Between 1996 and 2016, IBMT archivist Jim Carmody and I worked on putting together an annotated list of all the ‘British’ and Irish volunteers for the Republic in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. The list drew upon a wide range of sources held in Britain, Spain and Russia, though principally those held in the International Brigade Archive in the Marx Memorial Library in London (IBA) and the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History in Moscow (RGASPI).

The searchable list gives a brief summary for each of the 2333 individuals held within our records. In time more information on each volunteer will be placed online. In the meantime, please contact me if you are looking for further details on a particular individual.

N.B. The records include assessments of the volunteers made by their political superiors in the latter part of the war in Spain. Many are derogatory, referring to desertion, drunkenness and indiscipline, but should be taken with a pinch of salt. They were written for internal use primarily as an assessment as suitability for future membership of the Communist Party at home. Many volunteers with outstanding military records in Spain – including senior ranking officers – nevertheless received extremely critical assessments.

The list is now hosted on the International Brigade Memorial Trust’s website.