Author Archive for Mark Derby

New Archive Traces New Zealand Volunteer in the IBs

December 29, 2018
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New Archive Traces New Zealand Volunteer in the IBs

An archival donation reveals new details about Griff Maclaurin, a charismatic New Zealander who left Cambridge, England, to serve as a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, where he fought alongside the poet John Cornford and died in the battle for Madrid.
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Doug Jolly: New Zealand Surgeon in Spain

July 1, 2018
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Doug Jolly: New Zealand Surgeon in Spain

Doug Jolly, a New Zealand-born surgeon who served with the Spanish Republican Army’s medical services during the civil war has been posthumously honored in his home town.
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A Pig Islander among the Mac-Paps

December 3, 2016
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A Pig Islander among the Mac-Paps

As a sergeant in the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, Alex Maclure firmly aligned himself with New Zealand volunteers in the International Brigades. In the above letter, published in the Communist Party of New Zealand’s Workers’ Weekly, he refers to himself as a ‘Pig Islander’, a term then applied to New Zealanders by other nationalities. Yet Alexander...
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