A Tribute to Lillian Buckoke (née Urmston)

1914-1990

Blue Plaque unveiled on Thursday 6th March 2008 by Councillor Jackie Lane, Project Head of Heritage and Tourism

Introduction

This latest blue plaque (the 75th to be unveiled in Tameside) is a celebration of the life and achievements of Lillian Buckoke (née Urmston). The plaque is located at St Paul's Primary School, Huddersfield Road, Stalybridge, where Lillian attended as a pupil.

Early Life

Born 2nd June 1914, Lillian lived at Copley Street, Stalybridge with her mother and father, her two sisters Mary and Hannah and brother Harry. Lillian was a pupil of St Paul’s Church of England Primary School. She also attended Girl Guides at St Paul’s Church and became a Sunday school teacher there in later years.

When Lillian left school her first job was in Stalybridge Market as a trainee florist. She had always wanted to become a doctor but could never afford to take up a scholarship. At the age of 18, Lillian applied to Lake Hospital, Ashton now known as Tameside Hospital. She became a Trainee and qualified as a State Registered Nurse and a Midwife.

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

The Spanish Civil War was a complex conflict that had an impact far beyond the boundaries of Spain. The War began with a military coup in Spanish Morocco on 17th July 1936 and on the mainland on 18th July. Right-wing Army Generals rebelled against the democratically-elected government of the Second Republic and its social reforms. The rebels opposed measures aimed at undermining the power of the Catholic Church and the armed forces, and the concession of the regional autonomy to the Catalan and Basque regions.

Supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, the rebels under General Francisco Franco, faced dogged resistance from the Republican working class and peasantry and from anti-fascist volunteers from all over the world. The Republican war effort was undermined, in part divisions between those whose first aim was to win the War and those who wanted to make social revolution. Other historians cite the constant efforts of the Communist Party to take power from others as the major undermining factor. The Western democracies, including Britain, wanted no part in the War so the Republic turned to the Soviet Union for assistance

The War ended on 31st March 1939 with Franco's victory. It saw the establishment of a third pro-fascist power on France’s border and altered the European balance of power in favour of Germany’s Third Reich.

We owe an enormous debt to the hundreds of thousands of brave men and women who fought, suffered, died and lost loved ones in the cause of freedom, resisting the reactionary priest-ridden, gun and prison-backed Franco regime. They are the forgotten dead of generations to whom we owe a profound obligation of remembrance and duty of commemoration.

Time in Spain 

In 1936 Lillian applied to the Spanish Medical Aid Unit after reading how Government troops were short of doctors and nurses. In June 1937 Lillian left for the Spanish Medical Aid in London where she met up with Australian nurse, Dorothy Low. They travelled together through France to the Aragon front in Spain, where they rendered medical assistance to injured government troops and civilians.

Lillian was a member of the Medical Services attached to the 15th Army Corps, where for many months she never saw another English speaking person.

Whilst Lillian served in Spain with the International Brigade, she survived many near death experiences which she spoke of on her return home from Spain.

Returning Home

In September 1938, Lillian returned to England to raise funds for medical supplies and food for the wounded in Spain. She was sent with an ambulance, from which she addressed many groups in surrounding towns. Some were very sceptical, even when they saw the ambulance, but she had deliberately left it as it was; blood stained inside.

In response, the people of Stalybridge started the ‘Nurse Urmston Fund’ in support of the Spanish Medical Aid Unit. There were house to house collections and money was donated at various meetings; the fund itself raised approximately £700.

Before Lillian returned to Spain around 80 friends assembled in the Congregational School, Stalybridge to bid farewell to Nurse Urmston. Many of her friends accompanied her to Stalybridge station to give her a hearty send off.

'I went back to Spain in November. The nearer I got to Spain the more it broke my heart to think of eating so well back in England. The people at home had laden me up with carbolic, soaps, bandages, disinfectants even the local pharmacy and the manager of Boots Chemist, where I was known as “Our Lillian’’'

Blown into a Trench

During an interview with the local Reporter newspaper in 1938 Lillian said:

‘One of the worst ordeals I have had was when I was working as a battalion doctor up in the front line. It was early one morning last year, about 6.30am. We were having hasty washes in buckets by the side of a stream, when suddenly there came the old cry of ‘aviation’ (meaning bombing planes). Those nearest the trenches immediately sprang into them, those too far away had to just lie flat and wait. I was too far away from a trench and dropped flat. The planes dropped a few bombs and were going away without doing much damage, but they came back and circled. I had stood up again and was moving to a trench when they came back and dropped another load of bombs. I was blown into a trench and the side fell on me. I was unconscious when they dug me out, but except for one or two minor bumps and bruises I was not injured’.

