Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-27gpq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T18:50:35.041Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Spy Fever in Britain, 1900–1915*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

David French
Affiliation:
King's College, London

Extract

Historians have spilt much ink in explaining the diplomatic machinations which led to war in 1914, but rather less ink in accounting for the bitterness which the war aroused. The answer to that question probably lies outside the realm of diplomatic documents. For Britain at least, a tiny part of the answer can be found in a myth which became increasingly virulent in the decade or so before the war: the myth of the evil and ubiquitous German spy.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Marder, A. J., From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, The Royal Navy in the Fisher er, I: The road to war (London, 1965), pp. 106–22Google Scholar; Ritter, G., The sword and the sceptre. The problem of militarism in Germany (Miami, 1970), II, 139–46Google Scholar. For examples of British fears, see the letter pages of The Times, 17 July 1908 and 3 Mar. 1909.

2 Steinberg, J., ‘The Copenhagen complex’, Journal of Contemporary History, 1, 3 (1966), 2342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 Queux, W. Le, The invasion of 1910 (London, 1906)Google Scholar, passim; Clarke, I. F., Voices prophesying war, 1763–1984 (London, 1966), pp. 121 ff.Google Scholar

4 P.R.O., W.O. 32/8873, Control of aliens, 24 Oct. 1907.

5 Edmonds MSS, III/5, ‘Reminiscences’, ch. XX, p. 1.

6 Edmonds MSS, VII/3, ‘Mes souvenirs d'espionage’ by E. Lajoux.

7 Queux, W. Le, Spies for the Kaiser, Plotting the downfall of England (London, 1909)Google Scholar, passim. See also Le Queux's entry in Who was who. (He died in 1928.)

8 Edmonds MSS, 111/5, ‘Reminiscences’, ch. xx, pp. 2–3. Summaries of the letters can be found in P.R.O., Cab. 16/8, ‘Report and Proceedings of a sub-committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence appointed to consider the Question of Foreign Espionage in the United Kingdom’, appendixes I and IX, 24 July 1909.

9 P.R.O., W.O. 106/45/525, History of 1(b), G.H.Q. 1917–18, Part I: The secret service, by Lt.-Col. R. J. Drake, 5 May 1919.

10 P.R.O., Cab. 16/8, appendix I, 13 April 1909.

11 The annual register, 1909, p. 117Google Scholar. In fact the rifles had been bought from the government by the Society of Miniature Rifle Clubs.

12 The members of the sub-committee were Haldane, Reginald McKenna (the first lord of the Admiralty), Herbert Gladstone (the home secretary), Sidney Buxton (the postmaster-general), Major-General Sir Spencer Ewart (the director of military operations), Brigadier-General Sir Archibald Murray (the director of military training), Sir Edward Henry (the commissioner of the metropolitan police), Sir George Murray (the permanent under-secretary of the Treasury), Lord Esher, and Sir Charles Ottley (the secretary of the committee of imperial defence).

13 P.R.O., Cab. 16/8, minutes of the 3rd meeting of the sub-committee 12 July 1909.

14 P.R.O., Cab. 16/8, ‘Report of a sub-committee…’, C.I.D. paper 47-A, 24 July 1909.

15 Nicolai, Colonel W., The German secret service (London, 1924), p. 37Google Scholar. P.R.O., W.O. 32/8872, Col. F. Drake to the chief of the general staff, 30 Dec. 1904. P.R.O., Cab. 4/3/114B, ‘Questions requiring inter-departmental consideration’, memorandum by the general staff, 22 Feb. 1910. P.R.O., Cab. 2/1, minutes of the iO5th meeting of the C.I.D., 24 Feb 1910. P.R.O., Cab. 17/90, ‘The powers that we possess of dealing with aliens’, memorandum by the general staff, 20 April 1910. P.R.O., Cab. 17/90, minutes of the first meeting of the standing sub-committee of the C.I.D. on the treatment of aliens in wartime, 7 July 1910.

16 P.R.O., Cab. 17/90, note by C. E. Troup (Home Office), 12 May 1910.

17 Hansard, fifth ser., XXI, 267–77, 8 February 1911; XXI, 442–3, 9 Feb. 1911; XXIV, 623–8, 18 April 1911; XXIV, 2106–2185, 28 April 1911.

