“Help the Spanish Child Refugees”

On 21 May 1937 the SS Habana sailed from Bilbao, arriving at Southampton two days later. The ship carried 3840 children, alongside 80 masetras (teachers), 120 helpers, 15 priests and two doctors. The children were taken to a hastily assembled campsite near Eastleigh, and from there were transferred to scores of volunteer-run homes across Britain. This dramatic episode was by no means the only British contribution to child welfare during the Civil War. For instance, the National Joint Committee for Spanish Relief was heavily involved in the evacuation of children from Madrid. However, it was by far the largest single British humanitarian intervention in the Civil War. 

The evacuation was organised after the bombing of Guernica on 26 April, at a time when it was feared that Bilbao would suffer a similar fate. Activists succeeded in persuading the British government to permit the children’s removal, although on very limited terms: the children must not make any call on the public purse and should only remain for up to six months. From the outset, therefore, the children’s care would require the mobilisation of voluntary support to raise funds, organise homes and liaise with local communities. The Basque Children’s Committee, a cross-party organisation in which the Catholic Church also initially participated, took overall responsibility for the care of the children – a responsibility that would eventually last far longer than six months. 

As many as one hundred homes were established on the principle that it was preferable to keep the children together in groups of around fifty. Over time the children began to play a significant part in the fundraising campaign by organising concert parties and football matches. The local response was generally very positive, and the children did much to bring the reality of the Civil War home to the British public. However, scuffles involving some of the older boys were inflated by the hostile right-wing press, and this added to the pressure for the children to be repatriated once the Basque country had fallen to Franco’s forces. A process of repatriation was started, but only where it was known that the parents requested their children’s return. By the end of the Civil War some 400 children still remained in Britain, and about 250 would settle permanently. 

The story of the child refugees is now better-known and understood in Britain, in large part due to the work of the “Basque children of ’37 Association”. The courage of the children in embarking on such a novel and open-ended journey is remembered, alongside the dedication and generosity of those who helped them. At the same time, it should also be acknowledged that the case of these children is a remarkable exception to the British government’s habitual reluctance to accept refugees during the inter-war years. During May and June 1937 alone, some 15,000 child refugees were sent to France, a small proportion of the half a million Spanish refugees who would eventually cross the French border.