Sir Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart, KCMG (2 September 1887 – 27 February 1970) was a British diplomat, journalist, author, secret agent and

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

. His 1932 book ''Memoirs of a British Agent''Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart, ''Memoirs of a British Agent''; first published 1932 by Macmillan (January 1975); / became an international bestseller and brought him to the world's attention by telling of his failed effort to sabotage the

Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...

in Moscow in 1918, by assassinating Lenin and instigating a coup. After the plot failed, U.S. Consul General to Moscow and spymaster

DeWitt Clinton Poole DeWitt Clinton Poole (1885–1952) was an American intelligence officer. He served as U.S. Consul General in Moscow, and acted as America's spymaster in Revolutionary Russia. 1918 Ambassadors plot to assassinate Lenin Poole arrived in Moscow i ...

dissembled. It was said at the time that his main co-conspirator

Sidney Reilly Sidney George Reilly (; – 5 November 1925)—known as "Ace of Spies"—was a Russian-born adventurer and secret agent employed by Scotland Yard's Special Branch and later by the Foreign Section of the British Secret Service Bureau, the pre ...

, and others were

double agents In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...

working for the Bolsheviks. In the end, the "Lockhart Plot" was revealed as a cunning

sting operation In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person attempting to commit a crime. A typical sting will have an undercover law enforcement officer, detective, or co-operative member of the public play a role ...

controlled by

Felix Dzerzhinsky Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky ( pl, Feliks Dzierżyński ; russian: Фе́ликс Эдму́ндович Дзержи́нский; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed "Iron Felix", was a Bolshevik revolutionary and official, born into Polish nobility ...

with the goal of discrediting the British and French governments. However

Boris Savinkov Boris Viktorovich Savinkov (Russian: Бори́с Ви́кторович Са́винков; 31 January 1879 – 7 May 1925) was a Russian writer and revolutionary. As one of the leaders of the Fighting Organisation, the paramilitary wing ...

and in particular

Xenophon Kalamatiano Xenophon de Blumenthal Kalamatiano (14 July 1882 – 9 November 1923) was an American intelligence agent recruited from the University of Chicago to serve in Russia as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. He became the chief ...

were working with State Department under the direction of US Secretary of State

Robert Lansing Robert Lansing (; October 17, 1864 – October 30, 1928) was an American lawyer and diplomat who served as Counselor to the State Department at the outbreak of World War I, and then as United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wi ...

, as pieced together in recent research by the historian

Barnes Carr Barnes may refer to: People * Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name) Places United Kingdom *Barnes, London, England **Barnes railway station ** Barnes Bridge railway station **Barnes Railway Brid ...

Background

He was born in

Anstruther Anstruther ( sco, Ainster or Enster ; gd, Ànsruthair) is a small coastal resort town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther Eas ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...

, the son of Robert Bruce Lockhart, the first headmaster of Spier's School, Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland. His mother was Florence Stuart Macgregor, while his other ancestors include Bruces, Hamiltons, Cummings, Wallaces and Douglases. He claimed that he could trace a connection back to Boswell of Auchinleck. In ''Memoirs of a British Agent'', he wrote, "There is no drop of English blood in my veins." He attended Fettes College, in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. His family were mostly schoolmasters, but his younger brother, Sir Robert McGregor MacDonald Lockhart, became an

Indian Army The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...

general. On 15 August 1947, the day British India was partitioned into two independent Dominions of India and Pakistan, he was appointed as the last Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army. His brother John Bruce Lockhart was the headmaster of

Sedbergh School Sedbergh School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, in North West England. It comprises a junior school for children aged 4 to 13 and the main school for 13 to 18 year olds. ...

, and his nephews

Rab Bruce Lockhart Rab Brougham Bruce Lockhart (1 December 1916 – 1 May 1990) was a Scottish soldier and schoolmaster, notable for his sporting career as a Scotland international at rugby unionLogie Bruce Lockhart went on to become headmasters of Loretto and

Gresham's Gresham's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Day school, day and boarding school) in Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Bac ...

