In MI6’s early days, British naval officer Mansfield Smith-Cumming ran a spy agency full of daring eccentrics who used swords disguised as canes, poison-tipped rings, and invisible ink made from their own bodily fluids.
Wikimedia CommonsCaptain Sir Mansfield George Smith - Cumming help develop Britain ’s spy agency , MI6 .
He wore a prosperous eyeglass and had a wooden pegleg . His loopy , light-green ink signature tune — only the letter C — helped inspire the James Bond character “ M ” . His name was Captain Sir Mansfield George Smith - Cumming , and he was a undercover agent .
And not just any undercover agent . From 1909 until his death in 1923 , Smith - Cumming facilitate grow the nascent MI6 , Britain ’s extraneous intelligence agency service , by which James Bond was famously engage .
Wikimedia CommonsCaptain Sir Mansfield George Smith-Cumming helped develop Britain’s spy agency, MI6.
Appropriately , much of Mansfield Smith - Cumming ’s life is shrouded in privateness . But some facts are known . And the legends surrounding his time as the head of MI6 endure to this day .
Birth As A Spymaster
Photo by Topical Press Agency / Getty ImagesMansfield Smith - Cumming , right , in 1907 . befittingly , the spymaster is face away from the photographic camera .
Sir Mansfield Smith - Cumming was born just Mansfield George Smith , on April 1 , 1859 . Little is known about his childhood — except that it was quite short . By the clip he was 12 , he ’d joined the Royal Navy .
In the Navy , Smith - Cumming had achance to see the world . He police the East Indies , struggle Malay pirate ship , and was decorated for his action in Egypt . Smith - Cumming climb the ranks and became a Flag Lieutenant in 1885 .
Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty ImagesMansfield Smith-Cumming, right, in 1907. Appropriately, the spymaster is facing away from the camera.
His naval book describes a “ clever ” policeman with a knowledge of electrical energy and photography , who could also mouth French and draw rather well .
Unfortunately , Smith - Cumming lacked the one attribute needed to be an effective Panama hat — ocean leg . He digest from severe ocean sicknesses and was forced to adjourn from the Royal Navy in 1885 .
Back on unanimous land , Smith - Cumming married Leslie Marian Valiant - Cumming in 1889 . He stick around her last name to the end of his own , thus shifting identities — and acquiring the “ C ” that would later cement his bequest as a spymaster .
Wikimedia Commons/Imperial War MuseumA Germany military build up in the early 20th-century made British officials nervous.
The fact around Smith - Cumming ’s entry into the earth of spycraft are — unsurprisingly — opaque . But a few thing are known .
In 1909 , Smith - Cummingreceived a mysterious letterinviting him to come to London . The letter — which may have come from Arthur Wilson , formerly one of his naval commanders — promised him “ something good . ”
That “ something good ” was the Secret Service Bureau , which had been launch in 1909 . Smith - Cumming was tax with exposit the extraneous aspect of the SSB , call up , among other things , the Foreign Intelligence Service . Why dress up a spy agency ? At the time , the Britishwere paranoid about German spiesin their midst .
Wikimedia CommonsThe early days of MI6 unfolded at 2 Whitehall Court, in London.
“ Refuse to be served by a German waiter , ” theDaily Mailsuggested . “ If your waiter say he is Swiss , ask to see his passport . ”
British officials , too , were worry about “ an all-encompassing system of rules of German espionage ” running play by German subject experience in Britain .
Thus , they decided to struggle fire with fire — and set up an espionage representation of their own .
Wikimedia Commons/Federal Security Service of the Russian FederationSome sources list Sidney Reilly, one of Smith-Cumming’s spies, as inspiration for James Bond.
Mansfield Smith-Cumming Helps Build A Spy Agency
Wikimedia Commons / Imperial War MuseumA Germany military build up in the former 20th - century made British official aflutter .
At first , Mansfield Smith - Cumming did n’t have much to do . After his first day at work in October 1909,he wrote in his diary : “ Went to the office and remained all Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , but saw no one , nor was there anything to do there . ”
Smith - Cumming establish himself mold from the ground up in a country that had felt no want for spies since the time of Napoleon . Britain ’s Foreign Office had maintained an espionage fund for decade , and spies had been colloquially engaged as early as the reign of Elizabeth I.