18 P.R.O., Cab. 17/90, Ottley to Sir A. Thring, 7 1911.

19 P.R.O., Cab 17/90, minutes of the second meeting … in wartime, 31 Mar. 199; a copy of the registration form can be found in P.R.O., W.O. 32/8875, ‘Aliens in war’, 1910. P.R.O., W.O. 32/9098, Troup to R. H. Brade, 3 Dec. 1912. P.R.O., Cab. 17/90, paper A(B2068), ‘For chief constables only – Notes on the work of counter espionage’, Oct. 1912. P.R.O., Cab. 17/90, C.I.D. paper 181B, appendix v, July 1913.

20 Williams, D., Not in the public interest (London, 1965), pp. 1620.Google Scholar

21 P.R.O., Adm. 116/3408, ‘Report of a conference of representatives of the Admiralty and War Office upon the powers possessed by the executive in time of emergency’, appendix, memorandum A: questions put to Lord Desart and Mr Mellor, 25 Oct. 1906.

22 P.R.O., Cab. 16/8, ‘The common law as to espionage’, C. E. T[roup], 14 April 1909. P.R.O., Cab. 17/90, ‘The powers that we possess of dealing with aliens’, general staff memorandum 20 April 1910. Edmonds MSS, IV/4, ‘The powers possessed by the executive in times of emergency and war’, lecture at the staff college [n.d.], J. E. E[dmonds.]

23 P.R.O., Cab. 16/8, appendix VIII, note by the secretary C. L. O[ttley.], 15 June 1909. Adm 116/1058, bill entitled ‘An Act to ammend the Official Secrets Act of 1889’, 16 March, 1908.

24 P.R.O., Cab. 16/8, minutes of the 3rd meeting, 12 July 1909. P.R.O., Cab. 17/91/B23(26), Ottley to the secretary of the Treasury, 18 June 1910. Hankey, Lord, The supreme command (London, 1961), I, 115.Google Scholar

25 Hansard, fifth ser., XXIX, 2076, 2251–60, 2280, 17, 18 and 22 August 1911.

26 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 28, section 2; Williams, , Not in the public interest, pp. 26–8.Google Scholar

27 The Times, 19, 21, 30 August, 4 November 1911.

28 The Times, 12, 19 August, 29 October 1914.

29 P.R.O., Cab. 17/90, paper B: ‘Notes on the work and methods of foreign secret service agents’, October 1912. [General staff.]

30 Brigadier-General Waters, W. H. H., Secret and confidential (London, 1926)Google Scholar, passim.

31 P.R.O., Cab. 13/1, ‘Protection of Welsh coalfields’, memorandum by the home ports defence committee of the committee of imperial defence, Major R. St G. Gorton, 2 May 1912.

32 P.R.O., Cab. 2/1, minutes of the 103rd meeting of the C.I.D., 24 July 1909.

33 Edmonds MSS, 111/5, ‘Reminiscences’, ch. xx, p. 9; Admiral SirJames, W., The eyes of the navy, a biographical study of Admiral Sir Reginald Hall (London, 1955), pp. 89.Google Scholar

34 Die grosse politik der europaïschen kabinette, XXVIII, 425.

35 Die grosse politik, XXXI, 475.

36 General von Bernhardi, F., Germany and the next war (London, 1914), p. 231.Google Scholar

37 P.R.O., Cab. 37/108/162, Grey to Goschen, 23 November 1911. Die grosse politik, XXIX, 261.

38 Waters, , Secret, p. 36.Google Scholar

39 Gooch, G. P. and Temperley, H (eds.), British documents on the origins of the war, XI (London, 1926), 49.Google Scholar

40 Gooch, and Temperley, , British documents, XI, 6.Google Scholar

41 Marwick, A., The deluge (London, Pelican edn, 1967), p. 51Google Scholar; The Times, II, 21 August, 27 October 1914.

42 P.R.O., Cab. 17/28/B-30(10)2V, ‘List of points selected by the Admiralty and War Office’, note by the secretary, 23 Feb. 1910. P.R.O., Cab. 17/28/B-30(2), home ports defence committee, ‘Measures for safeguarding vulnerable points in peace and war’, note by the secretary, 27 July 1912.

43 The Times, 17 August 1914.

44 The Times, 9, 13 August 1914.

45 ‘Home Office statement of precautions’, The Times, 9 October 1914.

