The ninth Purple Plaque to be unveiled in Wales celebrates a courageous nurse and a champion of her profession who grew up in Abertillery and went on to become one of the first British nurses to volunteer to help the wounded in the Spanish Civil War.
The plaque for Thora Silverthorne was unveiled on the outside of Abertillery Museum, Blaenau Gwent, on Friday, May 13, 2022.
Thora Silverthorne was the daughter of a miner who grew up in Abertillery. Her father, an NUM official, was sacked after the General Strike of 1926 forcing the family to leave Wales as he sought new work.
Thora’s lifelong socialist beliefs were honed by her politically-aware family and by growing up in the small South Wales mining community, according to her daughter Lucy Craig.
After training as a nurse at the Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, Thora volunteered to go to Spain with other British medics – despite speaking no Spanish and never having left Britain before. During her time in Spain she assisted with operations in bombed out buildings, sometimes without even basic medical supplies like anaesthetics.
Thora went on to found the first truly grassroots union for nurses, the Association of Nurses, which was only the second nurses’ organisation in Britain. It later merged to become part of UNISON.
Thora was also a founder member of the Socialist Medical Association and led a delegation to meet Prime Minister Clement Attlee and his Health Secretary Aneurin Bevan during the formation of the NHS.
The plaque was kindly funded by Thora’s family and was made by Chepstow potter Julia Land. It will be accompanied by a History Points QR code to help visitors to the museum learn about her life.
Purple Plaques Wales is delighted to add this remarkable woman to our list.
Mae’r nawfed Plac Porffor i’w ddadorchuddio yng Nghymru yn dathlu cyfraniad nyrs ddewr ac amddiffynnydd ei phroffesiwn a fagwyd yn Abertyleri ac a ddaeth yn un o’r nyrsys Prydeinig cyntaf i wirfoddoli yn Rhyfel Cartref Sbaen.
Cafodd plac Thora Silverthorne ei ddadorchuddio y tu allan i Amgueddfa Abertyleri, Blaenau Gwent, ddydd Gwener, 13 Mai 2022.
Merch i löwr oedd Thora. Cafodd ei thad, un o swyddogion Undeb y Glowyr, ei ddiswyddo ar ôl Cload Allan 1926 gan orfodi’r teulu i adael Cymru er mwyn iddo geisio dod o hyd i waith arall.
Yn ôl ei merch, Lucy Craig, sylfaen y daliadau sosialaidd a fu gan Thora gydol ei hoes oedd ei magwraeth ymhlith teulu ymwybodol wleidyddol mewn cymuned lofaol fechan yn Ne Cymru.
Ar ôl hyfforddi fel nyrs yn Ysbyty Radcliffe, Rhydychen, gwirfoddolodd Thora i fynd i Sbaen gyda gweithwyr meddygol eraill o Brydain – er nad oedd yn medru’r Sbaeneg ac nad oedd wedi bod dramor erioed o’r blaen. Yn ystod ei chyfnod yn Sbaen bu’n cynorthwyo gyda llawdriniaethau mewn adeiladau wedi’u bomio, weithiau heb gyflenwadau meddygol sylfaenol fel anesthetig hyd yn oed.
Aeth Thora ymlaen i sefydlu Cymdeithas y Nyrsys, sef yr undeb nyrsys cyntaf i ddeillio’n uniongyrchol o blith gweithwyr ar lawr gwlad, a’r ail fudiad yn unig i gynrychioli’r proffesiwn nyrsio. Daeth yn rhan o UNISON wedyn.
Roedd Thora hefyd yn un o sylfaenwyr y Gymdeithas Feddygol Sosialaidd, ac arweiniodd ddirprwyaeth i gwrdd â’r Prif Weinidog, Clement Attlee, a’i Ysgrifennydd Iechyd, Aneurin Bevan, yn ystod cyfnod ffurfio’r Gwasanaeth Iechyd Cenedlaethol.
Ariannwyd y plac drwy haelioni teulu Thora ac fe’i gwnaed gan y crochenydd o Gas-gwent, Julia Land. Bydd côd QR ‘History Points’ yn cyd-fynd â’r plac i helpu ymwelwyr â’r amgueddfa ddysgu am ei bywyd.
Mae Placiau Porffor Cymru’n falch dros ben o gael ychwanegu enw Thora at ein rhestr o fenywod nodedig.