The Forgotten Spy (38 page)

If anything, the intelligence records provide far more detail, given the files that were kept by MI5 on Soviet agents including Oldham. Most of these are also at The National Archives in series KV 2, with background information about MI5 in KV 4. Much material remains unreleased, as Andrew’s authorised account of MI5 makes clear; and virtually nothing has appeared in the public domain from the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).

Oldham’s military history was compiled from his service record, supported by extracts from the unit war diaries. These are also held at The National Archives, along with many more resources for tracing the movements of combatants during the terrible war that tore apart so many lives.

From the Soviet side, the KGB files were inaccessible – hence the reliance on the works cited above. However, much material was deposited in the Churchill Archives, Cambridge, by Soviet defector Vasili Mitrokhin who had painstakingly made copies of intelligence reports that passed through his hands. Even now, Russian interest in the Mitrokhin archive continues, with two ‘journalists’ taking extensive pictures of the material in the Churchill College archives during the autumn of 2014; rather ironically, given Oldham’s sartorial preference, both were dressed in brown suits.

1
       Author’s personal email correspondence with Michael Barratt

2
       Ibid

3
       Jenny Keating, History in Education Project, Institute of Historical Research, University of London (December, 2010) p.1

4
       From oral family history gathered together by Michael Barratt

5
       Keating, p.3

6
       TNA ref. CSC 10/3635

7
       J Tilley & S Gaselee,
The Foreign Office
(London, 1933) p.154

8
       Ibid pp.167–168

9
       Ibid p.168

10
     G Antrobus,
King’s Messenger 1918–1940 Memoirs of a Silver Greyhound
(London, 1941) pp.115–116

11
     V Wheeler-Holohan,
The History of the King’s Messengers
(London, 1935) pp.viii–ix

12
     Antrobus p.94

13
     Ibid p.19

14
     Ibid p.200

15
     Ibid p.202

16
     Tilley, Gaselee p.172

17
     Ibid pp.172–173

18
     
Correspondence respecting the European Crisis
(HMSO, 1914) no.5 p.9

19
     Ibid, no.10 p.12

20
     Prince Lichnowsky,
My Mission to London, 1912–1914
(New York, 1918) p.34

21
     Viscount Grey,
Twenty-Five Years, 1892–1916
(New York, 1925) p.20

22
     Tilley, Gaselee p.174

23
     A Mallinson,
1914: Fight the Good Fight Britain, the Army and the Coming of the First World
War
(London, 2013) p.6

24
     
The Times
, 5 August 1914

25
     Ibid

26
     Lord Derby’s speech to the men of Liverpool, 28 August 1914

27
     Wheeler-Holohan p.106

28
     
Ibid p.112

29
     Tilley, Gaselee pp.180–181

30
     Ibid p.181

31
     TNA ref. WO 339/112210

32
     Tilley, Gaselee p.173

33
     Ibid p.181

34
     Wheeler-Holohan p.115

35
     Tilley, Gaselee p.182

36
     Ibid p.195

37
     TNA ref. WO 339/112210

38
     Ibid for these and other details of Oldham’s training and military service

39
     Ibid

40
     Ibid

41
     Dr A Morton,
Sandhurst and the First World War: the Royal Military College 1902–1918
(Sandhurst Occasional Paper No. 17, 2014) p.17

42
     For Oldham’s movements in the 5th Battalion see TNA ref. WO 95/1902

43
     Ibid

44
     For Oldham’s movements in the 1st Battalion see TNA ref. WO 95/1609

45
     Ibid

46
     Ibid

47
     Ibid

48
     Ibid

49
     Ibid

50
     Ibid

51
     TNA ref. WO 339/112210

52
     TNA ref. WO 158/962

53
     WO 95/1609

54
     Ibid

55
     Ibid

56
     Ibid

57
     Ibid

58
     Ibid

59
     For details of Oldham’s injury and subsequent treatment, see TNA ref. WO 339/112210

60
     TNA ref. FO 371/3220

61
     Ibid

62
     Ibid

63
     Ibid

64
     Ibid

65
     TNA ref. FO 371/3221

66
     Antrobus pp.24–25

67
     Tilley, Gaselee p.200

68
     M L Dockrill and Zara Steiner ‘The Foreign Office at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919’ (International History Review, 1980) p.56

