Fred Copeman Fred Copeman OBE ( 1907 – 1983 ) was an English volunteer in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War , commanding the British Battalion . He is also notable for organising London ' s air raid defences during the Second World War , an achievement which earned him the OBE . Childhood . Fred Copeman was born in the Wangford Union Workhouse near Beccles in East Suffolk , England , in 1907 . His mother and brother , George , were also residents . Initially , the Copeman brothers were the only children in the workhouse but , in 1916 , Fred ( aged nine ) and George were moved from the workhouse to the Children ' s Home in Ravensmere Road , Beccles . It was here that Copeman befriended his first dog , a stray he called " Bonnie " . Shortly , afterwards , George was sent to Canada to make a fresh start by the children ' s charity , Barnardo ' s , and Fred " never saw nor heard of him [ again ] " . Training . The focus of care at the time was to make boys swiftly self - sufficient and so , aged 12 , Copeman was sent to Watts Naval School at North Elmham , Norfolk , to prepare for a life at sea . After two years , he was duly enlisted in the Royal Navy and was sent to HMS Ganges , an onshore naval training base near Shotley in Suffolk . HMS Ganges had a mixed reputation in the Royal Navy , both for its reputed harsh methods of training boys in order to turn out professionally able , self - reliant ratings and for the professionalism of its former trainees . From HMS Ganges , Copeman was sent to the Mediterranean Fleet , which was based in Malta . The poverty of the Maltese had a profound impression on him . It was here that he learned to box , earning money as a heavyweight prizefighter . He also narrowly missed the chance to become an officer , spending three weeks in Malta ' s Corradina prison for " " a practical joke " " that went wrong . Invergordon Mutiny , September 1931 . In September 1931 , as part of its attempts to deal with the Great Depression , the new National Government launched cuts to public spending . Navy spending cuts were translated into a 10 % pay cut ( matching 10 % cuts across the board for public sector workers ) . However , the cuts were not applied equally to all ranks . Sailors of the Atlantic Fleet , arriving at Invergordon ( on the Cromarty Firth in Scotland ) in the afternoon of Friday 11 September , learned about the cuts from newspaper reports . Copeman - then a 24 - year - old able seaman serving on the HMS Norfolk - succinctly describes the causes of the mutiny : It came . . . as a complete surprise when newspapers were read throughout the ships , indicating that in most cases the lower ranks would lose more than the senior ranks . The actual [ pay ] reductions were : - Admiral , 7 per cent ; Lieut . Commdr . , 3 . 7 per cent ; Chief Petty Officer , 11 . 8 per cent ; and Able Seaman , 23 per cent . The mutiny lasted two days ( 15 – 16 September 1931 ) . Copeman , with another able seaman - Len Wincott - became a member of the " Norfolk " ' s strike committee . Although the mutiny was entirely peaceful , the Royal Navy imprisoned dozens of the ringleaders and dismissed hundreds more , Copeman among them . In " Crusade in Spain " , Jason Gurney notes that Copeman was not charged , suggesting that his role must have been far more minor than the leader he presented himself to have been . Alan Ereira says that Copeman was one of the eight ringleaders " hustled outside the dockyard gates with 13 s [ hillings ] and a railway warrant " According to Ereira , " Some of the men were seen crying outside the dockyard at Devonport . They were reduced to beggary . " Copeman himself reflected on the event later : [ The mutiny ] was a turning point . . . I began to understand the meaning of leadership and - even more important - the meaning of politics . Although the mutiny was not , in the minds of those who took part in it , political , I could not fail to be affected politically by it . The Communist Party had not neglected to notice those who taken any leading part at Invergordon . Wincott immediately started work in the International Labour Defence , an organisation in the control of the Communist Party . Some months later , I myself linked up with it and both of us finally joined the Party itself . Most politicians are egoists and I more than most . At Invergordon , I had tasted leadership and felt the thrill of power , which came from the willing support of thousands of followers . The Party were quick to observe this and to draw me into active association with them . It was not long before I was in the thick of the political battle on their side and liking it . Union activist . Shortly after being discharged from the Royal Navy , Copeman became a member of the National Unemployed Workers ' Movement . He organised pickets and demonstrations at Employment Exchanges and elsewhere . In 1933 , he was imprisoned in Wandsworth Prison for two months for breaking a government ban on marches . He repeated the offence on being re - released , for which he was sentenced to a further three months , in Brixton Prison . A few months later , he was again arrested and imprisoned for four months , in Wormwood Scrubs , this time at hard labour . Spanish Civil War , 1936 - 1939 . Along with many other Communist Party members , Copeman decided to join the defence of the Second Spanish Republic . He left for Spain on 26 November 1936 , where he joined the British Battalion of the International Brigades . At the Battle of Jarama , in February 1937 , Copeman was wounded in the arm and head : Copeman made what appeared to be a complete recovery and , on his return to the battalion , became commander . Later , just before the Battle of Teruel , he nearly died of complications from his wound ( a small piece of unremoved shrapnel became infected ) and was invalided home permanently . World War II and after . The first thing Copeman did on return was to marry . This took place at Lewisham Registry Office on 21 May 1938 and " some eleven hundred people " gathered for the wedding reception that night at St Pancras Town Hall . However , in common with many returned volunteers , Copeman was disenchanted by what he had seen in Spain . As a member of the Executive Committee of the Communist Party , he was invited to visit the Kremlin , where he met Dolores Ibárruri , better known as " La Pasionara " . He was disillusioned by what he saw and , following a fist - fight , left the Communist Party shortly afterwards . Copeman was closely monitored by the British Security Service MI5 for years . Nevertheless , when the Second World War came " he was to play a significant role in organising civilian protection against German air - raids in London and was decorated " . In this capacity , he gave several lectures to the Royal Household at Buckingham Palace . In November 1948 , he was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to London . Shortly afterwards , he was received into the Roman Catholic church . He remained active in politics , though over the years he mellowed . He became a " popular Trades Union organiser " and a Labour Party councillor on Lewisham Borough Council . He and his wife , Kitty , had four children . Copeman died in London in 1983 . < br >