Reference Material
Facts, Figures, Suppositions and Anomalies
There are 4158 known identification numbers.
Number 4158 identification number was allocated to Señora Eguia Milicua who is the only adult known to have been allocated an ID number. She is the mother of five niños on the voyage.
There are 33 duplicated numbers resulting in the number of ID numbers rising to 4191.
Of the 4191 ID numbers there are 43 identification numbers without any information. It is possible that these numbers were issued but never allocated to any individual.
This brings the number of niños down to 4148 of which, according to Dorothy Lagarreta, 263 niños never made the voyage. The verification of Lagarreta's figure of 263 is very difficult to confirm. However, assuming that this is correct, this results in the number who made the voyage to 3885.
It is believed that three children came independently from possibly Russia, Belgium, France or Spain to join the niños in England. The final assumed figure of children in the UK is now 3888.
The figures issued by the Basque Children’s Committee are as follows:-
| Number of children brought to UK on 23rd May1937 | 3886 | |
| Number of children added since | 3 | |
| Total | 3889 |
The difference between the figures is now one and this is, at the moment, as true a figure as can be established with the information that is available.
As an interesting aside, the Duchess of Atholl in her book "Searchlight on Spain" published in 1937 states that 100 children never made the voyage and that 11 children were killed in bombing raids. Assuming at the time she had the figure of 4000, which was the agreed number to be accepted by the UK government, then 4000 minus 111 equals 3889.
Other items of interest may come to light in the future.
Gerald Hoare, 23 February 2017