George Watters

Who is George Watters?

George Watters was a miner and labourer from Prestonpans, East Lothian, who fought in the Spanish Civil War.

Watters was barred from working in the local pit as he was seen as an agitator and trouble maker following the 1926 General Strike and ensuing lock-out.

Watters opposed the British Union of Fascists and in May 1936 "I had a front seat [at the Usher Hall] and my job was to get up and create a disturbance right away by challenging Sir Oswald Mosley, which I did". Watters was arrested and escaped with a fine for five pounds.

Watters served in the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War and was captured by nationalist troops at Jarama on 13 February 1937. "We were tied by our thumbs with field telephone wire in twos and threes and driven behind their lines by Moorish cavalry using the flats of their sabres". This was the first major engagement of the British Battalion at the Battle of Jarama in February 1937. The British International Brigade force lost about half of its 600 men at a location they called "Suicide Hill".

After his capture at Jarama Watters was sentenced to lifetime solitary confinement. He came close to being executed whilst imprisoned.