Charles William Duncan Hutchison (10 May 1918 – March 1993) was a British-Ghanaian anti-fascist, soldier, and ambulance driver noted for being the only Black-British member of the

International Brigades The International Brigades () were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front (Spain), Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Bri ...

during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. In Spain he was one of the youngest, one of the longest serving, and one of the first English-speaking volunteers. Citing his experiences as a man of colour and his childhood spent in an orphanage, Hutchison was an ardent anti-fascist and was involved in helping organise anti-fascist activists that took part in the

Battle of Cable Street The Battle of Cable Street was a series of clashes that took place at several locations in the East End of London, most notably Cable Street, on Sunday 4 October 1936. It was a clash between the Metropolitan Police, sent to protect a march ...

. Following Britain's declaration of war against Nazi Germany, Hutchison served in the British Army between 1939 and 1946. Hutchison spent almost 10 years engaged in battles against various fascist forces throughout Europe, before starting a family in 1947 and living the rest of his life quietly in South England. The details of his life were not fully revealed to historians until 2019, following a history project started by London school children. In 2022, a campaign began to raise money for a statue of him to be erected in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Early life and orphanage

Charlie Hutchison was born on 10 May 1918 in

Eynsham Eynsham is a village and civil parish in the West Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, about north-west of Oxford and east of Witney. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 4,648. It was estimated at 5,087 in 2020. Etymolo ...

, west of

. He was the fourth of five children of Lilly Rose (Harper) from

, and Charles Francis Hutchison from the Gold Coast (now

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

). His father often visited the Gold Coast, before unexpectedly disappearing, leaving Hutchison's mother in severe mental and financial hardship. Hutchison and one of his sisters were temporarily taken to the National Children's Home and Orphanage in

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,674 in the 2021 census, while the population of the civil parish was 31,128. Harpe ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. After several years in the orphanage, Hutchison was allowed to leave and was reunited with his mother, who was living in

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. By 1935, Hutchison had joined the

Young Communist League The Young Communist League (YCL) is the name used by the youth wing of various Communist parties around the world. The name ''YCL of ountry' originates from the precedent established by the Communist Youth International. Examples of YCLs includ ...

(YCL) branch in Fulham and quickly became the branch's leader, while also working as a lorry driver. As a leading member of London's communist movement, he helped organise anti-fascist resistance in the

against the

British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, f ...

and played a part in forcing the fascists to abandon their march.

Spanish Civil War

Hutchison arrived in Spain on 25 November 1936 and on 10 December joined the

to fight against the

Nationalist faction The Nationalist faction (), also Rebel faction () and Francoist faction () was a major faction in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. It was composed of a variety of right-leaning political groups that supported the Spanish Coup of July 1936 ...

supported by

Fascist Italy Fascist Italy () is a term which is used in historiography to describe the Kingdom of Italy between 1922 and 1943, when Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. Th ...

and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

during the

. Becoming a machine-gunner, he was joined by many fellow London activists, including

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

's nephew

Esmond Romilly } Esmond Marcus David Romilly (10 June 1918 – 30 November 1941) was a British socialist, anti-fascist, and journalist, who was in turn a schoolboy rebel, a veteran with the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War and, following th ...

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

's great-grandson

John Cornford Rupert John Cornford (27 December 1915 – 28 December 1936) was an English poet and communist. During the first year of the Spanish Civil War, he was a member of the POUM militia and later the International Brigades. He died while fighting aga ...

, Communist Party intellectual

Ralph Winston Fox Ralph Winston Fox (30 March 1900 – 28 December 1936) was a British revolutionary, journalist, novelist, and historian, best remembered as a biographer of Lenin and Genghis Khan. Fox was one of the best-known members of the Communist Party of ...

. The

British Battalion The British Battalion (1936–1938; officially the Shapurji Saklatvala, Saklatvala Battalion) was the 16th (from November 1937 the 57th) battalion of the XV International Brigade, one of the mixed brigades of the International Brigades, during t ...

had not yet been fully formed by the time Hutchison arrived in Spain, so he joined the British and Irish dominated No. 1 Company of the mainly French Marseillaise Brigade (

XIV International Brigade 300px, A memorial commemorating the International Brigades The XIV International Brigade was one of several international brigades that fought for the Spanish Second Republic during the Spanish Civil War. History and structure It was raised on 2 ...

