British women who fought for Franco

[sbowron]

There were two that I know of. One was called Priscilla Scott-Ellis, of aristocratic birth, who fell in love with a Spanish count and accompanied him to Spain to become a nurse with the Nationalist forces. The Spanish nobleman was basically gay so she didn't have much joy with him but she nevertheless had an interesting life. After the Spanish Civil War ended and WW2 became she returned to Britain and her activities in Spain came to the attention of the military authorities here. She was asked to return to Spain and use her influence to establish a 'conduit' through which British servicemen trapped in Occupied Europe could escape through Spain, into Portugal and home. She met another Spaniard, married him and emigrated to Buenos Aires. The marriage failed and moved to Paris and then to Los Angeles where she died in the 1970s.
However I can't find anything about the second woman whose name was Gabriel Herbert and who apparently was a devout Catholic. Does anyone have any more details?

[camarada_j]

There was another British woman I know of: Florence Farmborough. There is a brief Wiki page about her at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Farmborough

The recently republished "Women's Voices from the Spanish Civil War" has a bit about her too. See http://www.amazon.co.uk/Womens-Voices-S ... 872&sr=8-2

Hope this helps

James

[camarada_j]

Just had another look at the Wiki page and it hardly mentions the SCW. Florence went to Spain and contributed to the nationalist cause by broadcasting to English speaking countries. Her experiances as a nurse during the Russian Revolution left her with a deep fear of communism.

Also reading the publishers notes at http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/books/archive/ ... oices.html the womens voices book also has a bit about Gabriel Herbert.

James

There is a little more at http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Wfarmborough.htm

[sbowron]

Thanks. I'd never heard of Florence Farmborough or Eleanora Tennant. Fascinating stuff.

[Balrog]

However I can't find anything about the second woman whose name was Gabriel Herbert and who apparently was a devout Catholic. Does anyone have any more details?

Yes. Gabriel Herbert was the daughter of Aubrey Herbert, an eccentric and Conservative MP. He was a Protestant, had considered converting to the Catholic Faith, but died in 1923, still a Protestant. After his death his widow and surviving children all converted to the Catholic Faith. One pf Aubrey Herbert's daughters was named Laura. Laura went on to marry Evelyn Waugh, the famous British writer.

Gabriel Herbert was a medical corps volunteer(Nationalist) in the Spanish Civil War. Later on Waugh used her as a partial model for one of the charaters (Cordelia Flyte) in his best selling novel Brideshead Revisted.

[Semenov]

Does anyone have any more details?

I recomend to you book J. Keene "Fight for Franco"

[Alex (F)]

Interesting.