| Leah Manning |
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| Square in Bilbao is named after Leah Manning |
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| Leah Manning |
| Leah Manning at her desk. She devoted a great deal of time to the Basque children, and actually helped organise the evacuation from Bilbao. She came with the Children on the SS Habana. |
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| This photograph was taken in Bilbao. It shows the children being medically examined prior to the evacuation. Leah Manning is in the background looking on, and we think, the doctor, examining the little girl is Dr. Audrey Russell. |
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| Horror-striken |
| I had arrived in Bilbao on April 24 and on the next day had gone to Mass with the Foreign Secretary and his family, spending the rest of the day in his office. The morning of the 26th I spent quietly at the office of Asistencia Social, discussing in outline the plans for evacuation... At last the night of departure arrived. The quay was a thick, black mass of parents, defying bombs as the children, some happy and excited, some in tears, were taken aboard in orderly companies. Head to tail the senoritas laid out our precious cargo - on the bulkheads, in the swimming pool, in the state rooms and along the alley ways, for all the world like the little sardinas about which they were always singing; and out there, in the grey waters, two ships of the British Navy stood by to guard our going. I don't know if sea-sickness can be brought on by mass hysteria; if so, that was what my children suffered from. For two dreadful days and nights Richard, Audrey (the two doctors Richard Ellis and Audrey Russell-editor) and I slipped and slithered from one pool of diarrhoea and vomit to another, giving drinks of water and assuring them it wasn't the fascists who had stirred up the troubled waters against them. We reached Southampton Water on a bright Sunday morning. Miraculously the senoritas had cleaned up the children and changed their clothes... From Basque Children for England by Leah Manning in the book 'With the Rearguard'. |
| Leah Manning of the Spanish Medical Aid and Edith Pye of the Society of Friends, were sent by the National Joint Committee for Spanish Relief in London, to Nilbao in April 1937 to arrange for the evacuation of 4,000 Basque children to England. Doctors Audrey Russell and Richard Ellis went to examine the children who were chosen. |
On Friday 13 November 2002 the Mayor of Bilbao; Inaki Azkuna, with Bene Gonzalez, representing the Asociacion Jubilados Evacuados de la Guerra Civil and Andrew Dismore, M.P. on behalf of the Speaker of Parliment dedicating a Square in the name of LEAH MANNING. The Square was named: PLAZA DE MRS. LEAH MANNING. The Square is in the Begona district of Bilbao and the ceremony was followed by a Mass to remember those Basque evacuee children, no longer with us, at the Basilica of Begona. After the Mass, Lunch was prepared at the Miramar Restaurant in Archanda. Representatives from various Spanish groups were in attendance, including Manuel Moreno, representing the: Basque Children of '37 Association : UK |
| The Leah Manning Campaign |
| A campaign has been finally launched to achieve full recognition of Leah Manning and the many others who contributed to the successful evacuation and stay in Britain of the Basque children The aim is to have a PLAQUE placed in the most appropriate location. We would like your thoughts on this matter, and, most importantly, your support. We will be collecting names and addresses in support of this campaign, so please let us have your comments. |
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| This was the permit given to Leah Manning by the Basque government, giving her the right to carry arms, whilst in Spain 1937. |
| This is a group photograph of Basque children who were housed in Piercing Hill, Theydon Bois, near Harlow. Leah Manning is seated, right of middle, with a child on her right knee. |
I am often asked, "What happened to your Basque children?" When the war broke out, many parents claimed them back, a natural reaction now that they were under fire again. Only the older ones who knew that a fascist jail awaited them refused to go. Many of the senoritas went to Mexico, but the boys stayed in England, making their contribu- tion to our war effort, some in factories, some in the Merchant Navy. In many cases they married English girls and now have grown-up families. I often hear from them and as I look through the long lists of names--'Expedicion de ninos Inglaterra', Aurora, Pilar, Encarnacion, Fidel, Rafael--they sound like a peal of bells in my memory and I see again the merry brown faces and flying curls as they tear about the camp. Then I take out, and read once more, the letter which never fails to move me. North Stoneham Camp Eastleigh, Hants. Dear Sirs,* The undersigned on behalf of orphaned children of militiamen with to express that we are the sons and daughters of poor workers who at the beginning of the uprising of the traitor 'generals' rose against them and thus found their death. We have been given shelter by a second mother, this second mother we do not know how to thank for her attentions and kindnesses shown to us; this all the more so since we are here only temporarily so that when we are installed permanently, we just cannot imagine how wonderful it will be. For all this to our second mother and to the committee we give our most grateful thanks. Signature of our senorita [teachers] and ourselves. Senorita ; Segura (Esperanza Campedre), Antonio Gallego, Jose Gallego, Victoria Gallego, Geneveva Gallego, Maria Luise Gallego, Jose Enrique Murquis, Carmen Margalet, Eugenia Margalet, Begonis Margalet, Primitive Rojas, Rufino Tomas, Gerardo Tomas, Benito Tomas, Alverez Martinez, Jose Maria Delia, Domingo Arana, Maria Teresa Careros, Jose Luis Cisneros, Esperanzo Margalet, Antonio Montero, Amparo Moreno, Carmen Moreno, Salome Moreno, Maria Luise Martinez, Carmen Belon, Ascension Belon, Josefa Montero, Josefa Maria Montero, Amelia Montero. Extract from Leah Manning's autobiography 'A Life For Education', 1970. |
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| Inaugurada la plaza Leah Manning en Bilbao |
| El alcalde de Bilbao, Inaki Azkuna, inauguro ayer en el barrio de Txurdinaga la plaza Leah Manning, denominada asi en honor a la parlamentaria laborista britanica que posibilito la evacuacion de casi 3.900 ninos, 95 anderenos, 120 auxiliares y dos medicos desde Euskadi a Inglaterra durante la Guerra Civil espanola. Manning nunca volvio a Bilbao tras la guerra. Fallecio en 1977. Article printed in the EL PAIS, Saturday 14 December 2002. A piece of the ribbon given to the BCof'37A:UK. |
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| "Many times after, I tried to get a visa, but it was always refused..." Leah Manning from her autobiography A LIFE FOR EDUCATION 1970. |
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