69
     H Nicholson,
Peacemaking 1919
(York, 1964) p.242

70
     Ibid p.229

71
     Dockerill, Steiner p.62

72
     Ibid p.64

73
     Nicolson pp.122–123

74
     Dockerill, Steiner p.67

75
     Ibid p.66

76
     Ibid p.60

77
     Ibid p.68

78
     Nicolson, p.314

79
     TNA ref. FO 371/3220

80
     Nicolson p.262

81
     
The Times
, 11 March 1919

82
     Ibid

83
     Ibid

84
     Ibid p.70

85
     Nicolson p.335

86
     Ibid p.368

87
     Ibid p.371

88
     TNA ref. FO 369/1462

89
     Ibid

90
     TNA ref. FO 366/788

91
     Ibid

92
     Ibid

93
     Tilley, Gaselee p.298

94
     Antrobus p.46

95
     Ibid p.45

96
     Ibid

97
     Ibid p.97

98
     Ibid p.98

99
     Ibid

100
   Ibid p.150

101
   Ibid pp.99–100

102
   
Ibid p.100

103
   Ibid pp.100–101

104
   Ibid p.101

105
   Ibid p.102

106
   Ibid pp.103–104

107
   Ibid p.49

108
   TNA ref. FO 1103/8

109
   Antrobus pp.64–65

110
   Ibid p.66

111
   Ibid p.65

112
   Wheeler-Holohan p.256

113
   Antrobus pp.65-66

114
   Wheeler-Holohan p.125

115
   Antrobus p.67

116
   Ibid

117
   Ibid

118
   TNA ref. FO 1103/17

119
   Antrobus pp.67–68

120
   TNA ref. FO 1103/4

121
   TNA ref. FO 1103/19

122
   TNA ref. FO 1103/30

123
   Wheeler-Holohan p.106

124
   R. C. Tucker,
Stalin in Power: The Revolution from Above, 1928–1941
(London, 1992) p.34

125
   Minutes of the Second Congress of the Communist International

126
   For an overview see S Twigge, E Hampshire and G Macklin,
British Intelligence
(London, 2008)

127
   For more information on SIS (MI6) see K. Jeffrey,
MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service
(London, 2010) p.83

128
   For a detailed history of MI5 see C Andrew,
The Defence of the Realm
(London, 2009)

129
   Dockerill, Steiner p.83

130
   Grigori Zinoviev, ‘Declaration of Zinoviev on the Alleged “Red Plot’,
The Communist Review
, vol. 5, no. 8 (Dec. 1924) pp.365– 366

131
   TNA ref. FO 366/812

132
   Ibid

133
   Antrobus p.62

134
   Ibid pp.62–63

135
   TNA ref. FO 1103/50

136
   D Sinclair,
Two Georges: The Making of the Modern Monarchy
(London, 1988), p.105

137
   TNA ref. FO 366/838

138
   Ibid

139
   Ibid

140
   TNA ref. FO 1103/56

141
   TNA ref. FO 1103/61

142
   Minutes of the Fifteenth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolshevik)

143
   
Launceston Examiner
, 27 April 1898

144
   
Launceston Daily Telegraph
, 28 February 1902

145
   
Emu Bay Times
, 19 March 1902

146
   As recounted in B. Bryson,
One Summer America 1927
(London, 2013) p.84

147
   
The Times
, 2 February 1907

148
   TNA ref. KV 2/808

149
   Information drawn from Wellsted’s will, proved in London in 1919

150
   Information from Post Office directories and electoral lists

151
   TNA ref. KV 2/808

152
   
Derby Mercury
, 9 February 1898

153
   
London Gazette
entries

154
   Information from Post Office directories and electoral lists

155
   TNA ref. FO 1103/29 and FO 1103/30

156
   
Chelmsford Chronicle
, 19 June 1931

157
   TNA ref. FO 371/14050

158
   Ibid

159
   G. Bessedovsky,
Revelations of a Soviet Diplomat
(London, 1931), p.243

160
   Ibid pp.243–244

161
   Ibid p.244

162
   Ibid p.245

163
   Ibid

164
   Ibid p.246

165
   Ibid pp.247–248

166
   Ibid p.248

167
   
TNA ref. KV 2/2670

168
   TNA ref. FO 1103/92

169
   
Daily Telegraph
, 25 October 1929

170
   
Townsville Daily Courier
, 29 October 1929

171
   
Canberra Times
, 29 October 1929

172
   
Daily Herald
, 29 October 1929

173
   TNA ref. FO 1103/92

174
   TNA ref. KV 3/12

175
   TNA ref. KV 2/2398

176
   Our knowledge of Dimitri Bystrolyotov is provided by Emil Draitser’s biography,
Stalin’s Romeo Spy
(London, 2011) based on an interview conducted with the author in 1973. The following passages are predominantly based on the Soviet files cited in this book, along with contributions from N West and O Tsarev,
The Crown Jewels
(London, 1998)

177
   Draitser p.110

178
   Ibid

179
   TNA ref. KV 2/2681

180
   Draitser p.110

181
   TNA ref. KV 2/2681

182
   Draitser, pp.110–111

183
   See Draitser pp.113–114

184
   West p.63

185
   See Draitser pp.111–112

186
   For details of the operation see Draitser pp.113-120

187
   See Draitser pp.125–126

188
   Draitser p.126

189
   For details of the confrontation, see Draitser pp.126–127

190
   Antrobus p.86

191
   Draitser, p.128

192
   TNA ref. KV 2/808

193
   Ibid

194
   TNA ref. FO 366/811

195
   Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

196
   Bessedovsky p.247

197
   
Chelmsford Chronicle
, 19 June 1931

198
   Antrobus p.184

199
   Ibid p.185

200
   Ibid

201
   TNA ref. FO 1103/100

202
   Ibid

203
   Draitser p.128

204
   As contained in Draitser’s account, pp.128–129

205
   Draitser pp.129, 132 and 145

206
   
Survey of a Quarter of a Century of the Treatment of Alcoholism and Other Drug Habits
(London, 1932)

207
   Draitser p.129

208
   West p.68

209
   Draitser p.130

210
   Ibid

211
   TNA ref. FO 1103/100

212
   Ibid

213
   Ibid

214
   TNA ref. FO 1103/101

215
   TNA ref. KV 2/808

216
   TNA ref. FO 610/295

217
   TNA ref. FO 1103/106

218
   Ibid

219
   Draitser p.131

220
   TNA ref. KV 2/804

221
   West pp.68–69

222
   TNA ref. KV 2/808

223
   For these two quotes, see Draitser pp.133–134

224
   TNA ref. FO 371/15929

225
   Ibid

226
   TNA ref. FO 371/15930

227
   Ibid

228
   TNA ref. FO 371/15931

229
   Cited in West p.69

230
   Cited ibid p.70

231
   Draitser p.136

232
   TNA ref. FO 1103/106