Madge Addy – “The Manchester Nurse Who Became a Spy”, a talk by Chris Hall

Chris Hall gave a talk to the Chorlton Good Neighbours History Group (04-02-22) based on his biography of Madge Addy, a Manchester nurse who served alongside the International Brigades in Spain and went on to work as a British agent in Nazi-occupied France.

Madge joined the International Brigade of volunteers fighting for the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s She served as a nurse on the frontline of this war.

Later during the second World Was Madge joined the French resistance and,as a British secret agent was instrumental in establishing two different escape lines from occupied France for Allied agents and Allied servicemen, She was awarded an OBE and the French Croix de Guerre medal.

In May 2018 a blue plaque in honour of Madge was unveiled on Manchester Road, Chorlton in a house where Madge had lived and worked as a hairdresser before she left to join the International Brigade in Spain in the 1930s

Chris Hall with a copy of his book “The Nurse Who Became a Spy” in front of the Blue Plaque in Chorlton