‘This is the greatest misery I’ve ever seen in my life.’ Photo: Image of Quaker volunteer in a Marseille ‘colony’, courtesy of the Library of the Society of Friends © Britain Yearly Meeting
Milk and human kindness: Maggie Brookes-Butt on Quaker relief in the Spanish civil war
‘Immediately, Quaker companies began to donate.’
by Maggie Brookes-Butt
11th August 2023
A tiny handful of dedicated British Quakers saved the lives of countless children during the Spanish civil war. They stepped in during the autumn of 1936 as refugees began to trek north, escaping the advance of Franco’s fascist army. Madrid was under heavy bombardment, and trainloads of women and children headed towards Barcelona.
