Stephen de Mowbray (15 August 1925 – 4 October 2016) was a counterintelligence officer in Britain's

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 intelligenc ...

(MI6).

Early life

He was born at Lymington on 15 August 1925, the son of Ralph de Mowbray, a surgeon, and was educated at Hordle House School, Milford on Sea, Hampshire (later subsumed into Walhampton School near Lymington) during 1934-1938, followed by

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

. After serving in the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

in World War II, he studied for a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) at

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

. He was expected to collect a First, but left with a Second (attributed to "exam nerves"). His tutor, the polymath

Isaiah Berlin Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...

, suggested that he become "a spy" (intelligence officer), because he would find the Foreign Office "too conventional".

Career

In 1950, de Mowbray joined the

MI6 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 intelligenc ...

, at first in the Economic Section under

George Kennedy Young George Kennedy Young, CB, MBE, M.A. (8 April 1911 – 9 May 1990) was a deputy director of MI6, and later involved in British Conservative Party politics. He was also a merchant banker. Early life George Kennedy Young was born in Dumfries, a ...

, later serving variously in Baghdad, Montevideo, and Washington DC. He retired in 1979. He was a champion of the controversial Soviet defector known as Anatoly Golitsyn. In 2010, de Mowbray was interviewed by the BBC. He stated that both Roger Hollis and Graham Russell Mitchell, suspected Soviet moles in MI5, were exonerated. "We followed Mitchell all over the place ... Even after his retirement, Mitchell was still monitored. Nothing was found. Next Hollis was investigated but eventually also cleared. But somebody was doing it" He married twice, firstly to Tamsin Giles, daughter of yachtsman Laurent Giles, and secondly to banker Patricia White.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mowbray, Stephen 1925 births 2016 deaths Counterintelligence analysts MI6 personnel People educated at Winchester College Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II Alumni of New College, Oxford Deaths from dementia in the United Kingdom People educated at Walhampton School and Hordle House School People from Lymington