46 See, for example, Grant, H., Spies and secret service (London, 1915), pp. 138–46Google Scholar; Felstead, S. T., German spies at bay (London, 1920), p. 8Google Scholar; Rowan, R. W., Spy and counter-spy (London, 1928), pp. 54–5Google Scholar. A list of spies who were court-martialled during the war can be found in P.R.O., W.O. 32/4898; list of spies tried by general court-martial at home, judge advocate-general's office, 8 Oct. 1920.

47 At least one promising file is closed until 2015.

48 Hansard, fifth ser., LXVIII, 114–15, 12 November 1914; ‘Enemy agents on the east coast’, The Times, 18 September 1914; the real story of their sinking is given in Marder, , Dreadnought, II, 55–9.Google Scholar

49 Major-General SirCallwell, C. E., Experiences of a dug-out, 1914–18 (London, 1920), p. 3.Google Scholar

50 Hansard, fifth ser., LXVI, 268, 28 August 1914; LXVI, 564–9, 9 Sept. 1914.

51 Koss, S., Lord Haldane, scapegoat for Liberalism (New York, 1968), pp. 126–9.Google Scholar

52 Gilbert, M. (ed.), Winston S. Churchill, III (Companion), part I: Documents, July 1914–April 1915 (London, 1972), pp. 6870Google Scholar; Haldane, R. B., Richard Burton Haldane, an autobiography (London, 1929), p. 282.Google Scholar

53 Koss, , Haldane, p. 129Google Scholar; Hazlehurst, C., Politicians at war, July 1914 to May 1915; a prologue to the triumph of Lloyd George (London, 1971), p. 115.Google Scholar

54 P.R.O., Cab. 2/3, minutes of the 125th meeting of the C.I.D., 3 Mar. 1914; 4 & 5 Geo. 5, c. 12.

55 The Times, 16 August 1914.

56 P.R.O., W.O. 32/9098, Lt.-Col. P. W. Macdonough to Maj.-Gen. A. J. Murray, 11 October 1911. Callwell, , Experiences, p. 13.Google Scholar P.R.O., W.O. 32/5368, A. H. D[ennis] to the deputy assistant adjutant-general, 12 November 1914. P.R.O., Cab. 37/122/182, ‘Internment of enemy aliens’, R. McK[enna.], 7 December 1914.

57 SirTroup, Edward, The Home Office (London, 1926), p. 242.Google Scholar

58 Hansard, fifth ser., LXVIII, 109–10, 12 November 1914.

59 Hansard, fifth ser., LXVI, 268, 28 August 1914; LXVI, 563–4, 9 Sept. 1914; LXVIII, 79–107, 12 Nov. 1914.

60 P.R.O., W.O. 32/5368, A. H. D[ennis] to the deputy assistant adjutant general, 12 November 1914. P.R.O., Cab. 37/122/182, ‘Internment of enemy aliens’, R. McK[enna.], 7 December 1914.

61 P.R.O., Cab 45/207, Report on visits to internment camps, 1915, G. M. Stewart, M.P.

62 P.R.O., Cab. 38/28/49, ‘Treatment of aliens in time of war – report of a sub-committee’, C.I.D. paper 1988, R. McKenna, 17 October 1914.

63 Hansard, fifth ser, LXVIII, 1369, 26 November 1914.

64 McGill, B., ‘Asquith's predicament, 1914–18’, Journal of Modern History, xxxix, 3 (1967), 285.Google Scholar

65 Wilson, T., The downfall of the Liberal party (London, Fontana edn, 1968), pp. 2351.Google Scholar

66 Hazelhurst, , Politicians, pp. 145–6Google Scholar; Wilson, , Downfall, pp. 34–6Google Scholar; Koss, , Haldane, p. 159Google Scholar; Hansard, fifth ser., LXVIII, 412, 18 November 1914.

67 Hazelhurst, C., ‘Asquith as prime minister, 1908–16,’ English Historical Review, LXXXV (1970), 508.Google Scholar

68 Hansard, fifth ser., LXVIII, 52–3, 11 November 1914.

69 Wilson, , Downfall, pp. 31–6.Google Scholar

70 The Times, 10, 11 and 13 May 1915; The annual register, 1915, p. 103.Google Scholar

71 Wilson, , Downfall, p. 51Google Scholar; The Times, 10–14 May 1915.