Colin Hercules Mackenzie, CMG (1898–1986), a soldier, industrialist, and aesthete, was a

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

spymaster who led

Force 136 Force 136 was a far eastern branch of the British World War II intelligence organisation, the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Originally set up in 1941 as the India Mission with the cover name of GSI(k), it absorbed what was left of SOE's Or ...

throughout the period of its existence 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 ...

Origins

Mackenzie was the son of Major-General Sir

Colin Mackenzie Colonel Colin Mackenzie CB (1754–8 May 1821) was Scottish army officer in the British East India Company who later became the first Surveyor General of India. He was a collector of antiquities and an orientalist. He surveyed southern India, ...

and Ethel Ross, the daughter of Hercules Grey Ross ICS and granddaughter of the sportsman and photographer

Horatio Ross Horatio Ross (5 September 1801 – 6 December 1886) was a celebrated sportsman and a pioneer amateur photographer. Background and early life Ross was born at Rossie Castle, near Montrose, Angus on 5 September 1801, the son of Hercules Ross, ...

. Of Scottish ancestry on both sides of his family, he had the peripatetic childhood typical of many children of British Army officers.

Education

After

Summer Fields Summer Fields is a fee-paying boys' independent day and boarding preparatory school in Summertown, Oxford. It was originally called Summerfield and used to have a subsidiary school, Summerfields, St Leonards-on-Sea (known as "Summers mi"). H ...

and

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

(where he was a

King's Scholar A King's Scholar is a foundation scholar (elected on the basis of good academic performance and usually qualifying for reduced fees) of one of certain public schools. These include Eton College; The King's School, Canterbury; The King's School ...

), Mackenzie was commissioned into the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642, although it was only placed on the ...

and was badly wounded at the very end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, undergoing a series of amputations of his leg in an ultimately successful battle against gangrene.Alan Ogden, ''Tigers Burning Bright: SOE Heroes in the Far East'' (Bene Factum Publishing, London, 2013), at pages 72 to 81 Following the war, Mackenzie went up to

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

. On informing the Provost that he had forgotten his Latin and proposed to read English, Mackenzie was told that "English is a grubby subject" and elected instead to read economics. His tutor was

John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...

and he graduated with a first-class degree, having also won the Chancellor's Medal for English Verse. He later maintained that Keynes's most useful advice to him had been: "If a book is worth buying at all, it is worth buying in red Morocco."

Between the wars

After Cambridge, Mackenzie worked for J. and P. Coats in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. He became a director and played a leading part in the company's global expansion, in particular into South America. In the 1920s he had an intense epistolary relationship with the writer

Iris Origo Dame Iris Margaret Origo, Marchesa Origo, DBE (née Cutting; 15 August 1902 – 28 June 1988) was an English-born biographer and writer. She lived in Italy and devoted much of her life to improving the Tuscan estate at La Foce, near Montepulcia ...

Spymaster

During the Second World War, at the suggestion of his friend

Lord Linlithgow Marquess of Linlithgow, in the County of Linlithgow or West Lothian, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 23 October 1902 for John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun. The current holder of the title is Adrian Hope. This ...

, Mackenzie was appointed to set up a Far Eastern mission for

, which became known in due course as

. Unusually for senior SOE personnel, he remained in his post to the end of the war, despite the numerous political and other challenges that he faced. An official SOE report in 1944 recorded that:

No one can visit India without being impressed by Colin Mackenzie; by his exceptional grip on the working and personnel of his group; by his capacity to simplify and without delay go to the root of any problem; and by his remarkable sense of timing and diplomacy. The high regard in which he is held in SEAC, in GHQ India and in the Viceroy's Department is obvious. Not less impressive is the respect which all members of his group, scattered as it is all over India and China, have for his judgement; the faith they have in his capacity to produce the right solution for all problems; and the personal affection in which he is held.

By the end of the war, Mackenzie's command had expanded to the extent that he was responsible for 33,000 agents and auxiliaries in South East Asia.

Later years

After the war, Mackenzie was appointed to head the Economic Mission to Greece, but was prevented by ill health from taking up his post. He returned to J. and P. Coats, until retiring to the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated ...

. Mackenzie, a knowledgeable collector of books, also served as Chairman of the Scottish committee of the Arts Council, in which capacity he did much to encourage the creation of the

Scottish Ballet Scottish Ballet is the national ballet company of Scotland and one of the five leading ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside the Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Northern Ballet. Founded in 1969, ...

Family

In 1940, Mackenzie married Evelyn Clodagh Meade (1916–2001), the daughter of

Charles Francis Meade Charles Francis Meade (born 25 February 1881 – died 1975) was an English mountaineer and author. Origins Born in England, Meade was the only surviving child of the Hon. Sir Robert Henry Meade and Caroline Georgiana Grenfell. His mother died sh ...

and Aileen Hilda Brodrick. They had one daughter.''

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great Br ...

'', vol. 1 (2003), p. 797

Sources

* ''Who was Who'' (1981-1990)
Special Forces, Burma Star Association website.

External links

Imperial War Museum Interview from 1986
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackenzie, Colin Hercules 1898 births 1986 deaths Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George 20th-century Scottish businesspeople British Special Operations Executive personnel Scots Guards officers British Army personnel of World War I People educated at Eton College People educated at Summer Fields School Alumni of King's College, Cambridge