Authors: Nick Barratt
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