Spanish orphans from Civil war who were adopted in the UK?

Question

Does anyone know anything about this?

My fiance's grandad was supposed to be Spanish or of Spanish descent, although his name was very British. He looked very Spanish (from photos) and partner's mum remembers visiting her father's sister was was Spanish and had a Spanish name.

He died in the mid 1970s when parter's mum was only 14 and there isn't much documentary evidence in the family - other than with my partner's grandmother who refuses to discuss her late husband at all (she and her daughter don't speak anyway) . . .

My partner wants to find out more about his grandad. The rumour in the family seems to be that he might have been an orphan from the Spanish Civil war, brought to the UK and adopted by a British couple who changed his name.

Was this something which happened a lot - were Spanish orphans brought to the UK? How would we go about finding more info?

Answer 1

my young frien, you have i brain that seeks much information, i can answer your question but you are yet too small for the indepth answer, it will change your life for ever. you shall come to know the answer when the time is right

Answer 2

Before and during the Spanish Civil war, lots of families emigrated to avoid being persecution by the fascists.  Some families sent their children with other families and some were sent by organisations (sorry don't know the name) a bit like the British children sent as evacuees.

Unfortunately to find your partner's grandad's real name seems to be the key to solve that mistery, because once you do that, I'm sure you could get help from the Spanish General Consulate in London.

Good luck on your endevour.

Answer 3

.....Beginning in May and continuing through the summer, Basque civil authorities oversaw the emigration of approximately 20,000 children to dozens of locations throughout Europe. 8 As the war continued to spread, other regions followed the Basque example. By the end of the war, between 31,000 and 34,000 children had been sent to live elsewhere in Europe or in Mexico. 9 Approximately 3000 of these were sent to the Soviet Union..........

http://www.gutenberg-e.org/kod01/frames/...

Photographs :

Basque Children in Bristol.

The Lord Mayor of Bristol makes friends with some of the Basque refugee children after he had welcomed them on their arrival in Bristol. They are staying at the old Training Centre in Kingsdown. 1937

http://www.vsw.org/research/soibelman/SC...

Almost four thousand Spanish and Basque children - many of them orphans - were evacuated to Britain, where political parties, trade unions and church groups combined to provide accommodation and education.

http://www.catalystmedia.org.uk/issues/n...

John Langdon-Davies, a British war correspondent, found Jose, and along with his friend Eric Muggeridge, began to help children orphaned by the Spanish Civil War. They established the 'Foster Parents Plan for Children in Spain' to assist refugee and orphaned children.

http://www.plan-uk.org/about/planstory/

First thing to do would be to obtain a copy of his birth certificate, this should have either his birth parents, or his adoptive parents's names on it, and a date of birth. You then decide on your next course of action from that, if you do not know his date of birth, his death certificate will have on it an age and his date of birth, if he was born in Britain you will be able to search for and get his birth certificate, if you can't find it, then you can begin to suspect that he was not born in Britain.

If you would like to, please email me his name, place and approximate year of death, and I'll make a search for his death registration for you, do not put any personal details on this board though.