Cecil Gerahty

Last updated • 1 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Cecil Echlin Gerahty (1888 – 13 May 1938) [1] was an English journalist for the Daily Mail . [2]

Born in Hampton Wick in 1888, [3] his parents were George Marsh and his wife Laura. [4] His younger brothers were the author Digby George Gerahty and the actor Leslie Marsh Gerahty.

From 31 August 1915, [2] Gerahty served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, with the rank of lieutenant and in 1919 he was mentioned in despatches for his services in action against enemy submarines off Gibraltar. [5] [6]

After the war, between 1924 and 1936, he sailed from the UK to Tangier, Morocco, on eleven occasions, and also to Gibraltar in 1937. [2] His occupation was recorded as Shipping Agent and then later in 1931 as journalist. In 1925 he was accompanied by Irene Winifred Gerahty (aged 35) and Esmond Echlin Gerahty (aged 1). [7] His address was given as 27 Cresswell Road, Twickenham and later 12 St James Square, London. Esmond was attending Marlborough House School, Reading, in 1933. [8]

In 1937 he gave a talk on the BBC on "My Friends the Moors". [9]

He was author of The Road to Madrid about the rise of General Franco and the Spanish Civil War. [10] [11] The Daily Mail was staunchly pro-Franco and Gerahty was a key apologist for the Nationalists in their attempt to refute the bombing of Guernica. He travelled extensively around Nationalist Spain and made a shortwave propaganda broadcast on behalf of the Nationalists. He also published documents, later shown to be forgeries, alleging that radical insurrections were being planned at the time that the army revolted. [12] [13]

He died on 13 May 1938 at University College Hospital. [14] His wife Irene died 1971 in Eastbourne. [15]

Publications

Gerahty, Cecil. (1937). The Road to Madrid, London: Hutchinson

William Foss, Cecil Gerahty. (1938). The Spanish Arena, London: Right Book Club

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Brigades</span> Paramilitary supporting the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War

The International Brigades were soldiers set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed for two years, from 1936 until 1938. It is estimated that during the entire war, between 40,000 and 59,000 members served in the International Brigades, including some 10,000 who died in combat. Beyond the Spanish Civil War, "International Brigades" is also sometimes used interchangeably with the term foreign legion in reference to military units comprising foreigners who volunteer to fight in the military of another state, often in times of war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Condor Legion</span> German military unit assisting Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39)

The Condor Legion was a unit of military personnel from the air force and army of Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht which served with the Nationalist faction during the Spanish Civil War. The legion developed methods of strategic bombing that were used widely during the Second World War. The bombing of Guernica was the Condor Legion's most infamous operation. Hugo Sperrle commanded the unit's aircraft formations, and Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma commanded the ground element.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1936:

The Battle of Málaga was the culmination of an offensive in early 1937 by the combined Nationalist and Italian forces, with air and naval support from Nazi Germany, to eliminate Republican control of the province of Málaga during the Spanish Civil War. The participation of Moroccan regulars and Italian tanks from the recently arrived Corpo Truppe Volontarie resulted in a complete rout of the Spanish Republican Army and the capitulation of Málaga in less than a week.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Madrid</span> Part of the Spanish Civil War

The Siege of Madrid was a two-and-a-half-year siege of the Republican-controlled Spanish capital city of Madrid by the Nationalist armies, under General Francisco Franco, during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). The city, besieged from October 1936, fell to the Nationalist armies on 28 March 1939. The Battle of Madrid in November 1936 saw the most intense fighting in and around the city when the Nationalists made their most determined attempt to take the Republican capital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish Civil War</span> 1936–1939 civil war in Spain

The Spanish Civil War was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republicans and the Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the left-leaning Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic, and consisted of various socialist, communist, separatist, anarchist, and republican parties, some of which had opposed the government in the pre-war period. The opposing Nationalists were an alliance of Falangists, monarchists, conservatives, and traditionalists led by a military junta among whom General Francisco Franco quickly achieved a preponderant role. Due to the international political climate at the time, the war had many facets and was variously viewed as class struggle, a religious struggle, a struggle between dictatorship and republican democracy, between revolution and counterrevolution, and between fascism and communism. According to Claude Bowers, U.S. ambassador to Spain during the war, it was the "dress rehearsal" for World War II. The Nationalists won the war, which ended in early 1939, and ruled Spain until Franco's death in November 1975.

Digby George Gerahty, who wrote mostly under the pen-names of Robert Standish and Stephen Lister, was an English novelist and short story writer most productive during the 1940s and 1950s. He was also a featured contributor to the Saturday Evening Post. His novels include Elephant Walk, which was later made into a film starring Elizabeth Taylor. In the semi-autobiographical Marise (1950), Gerahty claimed that he and two publicist colleagues had covertly "invented" the Loch Ness Monster in 1933 as part of a contract to improve business for local hotels; he repeated his claim to Henry Bauer, a researcher, in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Gales</span> English painter

Henry Gales (1834–1897) was an English painter, most well known for his portrait of the 1867 Derby Cabinet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cecil Bebb</span>

