Focus on Thora Silverthorne
Thora Silverthorne, a Welsh nurse and lifelong socialist activist, is a figure of immense significance whose contributions to healthcare and workers’ rights have often been overshadowed. Dubbed the “Communist Nightingale” for her blend of radical politics and compassionate care, Silverthorne’s journey from a working-class woman in a Welsh mining town to the front lines of the Spanish Civil War and the corridors of power in Britain is a testament to her unyielding commitment to social justice.
As a key figure in the Socialist Medical Association (now the SHA), her story is intrinsically linked with the fight for a truly universal, state-funded, publicly provided healthcare system in the UK.
Early life and radical awakening
Born in Abertillery, South Wales, in 1910, Thora’s political education began at home. Her father, a miner and trade unionist, was an early member of the Communist Party and instilled in his daughter a deep-seated class consciousness. The revolutionary atmosphere of the 1926 General Strike further politicised the teenage Silverthorne, and she joined both the Labour Party and the Young Communist League.
Following the General Strike her father was victimised for his union activites and left the industry. After moving to Reading Silverthorne began her nurse training at Oxford Radcliffe Infirmary in 1931. Her socialist convictions remained strong; she earned the nickname “Red Silverthorne” and befriended Marxist historian Christopher Hill there. Even during her training, she put her skills to use for the working class, volunteering as a nurse for the unemployed during the 1932 National Hunger March.
The Spanish Civil War and medical aid
The struggle against fascism in Spain was a defining moment for Silverthorne. After finishing her training in London, she joined the newly formed Spanish Medical Aid Committee (SMAC), a group established with the TUC and largely led by members of the SMA to provide humanitarian assistance to the Spanish Republic. In October 1936, Silverthorne travelled to Spain as part of the first foreign medical unit to assist the Republican government.
Images of Thora from this time show her on the front lines, a determined figure in a field of chaos
She was elected chief nurse of the first British hospital, established in a former seminary near Grañén, Aragón, where she and other medical personnel worked under immense pressure, treating soldiers with limited supplies. Later, she helped set up operating theatres in bombed-out buildings and even a cave, at times resorting to brandy as anaesthetic. Despite the shortage of medical supplies she was in many ways at the centre of an important international collaboration which lead to the development of a blood transfusion services.
In 1932 Soviet Dr Andre Bagdarsov developed a way of storing donated blood for 21 days in a blood bottle. Catalan doctor Federic Durán-Jordà established the world’s first transfusion service in Barcelona in August 1936, at the start of the Spanish Civil War.
1937 – A British blood bank was set up under the influence of returning SMA medics – which would save countless lives in the second world war and go on to become the National Blood Service .
In a letter to her family, Silverthorne described the brutal reality of the conflict and the deliberate targeting of hospitals by fascist forces: “The swine deliberately attempt to bomb hospitals – it’s inhuman”. For Silverthorne, her nursing work was an explicit political act—the defence of a democratically elected government from fascist aggression.
Organising nurses and the Socialist Medical Association
After 15 months in Spain, Silverthorne returned to Britain in September 1937. Her experiences solidified her resolve to fight for better working conditions for nurses. Disillusioned with the conservative Royal College of Nursing, she co-founded the National Nurses Association (NNA), the first rank-and-file trade union for nurses in Britain. With fellow activist nurses, she aimed to improve the pay and conditions of working-class nurses, who were often overworked and underpaid.
This activism brought her into closer contact with the Socialist Medical Association (now the SHA), which had been founded in 1930 to campaign for a National Health Service and it also spoke out strongly for a wave of refugees fleeing Europe. The SMA, affiliated to the Labour Party, was instrumental in developing policy and mobilising support for a taxpayer-funded, publicly provided, universal healthcare system. The trade union movement, and specifically the Trades Union Congress (TUC), was a crucial ally for the SMA and its goals. The SMA, with its connections across the Labour and trade union movements, helped build a powerful coalition in support of nationalised healthcare.
In 1942, Thora Silverthorne (Thora Sinclair-Loutit) became the Organising Secretary of the SMA, its first paid employee. In this role, she became a key conduit between the SMA and the Labour Party leadership, helping to shape the political landscape in favour of a publicly provided national health service.
The SMA, the TUC, and the NHS
The campaign for the NHS was a collaborative effort, with the SMA and its trade union allies at the forefront. The SMA provided much of the intellectual and policy backbone, while the TUC and individual unions mobilised widespread working-class support. The 1943 Health Workers’ Convention, organised by the SMA, brought together health workers and union representatives to build a unified campaign for health reform.
As Organising Secretary, Silverthorne met with key political figures, including Clement Attlee and health minister Aneurin Bevan, (Bevan was from a mining background, like Silverthorne). In 1946, a delegation led by Silverthorne met with Attlee to discuss the creation of a national health service, a testament to her influence and the SMA’s. The SMA’s focus on a comprehensive, integrated service, with salaried doctors in health centres, was not fully adopted, but their vision was a powerful influence on the final shape of the NHS.
A legacy of solidarity
Thora Silverthorne’s story embodies the intersection of political activism, trade unionism, and compassionate medical care. Her experience treating the victims of fascist aggression in Spain fuelled her determination to fight for healthcare as a right, not a privilege. As a founder of Britain’s first rank-and-file nurses’ union and a central figure in the SMA’s campaign for the NHS, she directly shaped the course of British healthcare.
After her work with the SMA, Silverthorne continued her trade union work, retiring as an official of the Civil Service Clerical Association in 1970. When she died in 1999, her coffin was draped with the banner of the International Brigades, a fitting tribute to a life defined by solidarity. Silverthorne’s legacy, now increasingly recognised, stands as a powerful reminder of how grassroots political activism, international solidarity, and dedicated union organising laid the foundation for one of Britain’s most cherished institutions.
Former UNISON general secretary, Rodney Bickerstaff, credited Thora with having “changed nursing forever by creating a genuine trade union for nurses.”
We are very grateful to Thora’s family for permission to use the above images. https://hodsonevans.uk/thora-silverthorne/
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