1. Robert Martin Hilliard was an Olympic boxer, Irish republican, Church of Ireland minister and communist.
12 Facts About Robert Hilliard
1. 2.
Robert Hilliard was killed in the Spanish Civil War fighting in the International Brigades.
3.
Robert Hilliard won a Read Sizarship to Trinity College Dublin in 1921.
4.
Robert Hilliard was interested in a variety of sports and was a founding member of Trinity's hurling club.
5.
Robert Hilliard fought in the bantamweight class at the 1924 Olympics, representing Ireland.
6.
Robert Hilliard got a bye in the first round and lost on points to Benjamin Pertuzzo in the second round.
7.
Robert Hilliard became interested in the Oxford Group of evangelical Christians.
8.
Robert Hilliard was ordained a Church of Ireland priest in 1932, and worked in the mission to the poor attached to St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast.
9.
Robert Hilliard subsequently joined the Communist Party of Ireland, becoming an atheist as well as a Marxist.
10.
Robert Hilliard joined the International Brigades fighting for the Second Spanish Republic, either the Connolly Column of Irish volunteers or the British column.
11.
Robert Hilliard was one of four riflemen in the rearguard covering the Republican retreat after the Battle of Jarama.
12.
All were killed, Robert Hilliard dying of his wounds at Castellon de la Plana five days after being shot.