. His great-nephew, Simon Bruce-Lockhart, was the headmaster of Glenlyon Norfolk School.

Career

Malaya

At 21, Lockhart went out to Malaya to join two uncles who were rubber

planters Planters Nut & Chocolate Company is an American snack food company now owned by Hormel Foods. Planters is best known for its processed nuts and for the Mr. Peanut icon that symbolizes them. Mr. Peanut was created by grade schooler Antonio Gentil ...

there. According to his own account, he was sent to open up a new rubber estate near

Pantai Pantai is a mukim and settlement in Seremban District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Pantai is the Malay word for "beach" even though Pantai is located inland. One theory suggests that there was a lot of sand which in a way looks like a beach. Panta ...

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan'') is a state in Malaysia which lies on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It borders Selangor on the north, Pahang in the east, and Malacca and Johor to the s ...

, in a district in which "there were no other white men". He then "caused a minor sensation by carrying off Amai, the beautiful ward of the Dato' Klana, the local Malay prince... my first romance". However, three years in Malaya, and one with Amai, came to an end when "doctors pronounced Malaria, but there were many people who said that I had been poisoned". One of his uncles and one of his cousins "bundled my emaciated body into a motor car and... packed me off home via Japan and America". The Dato' Klana in question was the

chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the bo ...

of Sungei Ujong, the most important of the Nine States of Negeri Sembilan, whose palace was at

Ampangan Ampangan is a mukim in Seremban District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. It is possible that Ampangan comes from the Malay word "Empangan" which means dam. Ampangan has a ''pasar malam'' (night market) on every Tuesday and Friday evening. People in ...

First Moscow posting

Lockhart successfully passed the examination for the British Foreign Service and was posted to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

as Vice-Consul in January 1912. He was acting British Consul-General in Moscow for much of the First World War, from 1914 to 1917. He was present when the

February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and some ...

broke out in early 1917 but left shortly before the

later that year. Lockhart states, "I left St. Petersburg just as the Kerensky-Korniloff duel was starting. I arrived in London six weeks before the Bolshevik revolution." At the time of his arrival in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

in 1912, people had heard that a great footballer named Lockhart from Cambridge was arriving, and he was invited to turn out for Morozov a textile factory team that played their games 30 miles east of Moscow. The manager of the cotton mill was from

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

, England. Lockhart played for most of the 1912 season, and his team won the Moscow league championship that year. The gold medal that he won is in the collection of the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in t ...

. The great player, however, was Bruce's brother, John, who had played rugby union for Scotland, and by his own admission, Bruce barely deserved his place in the team and played simply for the love of the sport.

Return to Moscow

In January 1918, at the behest of the British Prime Minister

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for lea ...

and

Lord Milner Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, (23 March 1854 – 13 May 1925) was a British statesman and colonial administrator who played a role in the formulation of British foreign and domestic policy between the mid-1890s and early 1920s. From ...

, the

Secretary of State for War The Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, which existed from 1794 to 1801 and from 1854 to 1964. The Secretary of State for War headed the War Office and ...

, Lockhart returned to Russia as the United Kingdom's first envoy to Bolshevik Russia, in an attempt to counteract German influence. (As Britain did not have diplomatic relations with the Bolsheviks, officially Lockhart was Head of a Special Mission.) Lockhart also worked for the

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intellige ...

, having been given £648 worth of diamonds to fund the creation of an agent network in Russia.

Moura Budberg Maria Ignatievna von Budberg-Bönninghausen (russian: Мария (Мура) Игнатьевна Закревская-Бенкендорф-Будберг, ''Maria (Moura) Ignatievna Zakrevskaya-Benckendorff-Budberg'', née Zakrevskaya; February ...

, the wife of a high-ranking Czarist diplomat, Count Johann von Benckendorff, became his mistress. When the wartime foreign correspondent

Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...

was arrested in 1919 for spying for the Bolsheviks, Lockhart spoke out for him, saying Ransome had been a valuable intelligence asset amid the worst chaos of the revolution. Lockhart also helped

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...

