Thora
Silverthorne was
born in Wales. She trained as a nurse at the Radcliffe
Infirmary in Oxford. As a student she joined
the Communist Party and while at Hammersmith
Hospital was an active trade unionist.
In August 1936
Silverthorne joined the British medical unit that was supporting the
International
Brigades during
the Spanish Civil
War. Over the next few months she served in Aragón.
Silverthorne eventually married Kenneth Sinclair-Loutit, the unit's
administrator.
(1)
Thora Silverthorne, letter (25th November 1936)
We
are very busy - the attack on Huesca has actually begun - and will
be for some time I'm afraid. We've been working hard for the last
few days and doing very good work. We've been doing major operations
and working 14 hour days.
A nurse is just going
back to England and taking this with her to post in London so it will
get through in a few days. There's very little to write about. We
live a very enclosed life; our wireless has been taken away: Papers
from England don't come frequently and we are altogether cut off.
The news re Germany's
and Italy's support for Franco, Russia's decisive move, are all very
frightening. We are heading undoubtedly for world war. I hope I get
home first!
(2)
Thora Silverthorne, letter
(9th March 1936)
Did
you know that Comrade Ball of Reading (son of the chemist Dad was
friendly with) was killed on this front.! He'd behaved very well:
the commandant praised him highly. Said he was due for promotion for
his splendid behaviour. Please give my very sincere sympathy to Comrade
Ball's father; tell him his son died with many other fine fellows
but not in vain. The English comrades did much towards keeping our
front: they set a splendid example and greatly raised the
morale of the other battalions.
We have become accustomed
to air raids although they still worry me a great deal: I dread them.
The planes were over last night, dropped bombs but did no damage.
Considering the number of raids surprisingly little damage is done.
The swine deliberately attempt to bomb hospitals - it's inhuman. The
other day, an English nurse who works in a village some distance from
here came along to stay the night with us for a change. She was very
shocked. She'd had a nasty experience the day before. She was sitting
talking to a comrade when a bomb was dropped quite near them. She
was thrown off her chair and her companion was killed. Then she saw
a bunch of kiddies killed by another bomb. Its really awful but I
can assure you its absolutely true - the nurse told me all about it.
Poor dear, she was badly shaken up.
This war is just bloody
but if possible has made me even more violently anti-fascist. Their
methods, even for war, are horrible. I can imagine by this time Shon
is almost on the point of coming out. Please don't let him: I just
couldn't stand the strain of knowing he was in danger too. God, I'd
love to see you and talk to you. I miss you more and more. Do try
to write more frequently. I don't know when I'll get home.
Available from Amazon Books
(order below)
