Guy Liddell
Encyclopedia
Guy Maynard Liddell, CB
, CBE
, MC (8 November 1892 - 3 December 1958) was a British
intelligence officer during World War II
.
officer, and his wife Emily Shinner, who died when Liddel was still a child. He was the younger brother of Capt. Cecil Frederick Joseph Liddell, who served as Head of MI5's Irish section from 1939, and David Edward Liddell; and was a distant relation of Alice Pleasance Liddell, the child friend of Lewis Carroll
who was the basis for the books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
and Through The Looking Glass.
He was a talented cellist in his youth and was studying in Germany
for a career as a professional musician when World War I
began. During the conflict, he served with the Royal Field Artillery
and was awarded the Military Cross
. After the war, Liddell joined Scotland Yard
where, in liaison with Special Branch
and the Foreign Office, he was involved in breaking a spy ring based around the All Russian Cooperative Society in London
.
He married Hon. Calypso Baring, daughter of Cecil Baring, 3rd Baron Revelstoke of Membland
, and Maude Louise Lorillard, on 7 April 1926. They had one son and three daughters; Peter Lorillard Liddell (Feb. 9, 1927-Apr. 2004), Elizabeth Gay Liddell (born Feb. 28 1928), Juno Liddell (Mar. 29, 1930-Nov. 13, 1968) and Maude Liddell (May 16, 1931).
He transferred to MI5
with his team in October 1931, where he became an expert on Soviet subversive activities within the UK and recruited agents, including his private secretary Dick Wright, and future head of B5(b) Maxwell Knight
, in preparation for possible war with Germany
. In 1936 he traveled to Washington where information he provided to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
allowed the FBI to break a German spy-ring based around Gunther Rumrich.
, Prime Minister Winston Churchill
sacked Director-General of MI5
Vernon Kell and in June 1940 Liddell was promoted to Director of B Division in charge of counter-espionage, where he appointed Dick Wright and Anthony Blunt
to senior posts. Shortly after the new appointment, he was informed by Maxwell Knight of a suspected German spy-ring based around the Right Club of Archibald Ramsay and involving American cipher clerk Tyler Kent
. Liddell met with U.S. Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., who agreed to waive Kent’s diplomatic immunity and he was successfully prosecuted, along with his handler, Anna Wolkoff
.
His agent, Duško Popov, provided an Abwehr questionnaire suggesting that the Japanese Air Force planned to attack the United States at Pearl Harbor
. Popov was sent to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
, who refused to take him seriously. Liddell was later criticized for not informing the Office of Naval Intelligence
.
His unhappy marriage to Hon. Calypso Baring was dissolved in 1943 after she had left him for her American half-brother. He subsequently fought a long legal battle for custody of their children.
, but was passed over when Home Secretary
Herbert Morrison
was informed by Ellen Wilkinson
of rumors that he might be a double agent and was instead appointed Deputy-Director-General under Percy Sillitoe
. These rumours were exacerbated when his close friend Guy Burgess
defected. He was also a known associate of other members of the Cambridge Five
spy ring, Kim Philby
and Anthony Blunt
and in 1953 following an MI5 internal investigation he took early retirement and went to work as a security adviser to the Atomic Energy Authority. He died of heart failure in 1958 at his home, 18 Richmond Court, Sloane Street, London, and was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery
. In 1979, Goronwy Rees
confessed to having been a Soviet spy, and named Liddell as the Fifth Man
. Papers released since have all but completely cleared him of the charge, with the general academic consensus being that he was naïve in his friendships with some of his work colleagues.
, writing under the nom de plume of Nigel West, has edited Liddell’s wartime diaries for publication in two volumes.
drama Cambridge Spies
.
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, CBE
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
, MC (8 November 1892 - 3 December 1958) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
intelligence officer during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Early life & career
Lidell was born on November 8, 1892 at 64 Victoria Street, London, he was the son of Capt. Augustus Frederick Liddell RA, a retired Royal ArtilleryRoyal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
officer, and his wife Emily Shinner, who died when Liddel was still a child. He was the younger brother of Capt. Cecil Frederick Joseph Liddell, who served as Head of MI5's Irish section from 1939, and David Edward Liddell; and was a distant relation of Alice Pleasance Liddell, the child friend of Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
who was the basis for the books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
and Through The Looking Glass.
He was a talented cellist in his youth and was studying in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
for a career as a professional musician when World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
began. During the conflict, he served with the Royal Field Artillery
Royal Field Artillery
The Royal Field Artillery of the British Army provided artillery support for the British Army. It came into being when the Royal Artillery was divided on 1 July 1899, it was reamalgamated back into the Royal Artillery in 1924....
and was awarded the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
. After the war, Liddell joined Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
where, in liaison with Special Branch
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...
and the Foreign Office, he was involved in breaking a spy ring based around the All Russian Cooperative Society in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
He married Hon. Calypso Baring, daughter of Cecil Baring, 3rd Baron Revelstoke of Membland
Baron Revelstoke
Baron Revelstoke, of Membland in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1885 for the businessman Edward Baring, head of the family firm of Barings Bank...
, and Maude Louise Lorillard, on 7 April 1926. They had one son and three daughters; Peter Lorillard Liddell (Feb. 9, 1927-Apr. 2004), Elizabeth Gay Liddell (born Feb. 28 1928), Juno Liddell (Mar. 29, 1930-Nov. 13, 1968) and Maude Liddell (May 16, 1931).
He transferred to MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
with his team in October 1931, where he became an expert on Soviet subversive activities within the UK and recruited agents, including his private secretary Dick Wright, and future head of B5(b) Maxwell Knight
Maxwell Knight
Charles Henry Maxwell Knight OBE, known as Maxwell Knight, was an English spymaster, naturalist and broadcaster, whilst reputedly being a model for the James Bond character M.-Spymaster:...
