The Spy Who Painted the Queen (14 page)

It was not necessarily so at the prison. De László was escorted by three warders who cleared out his pockets, took his razor and scissors and photographed him again, full face and profile, holding a slate with his name and number on it, in time-honoured prison style. He was horrified to discover that he was actually to be held in a cell with a heavy and locked door complete with observation window and to be counted in and out of his exercise periods. He was also horrified at the nature of the men with whom he was being held. These comprised twenty convicted foreigners:

Four of them were German sodomites. There was another German who had been convicted of breaking into a jeweller's shop, and a Belgian who had been sentenced to twenty years penal servitude for rifling dead bodies on the battlefield. Another had kept a brothel. In fact they were mostly the lowest class imaginable, Belgians, one or two Russians, a negro, and another German who was serving a term of three years imprisonment for committing incest with his daughter, who'd had a child by him.

The press, as ever, went to town, though they had little information to go on. The
Birmingham Despatch
said the internment had caused a ‘Society sensation'. The
Daily Express
commented:

Without question, the internment of Philip De László, if only for a time, is a circumstance which will create an extraordinary amount of conversation and speculation in all of the belligerent countries. It was regarded as a ‘serious' matter in well informed circles yesterday, especially having regard to the fact that he was vouched for as a would-be loyal citizen by so many influential friends in 1914.

The
Liverpool Echo
seems to have got wind of the mention of the king's opinion, as it reported that the statements sent abroad ‘might have given a false impression of the views held by a personage in high authority should the letter have fallen into the hands of the Central Powers'. The
Dundee Courier
repeated the same allegation.

De László was entitled, as were all internees, to appeal against his internment, and the ever loyal Lucy organised a formidable team of lawyers and witnesses in support. The review committee met on 28 September in Westminster Hall and De László was represented by Rigby Swift KC. Lined up to give evidence on his behalf were Lord Selborne and the now Sir Arthur Lee; Lockett Agnew of the fine arts dealers Thomas Agnew and Sons; Sir Luke Fildes the painter, who gave evidence in the morning; and Lord Brabourne and Austen Chamberlain who appeared in the afternoon. The Duke of Portland and Lord Devonport sent in written evidence. The committee met in private and there is no transcript on the Home Office files, but the committee's decision was recorded and the final part is here given verbatim:

With regard to his surreptitious communications through the diplomatic bag of a neutral country – the committee feel that they are not able to take quite the same lenient view as they have done of his conduct up till now – it is right that they should here give their impression of Mr László himself – it might almost be sufficient to say that he is an artist. He is a voluble, excitable, highly strung man, or it might even be said who will babble (the word is used advisedly) and repeat any bit of gossip he has heard. It is obvious that the position he holds as a great Society Painter enables him to pick up a good deal of this gossip. The facts he hears may be only gossip, or they may be true, but László is apparently a man of no discretion and he might quite possibly repeat anything he heard, not only to his English friends but also to his Hungarian ones without any sinister motive but merely because he is so irresponsible and has no discretion. This was an account of him which all the eminent witnesses called on his behalf appeared to agree. There was Sir Austen Chamberlain, Sir Arthur Lee, Sir Luke Fildes, Mr Howard Guinness, Lord Selborne, Lord Sheffield, Mr Lockett Agnew, and Lord Brabourne and there were letters to a similar effect from Mr Balfour [crossed out], Lord Devonport, the Duke of Portland and Mr Baulby.

Now it is obvious –

That László has the opportunity of hearing many things;

That he has no discretion and might easily repeat what he hears without any sinister motive or any desire to injure his country or benefit the country of his birth.

The fact remains that he does hear gossip and may repeat it.

Now for some considerable time in the year 1916 he sent letters through the ordinary post to Holland – after a time he neglected the ordinary post and began to make use of the Dutch Diplomatic Bag – He says that these communications were only communications between himself and his family and also with regard to the depredation he had suffered in Hungary by reason of the hatred with which his naturalisation in this country was regarded.

He asserts that he never sent any naval, military or political news in such letters, for that we only have his own word – they were addressed to a lady who was the sister of the Foreign Minister in Holland and forwarded by her to their destination. The committee do not think it necessary to their opinion as to whether these letters contained information of the above character or not, but it is obvious there was the opportunity of sending information in that way which might be used quite indiscriminately by László, without any sinister intent, or for purposes of assisting the enemy. The committee wish distinctly to put this part of the case on the ground of opportunity – it is said by László that these communications ceased in August 1916, and that is to some extent alleged to be confirmed by the Dutch Minister, whom however the committee have not seen and the matter therefore is left as stated – László may have sent further communications or he may not.

Quite recently the French secret service received information which satisfied them that László was sending information of a political or military character from England to the Austrian Legation in Switzerland. They grounded their views upon information and documents which appeared to satisfy them. The committee have not seen the originals of these documents but only a copy of a translation of them – they are unsigned, but one of them is apparently addressed to László and says that the information which he has given to Hungary is of so valuable a character that if he desires to recover his Hungarian nationality no doubt it will be granted to him in consideration of the services he has rendered to the country of his birth. The other document purports to be a report to Hungary of the services which he has rendered, and both documents will be found attached hereto.

The committee feel –

That they have no proof of these documents

That they have no proof that they ever reached László

That even if the originals did come into existence it might have been fraudulently prepared:

By someone who desired to do László a bad turn;

By someone who desired to sow the seeds of discord between England and France, and took this very clever and adroit way of doing it.

It goes without saying that if the contents of the letter are true, László's punishment ought not to be internment but the severest penalty which the law can inflict.