's secretary, Evgenia Petrovna Shelepina, with whom Ransome had fallen in love, to leave Russia in 1919; she married Ransome in 1924.

Arrest and imprisonment

In 1918, Lockhart and British agent

were alleged to have plotted to assassinate

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

leader

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

. Lockhart and British officials condemned that as Soviet propaganda. He was accused of leading the "Lockhart Plot" against the Bolshevik regime and, for a time during 1918, was confined in the

Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of the kremlins (Ru ...

as a prisoner and feared being condemned to death. However, he escaped trial via an exchange for his counterpart, Maksim Maksimovich Litvinov, the Bolshevik government's representative in London, who had been arrested for engaging in propaganda activities . Lockhart was tried ''

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in ab ...

'' before the Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal in a proceeding, which opened 25 November 1918. Robert Service, ''Spies and Commissars: Bolshevik Russia and the West.'' London: Macmillan, 2011; pg. 164. Some 20 defendants faced charges in the trial, most of whom had worked for the Americans or the British in Moscow, in the case levied by procurator Nikolai Krylenko. The case concluded on 3 December 1918, with two defendants sentenced to be shot and various others sentenced to terms of prison or forced labour for terms up to five years. Lockhart and Reilly were both sentenced to death in absentia, with the sentence to be executed if they were ever found in

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

again. Lockhart wrote about his experiences in Malaya and Russia in his 1932 autobiography, ''Memoirs of a British Agent'', which became a best seller, and whose chapters on the Revolution were turned into the 1934 film, '' British Agent'', by

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

Finance

In November 1919, Lockhart was appointed commercial secretary of the British legation in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. In late 1922, with the personal debts he ran up exceeding his official salary and feeling the need for change, he resigned from the Foreign Service to accept a position in Prague with the Anglo-Czechoslovakian Bank, on whose creation he had worked. In 1925, Lockhart moved to a job with the Anglo-International Bank, based in London but specializing in central European affairs. By 1928, however, again indebted and bored, he sought a new career in journalism. Lockhart turned his experiences in central Europe during these years into his second volume of autobiography, ''Retreat from Glory'' (1934).

Journalism

After leaving the world of finance, Lockhart joined Lord Beaverbook's ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

''. He served as the editor of the paper's

Londoner's Diary "Londoner's Diary" is a gossip column in the London ''Evening Standard''. Since 1916 the column has provided readers with witty and mischievous insights into high society; from political scandals and literary feuds to the backstage gossip at fas ...

column and became known for his hard-drinking and semi-debauched lifestyle. It enhanced his reputation that, despite having been caught by the Russians and exchanged for a Soviet agent, he remained on unusually cordial terms with the Soviet Embassy in London, from whom he received an annual gift of

caviar Caviar (also known as caviare; from fa, خاویار, khâvyâr, egg-bearing) is a food consisting of salt-cured roe of the family Acipenseridae. Caviar is considered a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or a spread. Traditionally, the te ...

. He also helped to organise Beaverbrook's

Empire Free Trade Crusade The Empire Free Trade Crusade was a political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Lord Beaverbrook in July 1929 to press for the British Empire to become a free trade bloc. The group was founded to oppose both the Labour minority g ...

campaign. In the 1930s, Lockhart began to release a number of books, which were successful enough to allow him to take up writing as a full-time career in 1937.

Later life

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 opposi ...

, Lockhart returned to government service. He became director-general of the Political Warfare Executive, co-ordinating all British propaganda against the

Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

. He was also for a time the British liaison officer to the

Czechoslovak government-in-exile The Czechoslovak government-in-exile, sometimes styled officially as the Provisional Government of Czechoslovakia ( cz, Prozatímní vláda Československa, sk, Dočasná vláda Československa), was an informal title conferred upon the Czechos ...

under President

Edvard Beneš Edvard Beneš (; 28 May 1884 – 3 September 1948) was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1945 to 1948. He also led the Czechoslovak government-in-exile 1939 to 194 ...

