Lions of Rotherham: The incredible story of four South Yorkshire men who fought in the Spanish Civil War

Born in November of 1897, Tommy and his then 16 year-old mother spent the first two years of his life in a Rotherham workhouse, where Tommy would return intermittently throughout his early years. He became heavily involved in political and social activism, becoming a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain after returning from service in the First World War. It was his political and social beliefs that led him to leave for Spain.

Writing in his self-published autobiography, Tommy outlined reasons those like him chose to join the war, stating: “Most of them were workers, some were intellectuals and students, many of them Communists and left-wing Labour, whilst others were moderate and liberal … all were imbued with one desire – to halt the beast in its tracks.”

Tommy’s life has been the subject of new research carried out by a team of South Yorkshire-based academics. His story, along with that of three other Rotherham men who also fought in the Spanish Civil War, is now set to be told in a play, as well as featured in a new visual arts exhibition at the town’s Clifton Park Museum.

“This project has been in my mind for a few years,” says researcher Karen Mulcahey, who has written and directed the new play, The Lions of Rotherham. “I was always just really interested in the fact that four men from Rotherham went to fight in the Spanish Civil War.

“I knew some things about it through friends of mine who had known one of the men, but Rotherham archives had very little on it. With everything that was happening in Ukraine and people leaving their countries to fight, whether the circumstances are similar or not, it just got to the state where I thought now was the right time to write about it.”

Rotherham-based theatre group Breakout Arts will perform The Lions of Rotherham this week, as part of the project, which has been funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. In attendance will be family members of the four Rotherham men whose stories are featured.

Tomorrow, November 7, a celebration event will also take place at Clifton Park Museum, including a short performance by Rotherham Youth Theatre. The event will mark the opening of a month-long exhibition dedicated to research and artwork around the project, which has seen new information added to Rotherham archives.

Details of the men’s lives have been found through census data, as well as interviews with family members and other people who knew them personally. “They are fascinating people,” says researcher Dave Phillips. “I traced them all in the censuses, and all of them came from large, poor families of miners. In 1921 they were all unemployed, and that, I think, is what gave them the passion to fight against inequality, and against fascism.”

Joseph Maiden, the son of a mineworker, is among the men featured. He left Rotherham to join the Spanish Civil War in February 1938. A precision grinder by trade, Joseph was one of over 100 members of the International Brigade who became prisoners of war after the battle of Calaceite in March of 1938. This group would later be put before a firing squad by the Nationalist Civil Guard, but was then saved at the last moment after an Italian officer countermanded the order to shoot, choosing a number of the men to be used as part of a prisoner exchange.

Joseph, however, was not part of this exchange, and was sent on to the concentration camp of San Pedro de Cardeña, near Burgos. He was later sent on to a further two prisons, before being sent home, aged just 20, in October 1938.

The longest serving of the four men was Chris Smith. Originally from Coatbridge, near Glasgow, Chris was sent to Figureas, Spain on May 10, 1937, and would remain part of the war until returning home in October of 1938. It was only once back in the UK that Chris would move to Rotherham, joining one of his brothers who already lived in the town.

Only one of the men, Geoffrey Allstop, would never return home from Spain, disappearing in action in 1938. In the early 2000s, Andy Ducker, a member of the Rotherham International Brigade Memorial Trust, was told by a family historian that Geoffrey may have come from the Eastwood area of Rotherham. This was later found to be true, with Geoffrey’s family tracked down in Canada by a reporter from The Rotherham Advertiser.

Though the research group were unable to trace the life of Joseph Maiden long after his return, both Chris Smith and Tommy James would go on to spend the rest of their lives in Rotherham. A lifelong member of the Communist Party, Chris would hold a number of jobs in the town and would eventually marry local woman Joan Brown. His ashes were scattered in 2021 in the river Ebro, in Spain. Tommy famously welcomed Pablo Picasso to the World Peace Conference in Sheffield in 1950, and was a key figure in the establishment of Rotherham Civic Theatre. He was awarded freeman of the town of Rotherham status on the year of his death, in 1971.

None of those who returned would often talk about their experiences in Spain. “When they came back, the common factor is they didn't talk about it,” says Karen, who is also artistic director at Breakout Arts. “They very rarely talked about what had happened.”

The Lions of Rotherham will be performed on November 8 and 9 at Rotherham College Studio Theatre.