Patience Darton (married name: Patience Edney; 11 August 1911 in

Orpington Orpington is a town and area in south east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Ma ...

, England – 6 November 1996 in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Spain) was a British

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

and political activist active during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. Darton was born into a middle-class family and hoped to study medicine, but her father's bankruptcy led her to work as a nanny and in a tea shop while saving up for the admissions fees into a nursing program. Darton studied to be a

midwife A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; co ...

University College Hospital University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College London ...

, London. Her experiences working in London's impoverished

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

radicalized her and she joined the Labour Party. She also worked at the

British Hospital for Mothers and Babies The British Hospital for Mothers and Babies (1905–1984) was a maternity hospital in south London. History The Home for Mothers and Babies and Training School for District Midwives opened in May 1905, with the stated objectives of professionalis ...

in London. Darton volunteered her services as a nurse upon the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. She arrived in Spain in February 1937 and worked in medical units at medical units in Aragón, Brunete, Teruel and Ebro. Despite working in difficult conditions (including a hospital inside a cave during the Ebro offensive), Darton re-diagnosed incorrectly diagnosed patients, saving them with correct treatment. While in Spain, Darton met American writer

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

and English poet Stephen Spender and wrote in a letter of Hemingway, "He can’t say what he wants to say and he talks just like his books, in bursts." She fell in love with a German member of the International Brigades named Robert Aaquist; Aaquist was killed in 1938. She was evacuated from Spain with the rest of the

International Brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed f ...

in October 1938. Once back in London in 1938, Darton joined the

British Communist Party 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 ...

. She would remain a committed member for the rest of her life. Darton taught specialized courses in war nursing and wound treatment during World War II for the London County Council. After World War II, she worked in famine relief for the newly-established

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Relief and Rehabilitation Agency (UNRRA). Darton married British Communist Party official (and Brigade member) Eric Edney; the newlyweds traveled to China in 1949 to assist with the transition to socialism, but faced complications in their political task and were jailed for some time. She also worked for the Foreign Languages Press. Darton gave birth to her son Robert while in China. The family returned to England in 1958. In November 1996, Darton traveled with other former International Brigade members to Madrid to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War, where they received honorary Spanish citizenship. Darton died while in Madrid.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darton, Patience Female wartime nurses British women in World War II Foreign volunteers in the Spanish Civil War Nurses from London British women nurses 1911 births 1996 deaths People from Orpington

Further reading

References