Boars Hill is a hamlet 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Oxford, straddling the boundary between the civil parishes of Sunningwell and Wootton. It consists of about 360 dwellings spread over an area of nearly two square miles as shown on this map from the long established Boars Hill Association. Historically, it was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.
Headington Hill is a hill in the east of Oxford, England, in the suburb of Headington. The Headington Road goes up the hill leading out of the city. There are good views of the spires of Oxford from the hill, especially from the top of South Park.
Headington Road is an arterial road in the east of Oxford, England. The road connects the junction of St Clements and Marston Road with the suburb of Headington, up Headington Hill. When it reaches the Headley Way junction, it becomes London Road, as the Boundary Brook runs under the road at this point.
South Park is a park on Headington Hill in east Oxford, England. It is the largest park within Oxford city limits. A good view of the city centre with its historic spires and towers of Oxford University can be obtained at the park's highest point, a favourite location for photographers.
(Alexander) Gavin Henderson, 2nd Baron Faringdon was a British Labour politician and pacifist. He is most known for his charity work, his heavy financial support of medical aid programmes, and for housing 40 child refugees fleeing Hitler-backed fascist forces during the Spanish Civil War.
Laurence Henderson Bradshaw was an English sculptor, printmaker, and artist. Bradshaw was a life-long socialist and joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) in the 1930s, remaining a member for the rest of his life. He is most famous for being the sculptor who created the bust of Karl Marx for the Tomb of Karl Marx in Highgate Cemetery.
William Alexander was a leading activist within the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), most known for commanding the British Battalion of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. During World War II he underwent a commissioning course at Sandhurst military academy, graduating top of his year. He then served in Germany, Italy and Northern Africa, during which he was promoted to the rank of captain in the Reconnaissance Corps. Later in life he became an author, the vice-chairman of the International Brigade Association, and the president of London's Marx Memorial Library. Alexander spent the remainder of his life promoting Marxism–Leninism, and was a member of the CPGB until the party was dissolved in 1991.
Thora Silverthorne, also known as "Red Silverthorne", was a British Communist, nurse and healthcare activist. She worked as a nanny for MP Somerville Hastings in her youth. She is most known for her service to the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, and for her roles in helping to found both Britain's National Health Service (NHS), and co-founding Britain's first union for rank and file nurses.
Alexander Wheeler Wainman (1913-1989) was a British photographer, Quaker, and Slavonic Scholar at the University of British Columbia. He is most known for his work as a frontline medical volunteer for the Republican government and anti-fascist forces during the Spanish Civil War, and for the large collection of photographs he took during the war, which was published posthumously.
The Oxford Spanish Civil War memorial is a monument in Oxford dedicated to the 31 known local residents who fought on the losing side of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) against Nationalist forces. Erected and unveiled in 2017, the memorial is located close to South Park, near the base of Headington Hill by the junction of Headington Road and Morrell Avenue. The memorial is dedicated to all the volunteers with links to Oxfordshire who supported the Republicans and inscribed onto the front are the names of the six volunteers in the International Brigades who were killed during the war.
Charles William Duncan Hutchison was a British-Ghanaian anti-fascist, soldier, and ambulance driver most famous for being the only Black-British member of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. In Spain he was one of the youngest, one of the longest serving, and one of the first English-speaking volunteers. Citing his experiences as a man of colour and his childhood spent in an orphanage, Hutchison was an ardent anti-fascist and was involved in helping organise anti-fascist activists that took part in the Battle of Cable Street. Immediately joining the British military following Britain's declaration of war against Nazi Germany, Hutchison served the British Army between 1939 and 1946. During this time, he took part in the Dunkirk evacuation, the Italian campaign, North African campaign, and the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Hutchison spent almost 10 years engaged in battles against various fascist forces throughout Europe, before starting a family in 1947 and living the rest of his life quietly in South England. Despite his achievements, the details of his life were not fully revealed to historians until 2019, following a history project kickstarted by London school children.
