Cecil Egerton Dixon (21 July 1903 — 3 March 1973) was a Scottish

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

er and an officer in the Intelligence Corps during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The son of

Brigadier-General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Henry Grey Dixon, he was born in July 1903 at Duns, Berwickshire. He was educated in England at

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin *Wellington College, Wellington, New Z ...

, before attending the

Royal Military College at Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry a ...

. He graduated from there into the King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in 1921, before being promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

in August 1925. Dixon played

for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

in the

1926 County Championship The 1926 County Championship was the 33rd officially organised running of the County Championship. Lancashire County Cricket Club won the championship title for the third time. Final placings were still decided by calculating the percentage of ...

, making two appearances against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

. He resigned his commission with the KOSB in January 1931, becoming a steel merchant. During the

, Dixon was an emergency commission with the rank of second lieutenant, being appointed into the Intelligence Corps. He held the

war substantive Military ranks are a system of hierarchical relationships, within armed forces, police, intelligence agencies or other institutions organized along military lines. The military rank system defines dominance, authority, and responsibility in a m ...

rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

by September 1943. His early war service saw him appointed by MI5 to be the Regional Security Liaison Officer at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, where he was involved with the apprehension of several German spies who had parachuted into Britain. Amongst these were Gösta Caroli,

Wulf Schmidt Wulf Dietrich Christian Schmidt, later known as Harry Williamson (7 December 1911 – 19 October 1992) was a Danish citizen who became a double agent working for Britain against Nazi Germany during the Second World War under the codename Tate. H ...

Josef Jakobs Josef Jakobs (30 June 1898 – 15 August 1941) was a German spy and the last person to be executed at the Tower of London. He was captured shortly after parachuting into the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Convicted of espionage unde ...

, and

Karel Richard Richter Karel Richard Richter (29 January 1912 – 10 December 1941) was a German spy who was executed by hanging at Wandsworth Prison. Richter was captured on 14 May 1941 after parachuting into the United Kingdom during the Second World War.West, p.259 H ...

. Later in the war, he served in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

with the

Intelligence Bureau Intelligence Bureau may refer to: * Intelligence Bureau (India) * Intelligence Bureau (Pakistan) * Intelligence agency See also *Intelligence Bureau for the East, a World War I German organisation *Intelligence agency *National Intelligence Servic ...

, where he helped to establish the Counter Intelligence Combined Board. Following the war, Dixon established the

Security Intelligence Far East Security Intelligence Far East (SIFE) was a British intelligence organization created in 1946 as the Far Eastern regional headquarters of the Security Service, MI5. It was based in British-controlled Singapore and established by Colonel Cyril Ege ...

in 1946, serving as its head before passing its leadership onto Malcolm Johnson of MI5. After the end of his military career, he acted as secretary of the West African Institute For

Trypanosomiasis Trypanosomiasis or trypanosomosis is the name of several diseases in vertebrates caused by parasitic protozoan trypanosomes of the genus ''Trypanosoma''. In humans this includes African trypanosomiasis and Chagas disease. A number of other diseas ...

Research. Dixon died at

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...

in March 1973.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Cecil 1903 births 1973 deaths Sportspeople from Duns, Scottish Borders Cricketers from the Scottish Borders People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst King's Own Scottish Borderers officers Scottish cricketers Hampshire cricketers Scottish merchants British Army personnel of World War II Intelligence Corps officers MI5 personnel Military personnel from the Scottish Borders