Ernest Osbourne – Sussex Brigader

Ernest Osbourne

Ernest Osbourne – Sussex Brigader

Born in 1901 in Walsall, Osbourne was a painter and decorator living at 31 Hazelwick Road, Three Bridges, Crawley when he volunteered for Spain. A member of the Transport & General Workers Union (now part of UNITE), and a member of the Communist Party, Osbourne attended the International Lenin School in Moscow before joining the International Brigade, arriving in Spain on 6th January 1937. Osbourne enlisted in No. 4 Company and was responsible for the kitchen and was reportedly “painstaking” in his work and that it was “mainly under his guidance that the kitchen developed into the sound organisation that was the envy and example to all battalions.” Osbourne achieved the rank of Platoon Sergeant and was wounded at Hijar in the retreat from Belchite in March 1938. He was repatriated with the rest of the British Battalion in December 1938.

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