. Lockhart recounted his activities from the Munich Crisis to VJ-Day in another volume of autobiography, ''Comes the Reckoning'' (1947). After the war, he resumed writing, lecturing and broadcasting and made a weekly

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

broadcast to

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

for over ten years.

Personal life

In 1913, Lockhart married firstly Jean Adelaide Haslewood Turner of Brisbane, Australia, and they had a son, the author

Robin Bruce Lockhart Robert Norman Bruce Lockhart (13 April 1920 – 20 February 2008), known as Robin, was a British journalist, stock broker, and author. Biography Bruce Lockhart was the only son of R. H. Bruce Lockhart, a British diplomat, secret agent, journalis ...

, who wrote the book ''Ace of Spies'' (1967) – about his father's friend, the agent

– from which the television serial ''

Reilly, Ace of Spies ''Reilly, Ace of Spies'' is a 1983 British television programme dramatizing the life of Sidney Reilly, a Russian-born adventurer who became one of the greatest spies ever to work for the United Kingdom and the British Empire. Among his exploits ...

'' (1983) was later produced. He divorced his first wife Jean in 1938 citing her adultery with Loudon McNeill McClean. In 1948, Lockhart married his second wife Frances Mary Beck. His diaries, published after his death, reveal that he struggled for most of his life with alcoholism.

Death and legacy

Lockhart died on 27 February 1970, at the age of 82, and left property valued at £2054. His address at death was Brookside, Ditchling, Sussex. The 1983 British television series ''

'', was based on a book by his son. Lockhart was portrayed by actor

Ian Charleson Ian Charleson (11 August 1949 – 6 January 1990) was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell in the Oscar-winning 1981 film '' Chariots of Fire''. ...

in the series.

Honours

* Knight Commander of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

(1943). The London Gazette, Issue 35841

Books

* ''Memoirs of a British Agent'' (Putnam, London, 1932). American edition: ''British Agent'' (Putnam, New York, 1933) * ''Retreat from Glory'' (Putnam, London, 1934) * ''Return to Malaya'' (Putnam, London, 1936) * ''My Scottish Youth'' (Putnam, London, 1937) * ''Guns or Butter: War countries and peace countries of Europe revisited'' (Putnam, London, 1938) * ''A Son of Scotland'' (Putnam, London, 1938) * ''Comes the Reckoning'' (Putnam, London, 1947) * ''My Rod, My Comfort'' (Putnam, London, 1949) * ''The Marines Were There: the Story of the Royal Marines in the Second World War'' (Putnam, London, 1950) * ''Scotch: the Whisky of Scotland in Fact and Story'' (Putnam, London, 1951) * ''My Europe'' (Putnam, London, 1952) * ''What Happened to the Czechs?'' (Batchworth Press, London, 1953) * ''Your England'' (Putnam, London, 1955) * ''Jan Masaryk, a Personal Memoir'' (Putnam, London, 1956) * ''Friends, Foes, and Foreigners'' (Putnam, London, 1957) * ''The Two Revolutions: an Eyewitness Study of Russia, 1917'' (Bodley Head, London, 1967) * ''The Diaries of Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart'' Vol 1 (Macmillan, London, 1973) * ''The Diaries of Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart'' Vol 2 (Macmillan, London, 1980) * ''My Scottish Youth'' (B&W Publishing, Edinburgh 1993)

References

External links

*
BRITISH AGENT by R. H. Bruce LockhartParliamentary Archives, Papers of Robert Bruce Lockhart
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lockhart, Robert Hamilton Bruce 1887 births 1970 deaths Robert Hamilton Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George People from Anstruther 20th-century Scottish writers Writers about the Soviet Union Scottish diplomats Scottish politicians British propagandists People educated at Fettes College Foreign Office personnel of World War II World War I spies for the United Kingdom