). He was not only one of the earliest British volunteers and one of the youngest but was also the only black or mixed-race British volunteer to join the International Brigade. When asked why he fought in Spain, Hutchison said: "I am half black, I grew up in the National Children's Home and Orphanage. Fascism meant hunger and war." During his service, his superior officers described him as "hard working", and commented on how developed his political views were for his age. Hutchison fought for the International Brigade during almost the entirety of the war and was sent to the front-line to fight in the

Battle of Lopera The Battle of Lopera took place between 27 and 29 December 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. This battle took place during the Nationalist's Aceituna offensive. On 27 December, the XIV International Brigade launched an attack in order to occupy ...

shortly after arriving in Spain. During this battle, his fellow communist volunteers Fox and Cornford were killed, and Hutchison was badly wounded. According to Bill Alexander of the British Battalion, Hutchison refused to be sent back to Britain and instead served as an ambulance driver for V Army Corps. In April 1937, Hutchison's mother contacted the Republican government and pleaded with them to force him to return to Britain. Hutchison requested temporary leave, yet due to a logistics blunder, leave was not granted. He continued to serve the

Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of democratic government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII. It was dissol ...

until December 1938, when he returned to Britain to continue his activism as a member of the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

Second World War

After returning to the UK, Hutchison had little time to conduct further communist activism before Britain entered the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He joined the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and do ...

and served in France before possibly taking part in the 1940

Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the ...

. Afterwards, he served in North Africa, Italy, and by 1944 was serving with the British Army in Iran. Near the end of the war, he fought in France and into Germany; his unit delivered food and medical supplies to the newly liberated

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

in April 1945.

Post-war life

After the end of his military service in 1946, Hutchison returned to Fulham and in 1947 married a fellow communist called Patrica Holloway. He resumed his work as a lorry driver and was an active member of the

Transport and General Workers' Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general union, general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland—where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU)—with 900 ...

, and was also active within anti-apartheid activism and nuclear disarmament. Hutchison sent his children to secular socialist themed Sunday schools. During the

1984–1985 United Kingdom miners' strike The 1984–1985 United Kingdom miners' strike was a major industrial action within the Coal mining in the United Kingdom, British coal industry in an attempt to prevent closures of pits that were uneconomic in the coal industry, which had been ...

, Charlie and his family sheltered miners in their home. Hutchison played a role in the creation of the International Brigade memorial in Jubilee Gardens, Lambeth, London.

Death and legacy

Spending the remainder of his life as a communist activist, Hutchison died in

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

in March 1993, aged 74. In 2019, a commemorative event was held at the

Marx Memorial Library The Marx Memorial Library in London, United Kingdom is a library, archive, educational, and community outreach charity focused on Marxist and wider socialist bodies of work. The library opened in 1933, and is located at 37a Clerkenwell Green, fo ...

in London to celebrate the life of Charlie Hutchison as a part of

Black History Month Black History Month is an annually observed commemorative month originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It began as a way of remembering important people and events in the history of the Af ...

. Attendees included 16 members of Hutchison's family and students from

Newham Sixth Form College Newham Sixth Form College (NewVIc) is a sixth form college located in the East London borough of Newham. Situated on a single site in Plaistow, the college was established in 1992 to provide for students in Newham and neighbouring boroughs who o ...

, who showcased their art and poetry projects to celebrate Hutchison's life and examine his reasons for fighting in Spain. During the event, Hutchison's son John spoke of his experiences being raised by his father, describing Charlie's love of boxing and that their home was filled with "books by

Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

Salinger Salinger is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Conrad Salinger (1901–1962), American arranger-orchestrator and composer * Diane Salinger (born 1951), American actress and voice actress * J. D. Salinger (1919–2010), American ...

Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...

and Hugo". The research into Hutchison's life conducted by the sixth-form students would lead to the creation of their college's African Studies Centre. Noah Anthony Enahoro, grandson of Nigerian independence leader

Anthony Enahoro Chief Anthony Eromosele Enahoro (22 July 1923 – 15 December 2010) was one of Nigeria's foremost anti-colonial and pro-democracy activists. He was born the eldest of ten children in Uromi, present-day Edo State of Nigeria. His Esan parents ...

, was one of the student researchers who presented their findings to Hutchison's family. Much of the information about Hutchison's life has only been discovered recently and has been recorded in few histories of the Spanish Civil War, two being Richard Baxell's '' Unlikely Warriors'' (2012), and the

Communist Party of Britain The Communist Party of Britain (CPB) is a communist party in Great Britain which emerged from a dispute between Eurocommunists and Marxist-Leninists in the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1988. It follows Marxist-Leninist theory and su ...

's ''Red Lives'' (2020). In October 2022, a campaign was started by local activists and Hutchison's family to raise money for a statue of him to be erected in Oxford city centre. If successful, it would be the first statue of a black person erected in the city. In 2023 the

Museum of Oxford The Museum of Oxford (MOX) is a history museum in Oxford, England, covering the history of Oxford and its people. The museum includes both permanent and temporary displays featuring artefacts relating to Oxford's history from prehistoric times ...

financed research into a Charlie Hutchison biography which is due for publication in 2024.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchison, Charlie 1918 births 1993 deaths Black British activists Black British soldiers British Army personnel of World War II Royal Army Service Corps soldiers British people of the Spanish Civil War Communist Party of Great Britain members English anti-fascists English people of Ghanaian descent International Brigades personnel Military personnel from Oxfordshire People from Witney