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Jane Sissmore
Kathleen Maria Margaret Archer ( Sissmore) MBE, known as Jane Sissmore, was the first female officer in Britain's Security Service, MI5, and was still their only woman officer at the time of her dismissal for insubordination in 1940. She had been responsible for investigations into Soviet intelligence and subversion. She then joined the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), but when Kim Philby, later to be exposed as a double agent, became her boss he reduced her investigative work because he feared she might uncover his treachery. In his memoirs, Philby wrote, "After Guy Liddell, Jane was perhaps the ablest professional intelligence officer ever employed by MI5". Following management changes in MI5, she returned there in 1945 or 1946. Personal life Jane Sissmore, the daughter of John Edmund Angelo Sissmore and Kathleen Maud Forbes-Smith was born in Bengal on 11 March 1898 and moved to London in her early childhood with her parents and elder brother. Sissmore became head girl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Member Of The Most Excellent Order Of The British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V and comprises five classes across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. Recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire were originally made on the nomination of the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions of the Empire (later Commonwealth) and the Viceroy of India. Nominations continue today from Commonwealth countries that participate in recommending British honours. Most Commonwealth countries ceased recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire when they cre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick White
Sir Dick Goldsmith White, (20 December 1906 – 21 February 1993) was a British intelligence officer. He was Director General (DG) of MI5 from 1953 to 1956, and Head of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1956 to 1968. Early life White was born in Tonbridge, Kent, the son of an ironmonger Percy Hall White and Gertrude Farthing and went to school at Bishop's Stortford College. He took a First Class Degree in History at Christ Church, Oxford in 1927, and learnt to speak German. He was athletic in his youth and obtained a blue in running at Oxford. He was described by Peter Wright as resembling David Niven: "the same perfect English manners, easy charm, and immaculate dress sense." He was, said Wright, "tall with lean, healthy features and a sharp eye". He would qualify for a Commonwealth Fellowship in 1928 which saw him seek further education in the United States at the University of Michigan and California. After returning to the UK, he failed to obtain a position at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace (pronounced ) is a country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and the only non-royal, non- episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between 1705 and 1722, and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The palace is named after the 1704 Battle of Blenheim. It was originally intended to be a reward to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough for his military triumphs against the French and Bavarians in the War of the Spanish Succession, culminating in the Battle of Blenheim. The land was given as a gift, and construction began in 1705, with some financial support from Queen Anne. The project soon became the subject of political infighting, with the Crown cancelling further financial support in 1712, Marlborough's three-year voluntary exile to the Continent, the fall from influence of his duchess, and lasting damage to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wormwood Scrubs Prison
HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs (nicknamed "The Scrubs") is a Category B men's local prison, located opposite Hammersmith Hospital and W12 Conferences on Du Cane Road in the White City in West London, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. History The prison lies at the southern end of the ancient park of the same name. The name "Scrubs" refers to scrubland while Wormwood — Artemisia absinthium — is a grey-foliaged sub-shrub, common on wasteland, which was traditionally used as a herb for the treatment of parasitic worms. 19th century The initial steps in the winter of 1874 involved the construction of a small prison made of corrugated iron and a temporary shed to serve as a barracks for the warders. Nine specially picked prisoners, all within a year of release, completed the buildings, after which 50 more prisoners were brought to erect a second temporary prison wing. Building then began on the permanent prison, with bricks being manufactured on site. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Blunt
Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), styled Sir Anthony Blunt KCVO from 1956 to November 1979, was a leading British art historian and Soviet spy. Blunt was professor of art history at the University of London, director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, and Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures. His 1967 monograph on the French Baroque painter Nicolas Poussin is still widely regarded as a watershed book in art history.Shone, Richard and Stonard, John-Paul, eds. ''The Books that Shaped Art History'', Introduction. London: Thames & Hudson, 2013. His teaching text and reference work ''Art and Architecture in France 1500–1700'', first published in 1953, reached its fifth edition in a slightly revised version by Richard Beresford in 1999, when it was still considered the best account of the subject. In 1964, after being offered immunity from prosecution, Blunt confessed to having been a spy for the Soviet Union. He was considered to be the "fourth man" of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mole (intelligence)
In espionage jargon, a mole (also called a "penetration agent", "deep cover agent", or "sleeper agent") is a long-term spy (espionage agent) who is recruited before having access to secret intelligence, subsequently managing to get into the target organization. However, it is popularly used to mean any long-term clandestine spy or informant within an organization (government or private). In police work, a mole is an undercover law-enforcement agent who joins an organization in order to collect incriminating evidence about its operations and to eventually charge its members. The term was introduced to the public by United Kingdom, British spy novelist John le Carré in his 1974 novel ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' and has since entered general usage, but its origin is unclear, as well as to what extent it was used by Intelligence agency, intelligence services before it became popularized. Le Carré, a former British intelligence officer, has said that the term mole was actually use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chapman Pincher
