Remember veterans of the 'intellectuals' war'

THERE are many memorials across Britain dedicated to men who fought in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 to 1939.

- Fred Hughes - Historian and author

There are in fact 187 sites listed on the International Brigade Memorial Trust website. Some towns and cities have more than one tribute - Belfast has most with 12, and Liverpool has five.

By proportion to population, England has less than the combined three other British kingdoms, including the Irish Republic, where Dublin has nine.

There's one in Stoke Town Hall, a modest ceramic plaque remembering the volunteers from Stoke-on-Trent who fought with the International Brigades. Very little has been recorded and few details are known of the five names listed on the plaque. Two are said to have been killed in battle. The five are Harry Bosley, John Purley, Leonard Onican, J Callan, and R Grocott. There is also a memorial in the Potteries Museum. A life-size clenched fist made in bronze, the symbol of the International Brigades, and associated with the late local social welfare activist Dave Goodman, himself a Spanish Civil War veteran.