THE DEATH has taken place of the last surviving Irish
combatant on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War.
Dublin-born Bob Doyle (92) passed away in London on January
22 following a short illness.
Born in February 1916, Doyle grew up in the slums
of North King Street and became politically active in the
1930s. He joined the IRA after being beaten up in street
fights with the Blueshirts which left him with permanent
damage to one eye.
He quickly became more interested in social issues and in
1937 decided to volunteer for the International Brigade,
motivated in part by the fact that his friend and IRA
veteran Kit Conway had been killed in action in the Battle
of Jarama on Doyle’s 21st birthday.
His initial attempts to get to Spain ended in failure when,
after stowing away on a boat, he was arrested and expelled
from Valencia. He made it back to Spain later that year,
crossing the Pyrenees and reporting to a battalion.
Assigned to train new volunteers because of his IRA
training, Doyle disobeyed orders and joined a group heading
for the front.
After fighting at Belchite, he was captured by
Italian fascist troops in 1938, along with Irish
International Brigade leader Frank Ryan.
He was imprisoned for 11 months in a concentration camp. There he was once brought out to be shot and he
was regularly tortured by Spanish fascist guards and
interrogated by the Gestapo before being released in a
prisoner exchange.
He enlisted in the British merchant navy during the second
World War before settling in London with his Spanish wife,
Lola. He became active in the Fleet Street print trade
unions.
A regular visitor to Spain and Ireland for International
Brigade commemorations, he published an account of his
experiences in Spain in Brigadista: An Irishman’s Fight
Against Fascism.
In an interview with The Irish Times, he said:
“I thought there was a danger that Ireland would go fascist and
that was one of the motivating factors in making up my mind
to go to Spain.”
He is survived by his sons Bob and Julian, his
grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