Henry Chapman Pincher (29 March 1914 – 5 August 2014) was an English journalist, historian and novelist whose writing mainly focused on espionage and related matters, after some early books on scientific subjects. Early life Pincher was born in Ambala, Punjab, to English parents. His father, Richard Chapman Pincher (his family was from north Yorkshire) was a major in the British army stationed in India, and his mother Helen (née Foster), was an actress. Pincher senior was serving in the Northumberland Fusiliers when Chapman was born. The couple had married in 1913 in Pontefract. The family returned home to Pontefract when Pincher was aged three, and he attended 13 different schools before the family settled in Darlington, where his father would later own a sweet shop and a pub on the River Tees. Aged 10, he won a scholarship to Darlington Grammar School where he took an interest in genetics, afterwards studying zoology and biology at King's College London. Chapman Pincher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald Maclean (spy)
Donald Duart Maclean (; 25 May 1913 – 6 March 1983) was a British diplomat who conveyed government secrets to the Soviet Union. As an undergraduate, Maclean openly proclaimed his left-wing views, and was recruited into the Soviet intelligence service, then known as the NKVD. He entered the Civil Service and in 1938, he was made Third Secretary at the Paris embassy. He then served in London and was sent to Washington, D.C. from 1944 to 1948, achieving promotion to First Secretary. He was posted to Egypt and then was appointed head of the American Department in the Foreign Office. The Soviets helped Maclean to defect to Moscow in 1951. In Moscow, Maclean worked as a specialist on British policy and relations between the Soviet Union and NATO. He died there on 6 March 1983. Childhood and school Born in Marylebone, London, Donald Duart Maclean was the son of Sir Donald Maclean and Gwendolen Margaret Devitt. His father was chosen as chairman of the rump of the 23 independent MPs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nigel West
Rupert William Simon Allason (born 8 November 1951) is a British former Conservative Party politician and professional author. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Torbay in Devon, from 1987 to 1997. He writes books and articles on the subject of espionage under the pen name Nigel West. Background Born in London, Allason and his brother, Julian, were brought up as Roman Catholics, the faith of their Irish mother, Nuala (who acted under the names Nuala McElveen and Nuala Barrie), daughter of John A. McArevey, of Foxrock, Dublin.Burke's Landed Gentry, eighteenth edition, vol. I, ed. Peter Townend, 1965, Burke's Peerage Ltd, p. 9 The boys attended Downside School. Their father, James Allason, was also a Conservative Party MP, descended from the architect Thomas Allason. Political career Allason contested Kettering in 1979 and Battersea in 1983 before being elected as Conservative MP for Torbay in 1987. He was opposed to ceding greater power to Brussels; in 1993 he was the on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oswald Allen Harker
Brigadier Oswald Allen Harker CBE (1886–1968), known as Jasper Harker, was Acting Director General of MI5 from 1940 to 1941. Background Oswald Allen Harker was born in Cirencester in 1886, the son of James Allen Harker, professor at the Royal Agricultural College, and his wife Lizzie Allen Harker. His younger brother was Brigadier Arthur William Allen Harker CBE. Career Harker joined the Indian Police in 1905, and served as Deputy Commissioner of Police in Bombay during World War I. He joined MI5 in 1920, after being invalided home from India the previous year.C.A.G. Simkins, F.H. Hinsley, British Intelligence in the Second World War: Security and Counter-intelligence v. 4 (Stationery Office, 1990) Harker served as the Deputy Director General prior to his promotion. He was promoted to acting Director General of MI5 __NOTOC__ The Director General of the Security Service is the head of the Security Service (commonly known as MI5), the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valentine Vivian
Colonel Valentine Patrick Terrell Vivian CMG CBE (1886–1969) was the vice-chief of the SIS or MI6 and the first head of its counterespionage unit, Section V. Vivian, while he was attempting to introduce new blood into the service, selected Kim Philby, who later became notorious as "The Third Man" double agent and defected to the Russians, causing considerable harm to the system he had infiltrated. Family background Valentine Vivian was born on 17 March 1886 in Kensington, London. He was the youngest of nine children of Tom Comely Vivian, portrait painter, and Elizabeth Baly Farquhar, miniature painter. His brother Sir Sylvanus Percival Vivian (1880–1958) was former Registrar General of England from 1921 to 1945. In 1911, Vivian married Mary Primrose Warlow, daughter of the Venerable Edmund John Warlow, archdeacon of Lahore, India. Early career Vivian joined the Indian Police (Imperial Service) in December 1906 and was posted as assistant district superintendent of pol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryptonym
A code name, call sign or cryptonym is a Code word (figure of speech), code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in industrial espionage, industrial counter-espionage to protect secret projects and the like from business rivals, or to give names to projects whose marketing name has not yet been determined. Another reason for the use of names and phrases in the military is that they transmit with a lower level of cumulative errors over a walkie-talkie or radio link than actual names. Military origins During First World War, World War I, names common to the Allies of World War I, Allies referring to nations, cities, geographical features, military units, military operations, diplomatic meetings, places, and individual persons were agreed upon, adapting pre-war naming procedures in use by the governments concerned. In the British case n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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