Clem Beckett was a British communist, trade union leader, champion speedway rider, and pioneer of Motorcycle speedway sports. He was the winner of the Golden Helmet at Owlerton Stadium, and was famous throughout Europe for his motorsport stunts. In response to the numerous deaths of young speedway racers, Beckett founded the Dirt Track Riders' Association, a trade union catering to speedway racers. In 1936 he became one of the first British volunteers to join the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. He was killed at the age of 31 while manning a machine gun, sacrificing himself to cover the retreat of fellow British volunteers during the Battle of Jarama.
Alf Salisbury was a British communist, Jewish activist, trade union leader, and anti-fascist. During the 1930s he smuggled monetary support from British communists to German communists to help resist the Nazis. Salisbury was present at many key events in the history of anti-fascism, including the Battle of Cable Street, and was also a member of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). In his later life, Alf Salisbury led a successful campaign to convince the BBC and other British news outlets to stop using the term "Mongols" to refer to people with Down Syndrome. For this work he was awarded with special commondations from the Mongolian embassy and a stay in a Mongolian health spa. He was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), before becoming a founding member of its continuation, the Communist Party of Britain (CPB).
Michael John Carritt was a British communist revolutionary, spy, university lecturer, and a supporter of Indian independence. After graduating from Oxford University, Carritt joined the British Empire's Indian Civil Service. While working for the Civil Service, Carritt became a communist after witnessing the brutality of the British colonial occupation of India. Carritt became a double-agent for the Communist Party of India (CPI), secretly supplying them with information to help them resist British colonialism. After returning from India, he helped the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) develop their policies concerning Indian independence, and he taught philosophy for the Workers Education Association in Brighton, and later for Oxford University and the University of Sussex.
Anthony Carritt (1914–1937) was a British left-wing activist and a member of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. He and his brother Noel Carritt were ambulance drivers at the Battle of Brunete, and the two brothers fought against Spanish fascists backed by both Hitler and Mussolini. Anthony Carritt was assumed to have been killed in an airstrike after he went missing during the Battle of Brunete and was never found despite his brother spending days searching for him.
The Battle of Carfax (1936) was a violent skirmish in the city of Oxford between the British Union of Fascists (BUF) and local anti-fascists, trade unionists, and supporters of the Labour Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain. The battle took place inside Oxford's Carfax Assembly Rooms, a once popular meeting hall owned by Oxford City Council which was used for public events and located on Cornmarket Street.
Noel Carritt (1910–1992) was a British communist activist, teacher, and volunteer for the International Brigades. He was born into the Carritt family, known for their Marxist and anti-fascist politics which heavily influenced him. As a young man, he saved German Jewish activist Liesel Carritt from being deported to Nazi Germany by agreeing to enter into a marriage of convenience.
Liesel Carritt was a German teacher, translator, refugee, and later a communist revolutionary who fought against fascism alongside the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. As a teenager, Liesel and her German-Jewish family fled the Nazis and came to Oxford, England, where local people rescued them by providing them with the necessary financial security to ensure that the British government would not deport them back into the hands of the Nazis. Her father was the former senior editor of Weimar Germany's main liberal newspaper, the Frankfurter Zeitung.
Bill Carritt (1908–1999) was a British communist activist known for his anti-racist and anti-fascist activities. He belonged to the Oxford based Carritt family, known for their dedication to Marxism, anti-fascist politics, and academic achievements. He travelled the United States and campaigned for the Scottsboro Boys. After a trip to the Pyrenees, he helped create the British Youth Foodship Committee which helped collect food and clothing for republican forces during the Spanish Civil War. During the war in Spain his brother Anthony Carritt was killed and his brother Noel Carritt was injured. While serving as a Secretary of the League of Nations Youth, he broke into a secret trial in Nazi Germany to protest against members of the Bündische Jugend being imprisoned for years without charges.
No Other Way: Oxfordshire and the Spanish Civil War 1936-39 is a collection of short biographies detailing the lives of people from Oxfordshire, England, who fought against fascism during the Spanish Civil War. This book was the first ever attempt by historians to identify all the known volunteers with links to Oxfordshire who fought in the war, and was created through a collaboration between local Oxford historians and the International Brigade Memorial Trust (IBMT). The title "No Other Way" is a reference to a quote by Cecil Day-Lewis.
