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Photocopy of a photograph of Leo McCloskey as a young boy.

Black and white studio portrait of Diarmuid [O’Sullivan] of the Irish Brigade taken in Cáceres and annotated in ink ‘To J.P.G. From Diarmuid. Cáceres 10/2/37’.

Sound recording of interview conducted by Robert Stradling with Bernie Boles, Cahir, county Tipperary, who recalls knowing William F. McGrath, Cork, who served as Sergeant in ‘B’ Company of Irish Brigade in Spain. Notes how McGrath had been working in Fords, county Cork, and attended meeting in Imperial Hotel in approximately August 1936, before being persuaded to go to Spain as an interpreter. Outlines journey to Spain via Lisbon, on board a German vessel, with group consisting of mainly cashiered army officers and policemen. Notes the red light district in Lisbon, stating ‘There was some... time in Lisbon to organise buses to Spain… he [McGrath] told me… it was almost time for the buses to go and several of the Irish fellas were missing… Willie had an idea where they were going because he had heard them talking on the boat about women… so he went towards what he understood to be the red light district… he went down to this house… and here were my brave Irishmen with madam’s ladies… and they were all in this sort of a saloon, and they were all drinking tea or coffee… a few of them [the ladies] had rosaries around their necks and Willie saw the rosaries and he said to the lads… “What are they doing with your rosaries, “Well”, they said, “we hadn’t any money… and that’s all we could give them, and they were quite happy to take them”’. Also notes the horrendous condition of the barracks at Badajoz, upon the arrival of the Irish Brigadiers, due to a massacre that had previously occurred there. Also refers to drinking habits of the Irishmen and the lack of uniforms, stating ‘they were given from Germany… these uniforms… and they were beautiful material, but they were completely wrong in size for the lads because they were all small fellas… so Willie had to go around the town… it could have been Badajoz, to get the seamstresses to make up the uniforms’. In addition, notes that the men never got into battle although two got shot, and meeting ‘Franco’s Moors’. Also makes reference to letter from Welsh landowner, Evan Morgan, Lord Tredegar, to Louis [La Fleur], as he made his way to the Canary Islands (see P13/1/1/12/1).

Sound recording of an interview conducted by Robert Stradling with Tony Hyde, from Midleton, Cork, younger brother of Lieutenant Tom Hyde, who served in ‘A’ Company of Irish Brigade in Spain. Records that Tom was an idealist and his Christian faith motivated him to go to Spain at age of around thirty-seven. Refers to accounts of atrocities carried out on priests and nuns in Spain, how Tom met O’Duffy in the National Corporate Party, and how he was wounded during the Irish Civil War. Also addresses popularity of Tom amongst men at home and in Spain, the events surrounding his death in February 1937, and recognition of Irish Brigade by politicians, the government and the church.

Sound recording of an interview conducted by Robert Stradling with Denis Reynolds, Cootehill, county Cavan, who served in ‘D’ Company of Irish Brigade in Spain. Records how he heard about the Spanish Civil War through the media, what motivated him to go to Spain at 18 years of age with his friend Phil McBride, the situation in Ireland prior to his departure, his membership of Blueshirts and views on General O’Duffy. Refers to arrival in Galway, stating ‘When we arrived then in Galway there was a very big consignment of plain-clothes detectives and garda there and there was an order out for us to be arrested… it was on the 12th December 1936… the bishop of Galway came down… and he got up on the platform and he… appealed to the authorities not to arrest anyone except there were criminals’. Also describes journey on the tender from Galway Bay, and the issue of minors. In addition, notes a mass on the front marking the receipt of Sergeant Cadell into the church, the journey to Spain, impressions of the Spanish people and military training. Notes also drinking habits of Irish in Spain, and events surrounding the deaths of Tom Hyde and Dan Chute, and the attack at Titulcia, stating ‘We went out that day very early and we engaged this enemy fire… while we were doing that Franco’s troops was closing in behind in a big pincher movement and we had to withdraw to our own trenches that night… we were in a terrible state… when the morning came my coat was stiff with the white frost and I took it off and got two big sticks and stood it up on the top and I only had it up when it was riddled with machine-gun fire.’ Also records life at Ciempozuelos, including the disposal of corpses from the town, stating ‘I was in the mopping up party, and they picked a very young officer and the youngest lads we had… if you were older… you might never be the better of it, there was people dead for two weeks, more, and the dogs wouldn’t… go near a dead person if they could get a live person so the first thing we done was shot all the dogs… then… we brought all the corpses outside the town to the trenches and all the dead dogs, and buried them all.’ Notes billeting in a convent on arrival in the town, stating ‘the whole place was covered with blood… I saw the bodies of the nuns… and some of them wasn’t dead’. Includes an account of attack by enemy at La Marañosa, the execution of prisoners of war at Cáceres, carrying out religious duties in Spain, and further impressions of General O’Duffy. Also refers to the Irish Independent journalist Gertrude Gaffney in Spain, digging the trenches and dugouts, and his life in Ireland on his return from Spain.

Photocopy of telegram from Mussolini to heads of volunteer troops regarding their progress, stating ‘Haga saber a los Legionarios que YO sigo, hora tras hora, su acción, que será coronda por la Victoria’ (‘Let the Legionnaires know that I am following hour after hour their action and it will be crowned by victory’).

Photocopies of mostly military dispatches from General O’Duffy and nationalist headquarters at Salamanca, including letter from General O’Duffy to Franco addressing the dissolution of Irish Brigade and requesting the formation of another Irish Unit from the Brigadiers who would remain behind (9 April 1937), and a military dispatch which cites the reason for the dissolution of Irish Brigade as being primarily indiscipline.

Mainly photocopies of correspondence between the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and General Espinosa De Los Monteros, Sub-secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Nationalist Zone), L.H. Kerney, Irish Minister of Irish Legation to Spain in San Sebastian, and [H. Shilton] of the British Embassy to Spain in Hendaye, addressing a number of issues including Irish prisoners of war in Spain such as International Brigadiers, Frank Ryan and Andrew Delaney, the death in action of Irish Nationalist volunteers such as Austin O’Reilly and Daithí V. Higgins, and the issue of desertion charges against Irish nationalist volunteer, Andrew O’Toole.