Until Smith-Cumming’s agents learned the extent of German losses at the Battle of Jutland, the press had portrayed it as a defeat for the Royal Navy rather than the stunning victory which it was.
But nothing like a courtly agency had ever been seriously consider until the wispy threat of a German incursion cringe in British mind .
The Secret Service Bureau was under the bidding ofMajor Vernon Kell , Smith - Cumming ’s superior , and had a miniscule budget , no guidelines , and no factor .
What ’s more , the Army considered the SSB to be its only property , and Smith - Cumming spent weeks trying to convince senior officials to countenance him enough independence to handle alien intelligence with his own operatives while Kell handled domestic matters .
Wikimedia CommonsThe M16 building today, in London.
ultimately , after endless arguments , Smith - Cumming was grant independence . He moved operation of the early government agency to Ashely Mansions on Vauxhall Bridge Road . There , the Foreign Intelligence Service hide in plain survey . He set up a bogus address — Messrs Rasen , Falcon Limited — from which he could receive any mail .
Slowly , he recruit a cell of agents . By 1915 , Smith - Cumming had around 1,000 mass working for him — each referred to by a letter to continue silence . Agents including ‘ B , ’ ‘ D , ’ ‘ L , ’ and ‘ special K ’ were before long scurrying around Germany and Western Europe , foregather data on German naval cognitive process .
Smith - Cumming himself was known simply as ‘ carbon , ’ which he famously used to sign official news report in unripe ink .
Wikimedia CommonsThe blue plaque commemorating Mansfield Smith-Cumming’s service.
Manfield Smith-Cumming And The Early Days Of MI6
Wikimedia CommonsThe early days of MI6 unfolded at 2 Whitehall Court , in London .
The former twenty-four hour period of the Foreign Intelligence Service , which would eventually become the Secret Intelligence Service ( SIS ) and then MI6 , were filled with both amateur moments and literal successes .
The agents that reported to Mansfield Smith - Cumming were an odd premix . Since the spy agency was n’t presuppose to officially subsist , it could be difficult to get top - notch recruits . Instead , he supervise the study of men like the tricky Sidney Reilly ( afterward a model for James Bond ) and a recruit the spymaster met , known only as “ Major H.L.B. ”
Wikimedia Commons / Federal Security Service of the Russian FederationSome sources list Sidney Reilly , one of Smith - Cumming ’s spies , as brainchild for James Bond .
The “ Major ” claim to have a ring filled with Peruvian poison that could drink down in three seconds , a tie-up thole that was actually a tv camera , and an telling knowledge of all the German spies in London .
Smith - Cumming noted that Major was “ no doubt a cad ( rascal ) , but probably is a cagy one , and I should like to get something out of him . ” He perish on , grumbling , “ All my staff are heel . ”
The agents working under Smith - Cumming often made obscene requests — like an allowance for Champagne-Ardenne . Other source involve fees for their services . A pair of Danish informers ask for £ 5,000 ( £ 350,000 in today ’s money ) in exchange for data on German naval bases .
Smith - Cumming yield them just £ 10 — but still managed to get the information he needed out of them .
In its other years , the Foreign Intelligence Service trip up along . One weapon system expert got out of the wrong elevator in a Gallic hotel , and become horribly lost . A research worker work for Smith - Cumming discovered that semen could be used as invisible ink — which head to the democratic interagency joke that “ every man his own stylo . ”
The idea was after dismissed , because of the flavor .
And as the undercover agent agency develop , Mansfield Smith - Cumming begin to build a reputation of his own .
He ’d lost his son and part of his peg in a bad automobile accident in 1914 and further rumors that he ’d cut off his own tree branch with a penknife . Reportedly , Smith - Cumming would stab his wooden leg in front of potential unexampled recruits . If they flinched , he’d input : “ Well , I ’m afraid you wo n’t do ” and displace them .
He also tire out a gilded monocle , carry a sword blot out in a cane , and zipped around the agency ’s new headquarters at 2 Whitehall Court on a child ’s iceboat . He relish prove out disguise and take photos of the one he thought had influence well .
But the Foreign Intelligence Service under Mansfield Smith - Cumming revel literal successes under his guidance — especially when the outbreak of World War I put them to the run .
