A Spanish Civil War archive relating to the Rio Tinto Mines and General Franco

A first-hand account of the taking of the Rio Tinto Mines during the Spanish Civil War 1936 
 
[along with] 
 
A confidential typescript of an interview with General Franco in 1950
 
GOUGH, Arthur Trevor, Major in the Royal Field Artillery; General Manager of the Rio Tinto Mines in Spain.
 
A substantial archive, c. 1914–1950, comprising official commissions letters and decorations from the First World War; an extensive run of 26 typed and autograph letters written from Huelva, Nerva, Bella Vista and the Rio Tinto mining district in the summer and autumn of 1936; contemporary press material; and a small group of period photographs, two confidential corporate reports about restructuring and then an extremely rare typescript, one of only four, in relation to an interview with General Franco. All material is about good to very good. A full inventory of the contents of this archive can be seen on request, but about 50 documents and around 130 pages in total. 
 
The core of the archive is a sequence of 26 long, closely written personal letters, dated July–September 1936, sent by Gough from the company’s headquarters at Bella Vista and from Huelva to his wife. Written as events unfolded, they form a continuous narrative of the collapse of civil authority, the initial occupation of the mining district by Republican forces, and the rapid advance of Nationalist columns from Seville towards Nerva, Zalamea, Salvochea and Rio Tinto itself. Gough records the evacuation of women and children to Gibraltar, the breakdown of communications, censorship and the cutting of telephone and postal services, the use of armbands and permits for workers, and the conversion of the company’s transport and housing infrastructure to military control. He describes bombing from aircraft, the movement of armoured lorries, the arrest and summary execution of prisoners, bodies taken to cemeteries in groups, and the climate of fear among both miners and civilian families. The letters are notably precise in naming places, individuals and units, and in distinguishing between rumour and what he had personally witnessed or confirmed through company and diplomatic channels. They also reveal the position of a British industrial concern caught between local military commanders, the London board, and the British diplomatic service, attempting simultaneously to protect staff, preserve plant, and navigate the political realities of a rapidly escalating civil war.
 
The archive also has a confidential typescript report, headed “Lord Bessborough’s Interview with General Franco”, dated 11 October 1950 and marked “Private & Confidential”. The distribution list explicitly includes “Mr. Gough” as one of only four to receive it. The report records in detail Bessborough’s audience with Franco, the circumstances of the meeting at the Pardo Palace, the presence of senior Foreign Office and embassy officials, and extended discussion of Anglo-Spanish relations, British press and broadcasting, Labour and Conservative opinion, non-intervention, and the Generalísimo’s views on the international position of Spain. The report demonstrated the strategic importance attached to the company and its senior officers in the post-war relationship between Britain and Franco’s Spain.
 
Supporting the archive are documents that show Gough’s standing and career. It includes his First World War commissions and decorations, among them official certificates of being Mentioned in Despatches, and foreign awards, together with formal royal and governmental documents attesting to his service with the Royal Field Artillery. A signed letter from Neville Chamberlain, written in 1919, addresses him as “Major Gough” and refers to his prospective return to Spain, already indicating the transition from decorated artillery officer to senior figure in British industrial operations overseas. A small group of period photographs shows Gough in uniform and in civilian company, and views associated with the Rio Tinto district and its personnel.
 
Overall, it is an archive of the highlights of Arthur Gough’s career, but it is the 1936 letters that provide an exceptionally vivid, contemporaneous account of the Spanish Civil War that stand out. The letters tell of the occupation, bombardment, executions and population movements in the Huelva–Rio Tinto basin, written from within the administrative and residential heart of the company. In addition, the Bessborough–Franco report, circulated privately to Gough, is extremely rare, being only one of four distributed giving a detailed recording of Franco’s views on Britain.