Felicia Browne

Felicia Mary Browne (18 February 1904 – 25 August 1936), was an English artist. She was the first British volunteer to die in the Spanish Civil War.

Early years

Felicia Browne was born at Weston Green, Thames Ditton, Surrey, on 18 February 1904, [ [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/92459?docPos=1 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography] ] she studied at the St John's Wood School of Art and the Slade School of Art. Active in the Communist Party and a member of the Artists' International Association, in 1934 she won a prize for her design of the Trade Union Congress Tolpuddle medal. [ [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WbrowneF.htm Spartacus. Schoolnet] ]

Involvement in the Spanish Civil War

In July 1936 Browne embarked on a driving holiday to France and Spain, accompanied by her friend Dr Edith Bone, a left-wing photographer. Their objective was to reach Barcelona in time for the People's Olympiad (the socialist riposte to the Olympic games in Hitler's Berlin). However, they arrived shortly before the military rebellion against the Spanish republic that heralded the start of the Spanish Civil War (1936–9), and were immediately caught up in the violence that engulfed Barcelona on 19th July 1936. Without hesitation, and fending off considerable discouragement from friends and party officials, she joined a communist militia on August 3rd.

On 25 August, 1936 Felicia was killed in action on the Aragón front near Tardienta, part of a band of raiders that attempted to dynamite a Fascist munitions train. The party was itself ambushed and Browne was shot dead while assisting an injured Italian comrade. [ [http://channelingdurrati.blogspot.com/2006/04/felicia-browne.html Channeling Durrati] ]

Her friend and colleague Nan Youngman, who was much affected by her death, organized her memorial exhibition In October 1936.

References