The Spymaster’s Successes in World War I
Until Smith - Cumming ’s agents learned the extent of German loss at the Battle of Jutland , the press had portrayed it as a defeat for the Royal Navy rather than the sensational triumph which it was .
Alongside the tomfoolery that defined the early daytime of MI6 , serious work was getting done .
In the former days of the spy agency , Mansfield Smith - Cumming and his men had one target : Germany . His agent leave crucial info about the development of theHochseeflotte(High Seas Fleet ) and U - Boat construction programs .
In 1911 , they were able to provide “ a full and illustrated description ” of the novel great shield developed a twelvemonth in the beginning , and “ an account of its [ impressive ] performance against many change of armoured targets . ”
When World War I collapse out in 1914 — thus confirming long - held British fears about German military might — Smith - Cumming and his undercover agent were well - positioned to take action .
They notched a series of successes during the war . Smith - Cumming used his internet of spy to discover that German naval losses at the Battle of Jutland were so devastating that the powerful German fleet would be out of action for the end of the war . This was a key victory for intelligence and a significant boost to public morale .
He also coordinated a connection of 800 agents , manpower and women , codenamed La Dame Blanche . This ground forces of agents in Belgium reported on the German troop social movement , often using unconventional methods to pass on information . One agent , a midwife , was allowed to cross military line — and carry her paper wrapped around the whale bones of her corset .
La Dame Blanche update the British on an almost daily basis — cater priceless insights into what the Germans were doing in Belgium .
After Germany ’s defeat in World War I , the Foreign Intelligence Service continued to quietly toil forth . Smith - Cumming oversaw the agency ’s pivot from Germany to Russia . But by 1923 , he was in sick wellness .
Captain Mansfield Smith - Cumming died on June 23 , 1923 , aged 64 . But his theme song lived on . To this day , his successors sign documents with the letter “ C. ”
The Shadowy Legacy Of Sir Smith-Cumming
Wikimedia CommonsThe M16 building today , in London .
After Mansfield Smith - Cumming ’s death in 1923 , his spy bureau ( renamed the Secret Intelligence Service in 1920 , and MI6 at the jump of World War II ) keep to spring up . But few in Britain know about it . It was n’t until 1994 that the British administration even receipt that MI6 existed .
But MI6 has stepped more and more into the light in late years — contribute Mansfield Smith - Cumming with it . In 2010 , MI6 commission a book about its history to mark off its centennial .
“ Mansfield Cumming believe turbulently in privacy , ” state Sir John Scarlett , the former SIS chief who ’d commission the project .
“ I am sure he would be surprised to see me here today presenting a history of his divine service . For MI6 , this is an surpassing event . There has been nothing like this before and there are no program for anything similar in the future tense . ”
The book , write by Irish historiographer Professor Keith Jeffery , shed light on the inner workings of the secretive means , and on the lifetime of Smith - Cumming himself .
“ I look very hard for ‘ bad stuff ’ , ” Jeffrey mark . “ In the remnant I bump less grounds than perhaps we might have expected , certainly less evidence than I might have expected as the unpaid espionage fabrication buff that I was . ”
One myth that Jeffrey was able to retire was that Smith - Cumming had slew off his own leg with a penknife stick with his automobile dialect . The legend had survive him , but the spymaster had in fact admit that it was amputated during his liveliness .
In 2015 , a blue plaque officially immortalize Mansfield Smith - Cumming ’s lifetime and service to his nation . The plaque displayed at 2 Whitehall Court marked the building where he had once toiled as Britain ’s preeminent undercover agent headman .
Wikimedia CommonsThe blasphemous plaque commemorating Mansfield Smith - Cumming ’s service .
“ I sense Cumming would share the delight I experience today , when I watch a small group of people , embodying the best of modern Britain , get through our enemies and interrupt their plans , ” say Alex Younger , then the current “ hundred ” of MI6 , at the unveiling of the plaque .
As for MI6 today ? On the agency ’s official website , it put forward that its most recent success have been hidden from public view . However , the representation is “ playing a major purpose in safeguarding the country ’s multitude and interests . ”
Now that you know the true story of MI6 ’s idiosyncratic first loss leader , read aboutEddie Chapman , the felon - turned - spywho was Britain ’s hugger-mugger weapon in World War II . Then , find out of history ’s most famous spy from across the globe .
