Noel Carritt

Noel Carritt (1910–1992) was a British communist activist, teacher, and volunteer for the International Brigades. He was born into the Carritt family, known for their Marxist and anti-fascist politics which heavily influenced him. As a young man, he saved German Jewish activist Liesel Carritt from being deported to Nazi Germany by agreeing to enter into a marriage of convenience.

In 1936, Noel Carritt, his wife Liesel, and his brother Anthony, all joined the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War and took part in battles against fascist forces led by Franco and backed by Hitler and Mussolini. Noel was wounded during the war, and his brother Anthony was killed while serving as an ambulance driver. During the Second World War, he became an engineer with Fairey Aviation, helping to create military aircraft.

Childhood and background Noel Carritt was born in Heath Barrows, Boars Hill, into the Oxfordshire-based Carritt family, notable for the family's large number of Marxist revolutionaries and academics. He was born one of seven children, the majority of whom became lifelong anti-fascist and socialist activists.

The Carritt family's home in Boars Hill became known as a hub for left-wing intellectual debate, attracting a wide number of people including communist trade union leader Abraham Lazarus, multiple Labour Party politicians including Dick Crossman, the novelist Iris Murdoch, and numerous poets including WH Auden and Stephen Spender. The Carritt family were also friends with another family of left-wing activists which lived close to them called the Thompsons, whose members included the historian E. P. Thompson and his brother Frank Thompson. The children of both families attended the Dragon School together.

Early adult life Noel Carritt was born in 1910, he was educated at the Dragon School, before attending Sedbergh School in Cumbria.

In 1928, Carritt was accepted into the University of Oxford and studied at Oriel College to study Zoology. During this time, he became a founding member of the October Club, Oxford University's first ever communist society. He and some acquaintances of his (W. H. Auden and Julian Murray) agreed to enter into marriage of conveniences to stop Jewish refugees from being forcefully deported back to Nazi Germany. Carritt married a German refugee and communist activist called Liesel,

In February 1937, Carritt joined the rest of the British Battalion and fought in the Battle of Jarama, Of the 500 British volunteers present at the battle, only 160 survived. During the battle he was injured in the hand by shrapnel, before quickly recovering and joining the republican offensive during the Battle of Brunete where his brother Anthony was serving as an ambulance driver. During this time, he followed in his brother's footsteps and also became an ambulance driver.

Second World War In 1939, following the outbreak of the Second World War, Carritt attempted to join the Royal Navy. However, many anti-fascist veterans of the Spanish Civil War were denied roles in the military by the British government and treated with suspicion, leading to authorities denying his application to join the Royal Navy.

Noel Carritt's son Collin Carritt went on to lead the campaign to create the first-ever memorial to the International Brigades ever built in Oxford. The end result of this campaign was the 2017 unveiling of the Oxford Spanish Civil War memorial.