The committee says that there is –

No object proof

No very strong grounds for suspicion

They however came to this conclusion, that:

Having regard to what László did in corresponding with an enemy country, and even accepting his explanation thereof

Having regard to his position, which enables him to collect information and

Having regard to his indiscretions and the way he repeats what he hears, whether innocently or with a sinister motive they could not advise the home secretary to allow him to be entirely free – they say this though they are greatly impressed by the testimony of his good faith, which all the eminent witnesses called on his behalf have spoken to.

Then comes the difficulty of knowing what to do with the safety of the realm, in the case of a man who, in view of the facts, is likely to disseminate information, not with a sinister motive, but because he is, as his own witnesses say, talkative and indiscreet.

No one of the committee thinks that it would be sufficient only to censor his correspondence – that would prevent letters reaching him but would not be a safeguard against letters going from him – is it possible then to suggest some method that would offer a middle course in this matter? It need hardly be said that no member of the committee is desirous of interning an artist of international standing for any length of time if it can be possibly avoided. The committee feel that upon the question of internment they are entitled to weigh carefully the views of Colonel Kell and Basil Thomson as to what would be an adequate safeguard which all the committee have in view, viz the safety of the realm.

Colonel Kell seems to think an internment order pure and simple would be sufficient, Mr Basil Thomson on the other hand thinks that if De László could be secluded for a time any threads of communication which he might have between Holland and this country would probably be snapped, and he would not be able to resume communication if he should desire to do so.

Now the committee feel, in this case, that the object they must try to secure is the greatest safety of the realm, coupled with the least injustice to De László, and after considerable hesitation they think that the best advice they can give to the home secretary is to intern De László to a date in December, say the 21st. It may be before the 21st December circumstances will have arisen which render the further internment of László unnecessary, but if on the 21st December László is still in internment, the committee think that his case ought to be reconsidered by then.

On 7 November 1917 De László was removed from his small cell at Brixton and taken by taxi to the Internment Camp at Holloway. The camp had formerly been a workhouse rather than a prison, so was without the high walls, bars and gates he had hated so much at Brixton. He was placed in the former infirmary building, which he shared with other naturalised British subjects, and was given a large room with four windows, which contained the furniture of the former resident Baron von Bissing (brother of the former German governor of Belgium, interned in 1915 and recently released to house arrest on grounds of ill-health), who had arranged with Lucy De László to leave it (and Von Bissing's personal servant) for him. Among his companions were Dr Whitehead, an Austrian-born chemist naturalised in South Africa, and Herr Ahlers, former German consul-general, both interned after the sinking of the
Lusitania.
It was an altogether more congenial arrangement than at Brixton, and De László was given a place at the ‘aristocrat table'. Here, he described:

We were served by a waiter from the German camp and our cook had been a chef at the Hotel Cecil. I felt happy to be among intelligent men, to have a comfortable room and to be able to go out into the garden when I liked … I thanked God that I was able to sleep in a decent bed again, and was free of the cell door with the observation glass in it which had upset my nerves so much at Brixton.

D
E LÁSZLÓ WAS
certain to launch a further appeal against his internment to Lord Sankey and the internment review committee. To preserve the secrecy of MI5's involvement as far as possible, Thomson took over the case and contacted Bigham in Paris directly asking for information.

Bigham's reply set out carefully the conditions on which the French were prepared to assist. Their conditions, quite natural given the highly secret nature of their source, were to hamstring any future attempts to prosecute De László for espionage. Having sent translations of three letters he went on to explain:

These were got at the house of the Austrian Military Attaché at Berne, but neither this, nor the fact that we have received them from the French must be alluded to in any way whatsoever … I have had them retranslated into English so that if it is necessary to suggest they were procured from an agent it may be presumed it was from one of our own people. This is what the French desire and I have promised that we would not do anything that might disclose the means they had of getting the information.

At some date (probably the end of September 1917 as it was forwarded to the Home Office on 29 September), MI5 received a copy of another letter to De László from Geneva, from the same source that had produced the letter dated 14 June (which tends to preclude Maundy Gregory as the agent who obtained it). It read:

My dear friend

Don't bear me malice if I charge you with a new mission. I will not charge you with explications, reasons etc. Those are things only necessary with people whose zeal needs warming up and we are not like that. I ask you to collaborate with us in our pacifist propaganda. As soon as I receive your reply I will let you have details.

I am very anxious about Madame G. Be on your guard. Have I told you already that my brother in law died suddenly some weeks ago. He left a very large fortune.

Though too late to be used before the committee, this seemed to confirm the connection with the mysterious Madame G and the involvement of De László with pacifist propaganda.

There was a growing necessity, for Austria at least, to pull out of the war. By early 1917 Austria-Hungary was in deep trouble and in desperate need of peace. The old emperor, Franz Josef, whom De László had so esteemed, had died in November 1916 and been succeeded by Karl, nephew of Archduke Franz Ferdinand whose assassination had precipitated the war. Karl was painfully aware that the country was on the verge of collapse. It had gone to war optimistic of a rapid victory over both Serbia and Russia and had suffered severe casualties on both fronts. By early 1917 there were nearly two million Austro-Hungarian prisoners in Russia alone. Italy's surprise (and to the Austrians, treacherous) entry into the war on the side of the Allies in May 1915 created a third front. Even though the Italians behaved in exactly the way caricatured in
Blackadder Goes Forth
and
Oh! What a Lovely War
, hurling poorly armed and trained troops against a series of well-defended positions, they still inflicted a growing number of casualties as they inched forward and gradually learned the lessons of modern warfare.