James Maley

James Maley (19 February 1908 – 9 April 2007) was a Scottish communist, political activist, Spanish Civil War combatant and World War II veteran.

Early years He was born in 1908, one of nine children born to Ned Maley, a native of County Mayo and Anne Sherlock from Glasgow, and raised in Stevenson Street in the Calton district of Glasgow. He was sent to work as a boy to help support his family. Aged 11, he had been at the 'battle of George Square" or 'Bloody Friday' in 1919 when the police attacked a crowd of thousands of striking workers seeking a 40-hour week. He too became a speaker at Glasgow Green. to join buses and head off to the fight in Spain after hearing La Pasionaria on the radio. Maley said it was like a Celtic supporters outing. There were around 35,000 International Brigades volunteers between 1936 and 1939, fighting for the Spanish Republic. He was in the No.2 Machine Gun Company when captured after hiding in olive groves for two days and held in Talavera de la Reina and Salamanca prisons. Prisoners were filed for newsreels, and Maley's mother (who had thought him dead) saw this in the local cinema and asked to keep the images. Maley was finally released in a prisoner swap. At his mother's request, he did not return to Spain.

World War II After Germany's attack on the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa, Maley joined the King's Own Scottish Borderers in 1941; serving in Burma and India.

After he was demobbed, Maley worked for the next dozen years laying tracks for British Railways, and, afterwards, as a building labourer for the Glasgow Corporation. He remained politically active, especially as a trade unionist and tenants' association campaigner.

Family He married Anne Watt in March 1948. They had nine children. Although he had been raised Catholic, Maley sent his nine children to non-denominational schools. He often borrowed books from the Book Exchange at Gilmorehill, giving his children a week to read them before taking them back in return for others.

The story of Maley's capture in Spain and the strange way that the family found out he was still alive inspired a play written by two of his sons, John and Willy, From the Calton to Catalonia. It was first performed in December 1990 in the Lithgow Theatre, Glasgow.

Death James Maley died on 9 April 2007 in his native Glasgow from pneumonia, aged 99, survived by, in his immediate family, his wife, nine children and five grandchildren. His death was marked by his fellow Celtic Football Club fans,