Concentration Camp

Lillian was interned in a French camp in March 1939 with other medical staff. Below is an extract from the book ‘Voice of Women’;

One evening we received orders to go to France. Although sad at leaving our Spain, we all realised that this had to be and looked forward to a rapid reorganisation in France which would result in our going back to another sector of Spain to carry on the struggle against Fascist aggression. But we were soon disillusioned… we were led to believe that France had opened the frontiers to receive our soldier refugees and wounded, thus preventing a complete massacre. We expected sympathy and humane treatment. We had neither.

The vigilance of hundreds of armed guards made sure that all our people entering France were sent to the concentration camp. Ours was a stretch of sandy desert land, surrounded by the usual formidable barbed wire. Even the wounded men were  without treatment for about 6 days. One small spring supplied water for about 15,000 to 20,000 people. Food was not supplied until the fifth day… men attempting to dodge out to buy bread and send letters were treated brutally by the guards. Our comrades received bayonet wounds at the hands of these soldiers of the French Army. My friends turned to me and said ‘Would we be treated like this in England?’ ‘I wonder would they?’

Spanish soldiers told our men to return to Franco Spain and then they would get away from all this. Our soldiers felt deeply about this and called out to those men who were collected to be sent to Barcelona, deploring their conduct. Then the camp resounded with ‘Viva la Republica! Viva nuestra Independencia!’.

Post War

During the Second World War Lillian was with the British Army during the evacuation at Dunkirk. Later she served as a Nurse in Egypt, Syria, Sicily and Italy. She was badly injured by shell fire in Anzio, suffering spinal injuries from which she never fully recovered.

In later life she worked as a journalist for newspapers in Malaysia and wrote freelance for the Daily Express and Daily Mail. With her husband, John Buckoke, whom she married in June 1945 in Cairo Cathedral, she went to Kuala Lumpur to help the Chinese Indian survivors from the railways. Lillian returned to Spain several times to visit the areas where she had worked as a nurse.

Lillian passed away on the 17th October 1990 aged 76 years. Her husband arranged a military funeral which was held at St Margaret's Church, West Hoathly.

The International Brigade

The majority of British volunteers served with the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. They represented part of an extensive Aid For Spain Movement in Britain which was responsible for sending medical equipment, staff (A number of woman served with the Brigade as nursing staff), food and clothing to the Spanish people. The Brigade participated in major battles during the War and over 2,100 British volunteers fought in the 15th International Brigade in Spain.

The International Brigade Association still functions today with a Memorial Trust which aims;

‘To promote education, learning and knowledge concerning the historical legacy both of the men and woman who fought with the International Brigade against fascism, in support of the legally elected government of Spain and those who sustained their fight; to maintain contact with relatives and friends of the International Brigades and develop links with comparable organisations throughout Europe and the World.’

The International Brigade Memorial

The inscription on the Memorial reads:

‘In honour of over 2,100 men and women volunteers who left these shores to fight side by side with the Spanish people in the heroic struggle against fascism 1936-1939 Many were wounded and maimed 526 were killed, their example inspired the world’

‘Yet freedom! Yet thy banner, torn but flying, streams like the thunder-storm against the wind’

‘They went because their open eyes could see no other way’

Lillian Urmston (right) and friends at the unveiling of the International Brigade Memorial, Jubilee Gardens, London

Acknowledgements

• Soroptimist International of Ashton-under-Lyne (who nominated the plaque)
• Tameside Local History Forum
• Tameside Local Studies and Archives Centre
• The International Brigade Memorial Trust
• Working Class Movement Library, Salford
• St Paul's Primary School, Stalybridge
• St Paul's Church, Stalybridge
• The Imperial War Museum
• www.smith-family-tree.co.uk 
• www.roll-of-honour.com 
  

Contact Information
Send us a Message	Tameside Tourist Information Centre Tameside MBC Council Offices Wellington Road Ashton under Lyne Lancs OL6 6DL View local map
0161 343 4343