Lillian
Urmston - later Buckoke
Place of birth: Copley, Stalybridge
Year of birth: 2nd June 1915
Political organisation: SL
Occupation: State Registered Nurse
Date of arrival: June 1937
Date of death: 17th October 1990 • Sharpthorne, East Grinstead, Sussex, England
Comments: Was a SRN Staff Nurse at Ashton’s Lake Hospital when she went to Spain in June 1937. She had also been a volunteer nurse in the Territorial Army.
She served in the Medical Aid Units during the SCW, in hospitals in Aragon, Teruel, and Flix, and with the 15th Army Corp. Described by doctors as a good and brave nurse, and by Winnifred Bates as somewhat promiscuous. 'Her behaviour is vulgar and she is a discredit to the British Medical Aid here...I recommend her immediate repatriation.' Winifred Bates She was wounded at the Aragon Tunnel Hospital, and also served in a Cave Hospital at Teruel.
She stayed with the IB during the Big Retreat in Catalonia in late 1938, and was interned in France with around 15,000-20,000 others after the war. Later, back in the UK, she was active in the Spanish Aid Movement campaign to support the Spanish Refugees.
During the Second World War Lilian was an army nursing officer with the British Army. She was evacuated at Dunkirk. Later she served as a nurse in Egypt, Syria, Sicily, and Italy, where she was badly hurt by shell fire in Anzio. She suffered spinal injuries from which she never fully recovered. While she was in hospital she met her future husband. They were married in 1945.
After the war she worked as a journalist for several years. She then worked in Kuala Lumpur with her husband. They also helped prostitutes in Singapore to form a union.
Source: RGASPI 545/6/88/12 & 545/6/89/36 & 545/6/209/9.
https://spartacus-educational.com/Wurmston.htm
https://international-brigades.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/IBMT-2008_2.pdf
St. Pancras Gazette - 14 April 1939 p1.
Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough - 23 August 1939 p4.
Buckinghamshire Examiner - 9 October 1970 p16.
