Claude Dansey

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Claude Dansey
Born(1876-09-10)10 September 1876
South Kensington
Died11 June 1947(1947-06-11) (aged 70)
Bath, Somerset
NationalityBritish
Other namesUncle Claude
Espionage activity
AllegianceUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
CodenameZ
CodenameHaywood
CodenameColonel Z
CodenameUncle Claude

Secret Intelligence Service known as ACSS, of the British intelligence agency commonly known as MI6, and a member of the London Controlling Section. He began his career in intelligence in 1900, and remained active until his death.[2]

Early life

Dansey was born in 1876 at 14 Cromwell Place, Kensington, the second of nine children and eldest son of Captain (later Lieutenant-Colonel) Edward Mashiter Dansey, an officer in the 1st Life Guards, and his wife, the Hon. Eleanor Dansey, daughter of Robert Gifford, 2nd Baron Gifford.[3] He attended Wellington College until 1891, and then a private school in Bruges.[3] At the age of 17 he became sexually involved with Robert Baldwin Ross, and Lord Alfred Douglas, narrowly avoiding exposure and imprisonment.[4]

Later life

In 1895 he joined the Matabeleland Regiment of the

British Somaliland Protectorate[citation needed] and on 24 October 1906 he resigned his commission.[15] On 10 April 1907 he was promoted to captain on the Reserve of Officers.[16]

He was recruited by MI5 and put in charge of "port intelligence" and the surveillance of civilian passengers during World War I. He was "inadvertently" responsible for allowing Leon Trotsky to return to Russia in 1917.[17] He helped set up the first American military intelligence service in 1917. He became deputy to Stewart Menzies, chief of MI6 (SIS), after the death of Hugh Sinclair. [18] in November 1939 and retired in 1945.[citation needed]

Personal life

Dansey married Mrs Pauline Monroe Ulman (maiden surname Cory) in 1915 and they were later divorced. He married Mrs Frances Gurney Rylander (Maiden surname Wilson) in 1945. There were no children. Dansey died on 11 June 1947 in Bath, Somerset.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ Pronounced Marchbanks, see Clan Marjoribanks
  2. ^ Colonel Z.: The Life and Times of a Master of Spies, 1984, by Anthony Read, David Fisher and Fisher A.
  3. ^
    The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
    (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2008). Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  4. ISBN 9781788545976
    .
  5. ^ "No. 26983". The London Gazette. 1 July 1898. p. 3986.
  6. ^ "No. 27021". The London Gazette. 8 November 1898. p. 6513.
  7. ^ "No. 27108". The London Gazette. 15 August 1899. p. 5123.
  8. ^ "No. 27168". The London Gazette. 23 February 1900. p. 1258.
  9. ^ "No. 27220". The London Gazette. 14 August 1900. p. 5035.
  10. ^ "No. 27436". The London Gazette. 23 May 1902. p. 3382.
  11. ^ "No. 27427". The London Gazette. 22 April 1902. p. 2693.
  12. ^ "No. 27496". The London Gazette. 18 November 1902. p. 7340.
  13. ^ "No. 27474". The London Gazette. 16 September 1902. p. 5962.
  14. ^ "No. 27737". The London Gazette. 22 November 1904. p. 7607.
  15. ^ "No. 27960". The London Gazette. 23 October 1906. p. 7112.
  16. ^ "No. 28011". The London Gazette. 9 April 1907. p. 2415.
  17. ^ Richard Norton-Taylor (5 July 2001). "MI5 detained Trotsky on way to revolution". The Guardian.
  18. ^ Simkin, John (January 2020). "Claude Dansey". Spartacus Educational. Archived from the original on 9 July 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2020.

Further reading

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