Aristocrats, Adventurers and Ambulances

Linda Palfreeman is Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Cardenal Herrera, Elche, Spain. Her research on local aspects of the Spanish Civil War and of the International Brigades' Medical Service resulted in ¡Salud! British Volunteers in the Republican Medical Service during the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 (2012), followed by Aristocrats, Adventurers and Ambulances: British Medical Units in the Spanish Civil War (2013), and Spain Bleeds: The Development of Battlefield Blood Transfusion During the Civil War (2015), the final book in this informal trilogy. Her upcoming book, Tartan Angels: The Scottish Ambulance Unit in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) (2023) continues to provide long unavailable information on health care and medical assistance during wartime.

"In Aristocrats, Adventurers and Ambulances : British Medical Units in the Spanish Civil War Palfreeman has rescued from the shadows the invaluable contribution made by the SAU and the GYAU during the Spanish Civil War, in the process illuminating the complex nature of the war-time organisational relationships that developed during this period. It is through such studies that a more nuanced understanding becomes possible of how something seemingly as simple as the provision of what by todays standards and even by the standards of the day were two small ambulance units, could have such a big impact upon the lives of those people it touched." - Jonathan Sebastian Browne, University of Kent, Cercles, June 2014"Linda Palfreemans new book, Aristocrats, Adventurers and Ambulances. British Medical Units in the Spanish Civil War, makes an important contribution to the historiography of Spains bitter civil war." - Alan Sennett, Left Central, 28th July 2014"...a strongly researched and well-written book that explores both political and humanitarian commitment in the Spanish conflict. Her desire to set the historical record straight leaps from the page." - Peter Anderson, University of Leeds, War in History 22(1)