Captain Cecil William Henry Bebb was a British commercial pilot and later airline executive, notable for flying General Francisco Franco from the Canary Islands to Spanish Morocco in 1936, a journey which was to trigger the onset of the Spanish Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Pollard (intelligence officer)</span> British intelligence officer and author

Major Hugh Bertie Campbell Pollard was an author, journalist, adventurer, firearms expert, and a British SOE officer. He is chiefly known for his intelligence work during the Irish War of Independence and for the events of July 1936, when he and Cecil Bebb flew General Francisco Franco from the Canary Islands to Morocco, thereby helping to trigger the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. He served his country in both World Wars and was the author of many published works on weaponry, in particular on sporting firearms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garry Marsh</span> English actor (1902–1981)

Garry Marsh was an English stage and film actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vernon Haggard</span> Royal Navy admiral (1874–1960)

Admiral Sir Vernon Harry Stuart Haggard, KCB, CMG was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, America and West Indies Station. His career in the Royal Navy spanned forty-four years, from his entry as a youth in 1888 to his promotion to admiral in 1932.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German involvement in the Spanish Civil War</span> German involvement in the spanish civil war

German involvement in the Spanish Civil War commenced with the outbreak of war in July 1936, with Adolf Hitler immediately sending in air and armored units to assist General Francisco Franco and his Nationalist forces. In opposition, the Soviet Union sent in smaller forces equipped with more advanced equipment to assist the Republican government, while Britain and France and two dozen other countries set up an embargo on any munitions or soldiers into Spain. Nazi Germany also signed the embargo, but simply ignored it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Convoy de la Victoria</span> Spanish naval battle during the Spanish Civil War

The Convoy de la Victoria was a Spanish naval battle on 5 August 1936 in the Strait of Gibraltar during the Spanish Civil War, between the escort of a Nationalist convoy and the Republican Navy destroyer Alcalá Galiano.

The First Battle of the Corunna Road took place between 29 November and 3 December 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. The Nationalists tried to isolate Madrid from the west, cutting the Corunna Road, but the Republican army repelled the attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney March</span> English sculptor

Sydney March (1876–1968) was an English sculptor. His primary focus was portrait busts and other sculptures of British royalty and contemporary figures, as well as war memorials. The second-born of eight artists in his family, he and his siblings completed the National War Memorial of Canada after the death of their brother Vernon March in 1930, who had created the winning design. It is the site in Ottawa of annual Remembrance Day ceremonies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Livesey Hall War Memorial</span> War memorial in Sydenham, London

The Livesey Hall War Memorial, in Lewisham, Greater London, commemorates the fallen of World War I and World War II who had been employed by the South Suburban Gas Company of London. It is also a tribute to those employees who served in the wars. The monument was designed and executed by the British sculptor Sydney March, of the March family of artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish Republican Navy</span> Military unit

The Spanish Republican Navy was the naval arm of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939.

Reginald Edward Vaughan OBE FRIC was a British botanist who lived and worked in Mauritius from 1923.

References

  1. ↑ General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: 1b; Page: 19. Apr 1938 Pancras, London, England. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916–2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com.
  2. 1 2 3 Sell, Jonathan P. A. (2018). "Cecil Gerahty's The Road to Madrid: An Anglo-Irish Falstaff in Spain's Theatre of War". ES Review. Spanish Journal of English Studies. 39 (39): 11–28. doi: 10.24197/ersjes.39.2018.11-28 .
  3. ↑ England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Registration Year 1888, Registration Quarter Apr-May-Jun, Registration district Kingston, Surrey. Volume 2a, Page 357. FreeBMD
  4. ↑ Baptism Date 14 July 1888, Hampton Wick St John the Baptist, Richmond Upon Thames, England. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: RO/068/001. Ancestry.com.
  5. ↑ "Name Gerahty, Cecil Echlin". National Archives. Archived from the original on 7 June 2021.
  6. ↑ "HONOURS FOR SERVICES IN ACTION WITH ENEMY SUBMARINES". The London Gazette. Supplement:31236: 3591. 14 March 1919.
  7. ↑ Ancestry.com. UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890–1960 [database on-line]. Departure Date 22 September 1925, Port of Departure England, Southampton. Destination Port Tangier, Morocco. Ship Name Slamat
  8. ↑ Ancestry.com. UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890–1960 [database on-line]. Departure Date 15 December 1933, Port of Departure England, Southampton. Destination Port Tangier, Morocco. Ship Name Slamat.
  9. ↑ "Listings". Genome. 23 August 1937. Archived from the original on 17 October 2014.
  10. ↑ "Hutchinson". The Times . 25 June 1937. p. 10 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  11. ↑ "A Journalist In Spain". Times. 29 June 1937. p. 21.
  12. ↑ Deacon, David (2008). British news media and the Spanish Civil War:tomorrow may be too late. Loughborough University Institutional Repository: Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
  13. ↑ McGarry, F (2002). "Irish newspapers and the Spanish Civil War". Irish Historical Studies. 33 (129): 68–90. doi:10.1017/S0021121400015510. S2CID   159331813 – via Cambridge University Press.
  14. ↑ Probate 1938
  15. ↑ England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England. Civil Registration Death Index, 1916–2007. Apr 1971, Registration District:Eastbourne, Sussex. Volume:5h, Page:626


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.