Anthony Carritt

Anthony Carritt (1914–1937) was a British left-wing activist and a member of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. He and his brother Noel Carritt were ambulance drivers at the Battle of Brunete, and the two brothers fought against Spanish fascists backed by both Hitler and Mussolini. Anthony Carritt was assumed to have been killed in an airstrike after he went missing during the Battle of Brunete and was never found despite his brother spending days searching for him.

Early life and family Anthony Carritt was born in Boars Hill, outside the city of Oxford, England. He belonged to a large family of seven children, five brothers (including himself) and two sisters. His mother Winifred Carritt was believed to have had an affair with famous British evolutionary biologist Arthur Dukinfield Darbishire, however Anthony was raised as though he were the son of Edgar Carritt.

The Carritt family became famous for being a hub for socialist revolutionaries and communists, such as Abraham Lazarus, Labour politicians including Dick Crossman, and poets such as WH Auden. One of these children who Anthony knew became the historian E. P. Thompson.

Spanish Civil War Following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, both Anthony and Noel Carritt joined the International Brigades. Their mother Winifred Carritt also became a leading supporter of Oxford's Spanish charity campaigns, During the battle, the fascist forces enjoyed air superiority and temperatures often exceeded 100 degrees. After his ambulance was towed back to a hospital in Escorial, Noel realised that his brother Anthony had gone missing during the battle. after he went missing during the Battle of Brunete and was never found despite his brother Noel Carritt spending days searching for him.

Anthony Carritt's name is listed at the top of the Oxford Spanish Civil War memorial, built in 2017.

To mark Anthony's departure to Spain, his friend the communist and future SOE officer Frank Thompson wrote a poem in his memory:A year ago, in a drowsy vicarage garden

We talked about politics; you with your tawny hair

Flamboyant, flaunting your red tie, unburdened

Yours burning heart of the dirge we always hear -

The rich triumphant and the poor oppress'd.

And I laughed, seeing, I thought, an example

Of vague ideals not tried but taken to trust,

That would not stand the test. It sounded all too simple.