, in preparation for possible war with Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. In 1936 he traveled to Washington where information he provided to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
allowed the FBI to break a German spy-ring based around Gunther Rumrich.
World War II
Following the outbreak of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
sacked Director-General of MI5
Director-General of MI5
The Director General of the Security Service is the head of the Security Service , the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency...
Vernon Kell and in June 1940 Liddell was promoted to Director of B Division in charge of counter-espionage, where he appointed Dick Wright and Anthony Blunt
Anthony Blunt
Anthony Frederick Blunt , was a British art historian who was exposed as a Soviet spy late in his life.Blunt was Professor of the History of Art at the University of London, director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, Surveyor of the King's Pictures and London...
to senior posts. Shortly after the new appointment, he was informed by Maxwell Knight of a suspected German spy-ring based around the Right Club of Archibald Ramsay and involving American cipher clerk Tyler Kent
Tyler Kent
Tyler Gatesworth Kent was an American diplomat who stole thousands of secret documents for a pro-German organization while working as a cipher clerk at the U.S. Embassy in London during World War II....
. Liddell met with U.S. Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., who agreed to waive Kent’s diplomatic immunity and he was successfully prosecuted, along with his handler, Anna Wolkoff
Anna Wolkoff
Anna Nikolayevna Wolkova , sometimes known as Anna de Wolkoff, was a White Russian emigré and a spy for Nazi Germany during World War II.-Early life:...
.
His agent, Duško Popov, provided an Abwehr questionnaire suggesting that the Japanese Air Force planned to attack the United States at Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
. Popov was sent to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
, who refused to take him seriously. Liddell was later criticized for not informing the Office of Naval Intelligence
Office of Naval Intelligence
The Office of Naval Intelligence was established in the United States Navy in 1882. ONI was established to "seek out and report" on the advancements in other nations' navies. Its headquarters are at the National Maritime Intelligence Center in Suitland, Maryland...
.
His unhappy marriage to Hon. Calypso Baring was dissolved in 1943 after she had left him for her American half-brother. He subsequently fought a long legal battle for custody of their children.
Later career
Liddell was expected to succeed Director General of MI5, David PetrieDavid Petrie
Sir David Petrie, KCMG, CIE, CVO, CBE, KPM was director general of MI5, the United Kingdom's internal security service, from 1941 to 1946...
, but was passed over when Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
Herbert Morrison
Herbert Morrison
Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth, CH, PC was a British Labour politician; he held a various number of senior positions in the Cabinet, including Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.-Early life:Morrison was the son of a police constable and was born in...
was informed by Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Cicely Wilkinson was the Labour Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough and later for Jarrow on Tyneside. She was one of the first women in Britain to be elected as a Member of Parliament .- History :...
of rumors that he might be a double agent and was instead appointed Deputy-Director-General under Percy Sillitoe
Percy Sillitoe
Sir Percy Joseph Sillitoe KBE was Director General of MI5, the United Kingdom's internal security service, from 1946 to 1953...
. These rumours were exacerbated when his close friend Guy Burgess
Guy Burgess
Guy Francis De Moncy Burgess was a British-born intelligence officer and double agent, who worked for the Soviet Union. He was part of the Cambridge Five spy ring that betrayed Western secrets to the Soviets before and during the Cold War...
defected. He was also a known associate of other members of the Cambridge Five
Cambridge Five
The Cambridge Five was a ring of spies, recruited in part by Russian talent spotter Arnold Deutsch in the United Kingdom, who passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and at least into the early 1950s...
spy ring, Kim Philby
Kim Philby
Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby was a high-ranking member of British intelligence who worked as a spy for and later defected to the Soviet Union...
and Anthony Blunt
Anthony Blunt
Anthony Frederick Blunt , was a British art historian who was exposed as a Soviet spy late in his life.Blunt was Professor of the History of Art at the University of London, director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, Surveyor of the King's Pictures and London...
and in 1953 following an MI5 internal investigation he took early retirement and went to work as a security adviser to the Atomic Energy Authority. He died of heart failure in 1958 at his home, 18 Richmond Court, Sloane Street, London, and was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery
Putney Vale Cemetery
Putney Vale Cemetery and Crematorium in London is surrounded by Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park, and is located within forty-seven acres of parkland. The cemetery was opened in 1891 and the crematorium in 1938...
. In 1979, Goronwy Rees
Goronwy Rees
Goronwy Rees was a Welsh journalist, academic and writer. He was educated at the University of Oxford.He was during the 1930s a Marxist intellectual, and in contact with the Cambridge Five spy ring through Guy Burgess. Right at the end of his life he admitted spying for the USSR for a short time,...
confessed to having been a Soviet spy, and named Liddell as the Fifth Man
Cambridge Five
The Cambridge Five was a ring of spies, recruited in part by Russian talent spotter Arnold Deutsch in the United Kingdom, who passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and at least into the early 1950s...
. Papers released since have all but completely cleared him of the charge, with the general academic consensus being that he was naïve in his friendships with some of his work colleagues.
Wartime diaries
Military historian Rupert AllasonRupert Allason
Rupert William Simon Allason is a military historian and former Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament for Torbay in Devon, from 1987 to 1997...
, writing under the nom de plume of Nigel West, has edited Liddell’s wartime diaries for publication in two volumes.
In popular culture
Liddell was portrayed by Angus Wright in the 2003 BBC TelevisionBBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
drama Cambridge Spies
Cambridge Spies
Cambridge Spies is a 2003 four-part BBC television drama concerning the lives of the best-known quartet of the Cambridge Five Soviet spies from 1934 to the 1951 defection of Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean to the Soviet Union...
.