
| 2019 | Football and the Spanish Civil War Daniel Gray, Sid Lowe |
| 2021 | Was the Spanish Republic worth dying for? Helen Graham Paul Preston Richard Baxell (chair) |
| 2022 | Scotland and the Spanish Civil War Fraser Raeburn, Máximo Molina, Mike Arnott |
In 2023 the IBMT decided to redesignate the event as an online Len Crome Memorial Conversation.
2023: Spain in the European civil war: a discussion between Helen Graham, Paul Preston and Richard Baxell.
