Arthur Dooley

[1][2] Born in the Dingle area of Liverpool, after leaving school at 14, Dooley began work as a welder at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead.

[8] Having decided he wanted to be a sculptor, he left London for Liverpool and set up a tiny studio; to support himself financially, he worked in the Dunlop Rubber Factory at Speke.

He sculpted mainly religious works including the Risen Christ in the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, Redemption (a collaborative work with Ann McTavish) in Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral, The Resurrection of Christ at Princes Park Methodist Church in Toxteth, a Madonna and Child at St Faith's Church in Crosby, and a sculpture entitled Splitting the Atom (depicting the creation of the atomic bomb) at Daresbury Laboratory, Cheshire.

The maquette suggests that the memorial was to consist of a granite base with three standing steel pillars with attached Celtic shields each bearing a martyr's name as well as some detail of the event's significance.

The final version of the monument is a stylised female figure, representing Dolores Ibarruri, in a long dress, standing with legs apart and arms raised.

Over time, the B listed statue fell into extremely poor condition and this generated criticism from the public, elected officials and trades unionists.

Watters was a veteran of the Scottish Ambulance Unit, which worked at the front line on the battlefields of Spain to aid wounded fighters and volunteers from across the world.