Hugh Sinclair
Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6) | |
|---|---|
| Service years | 1923–1939 |
| Rank | Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service |
Career
Sinclair was educated at Stubbington House School and joined the Royal Navy as a cadet aged 13 on 15 July 1886.[1][2] He was promoted to lieutenant on 31 December 1894.[3]
He entered the
Beginning in 1919 he attempted to absorb the counterintelligence service
In 1938, with a second war looming, Sinclair set up Section D, dedicated to sabotage. In spring 1938, using £6,000 of his own money, he bought Bletchley Park to be a wartime intelligence station.[9]
Sinclair was asked in December 1938 to prepare a dossier on Adolf Hitler, for the attention of Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, and Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister.[10] In the dossier, which was received poorly by Sir George Mounsey, the Foreign Office assistant undersecretary, who believed that it did not gel with Britain's policy of appeasement, Sinclair described Hitler as possessing the characteristics of "fanaticism, mysticism, ruthlessness, cunning, vanity, moods of exaltation and depression, fits of bitter and self-righteous resentment; and what can only be termed a streak of madness; but with it all there is a great tenacity of purpose, which has often been combined with extraordinary clarity of vision".[11]
Sinclair became seriously ill with cancer, causing Alexander Cadogan to note on 19 October 1939, that he was "going downhill". On 29 October, Sinclair underwent an operation for his cancer and died on 4 November 1939, aged 66, five days before the Venlo incident.[12]
Family
Hugh was the son of Admiral Frederick Beauchamp Paget Seymour, 1st Baron Alcester[13] and Agnes Sinclair. In his will, Frederick Seymour, left the balance of his estate to Agnes Sinclair for her lifetime. On her death, two fifths were left to Frederick Charles Horace Sinclair and one fifth each to Hugh Francis Paget Sinclair, Claude Hamilton Sinclair and Evelyn Beauchamp Sinclair.[14]
Hugh married, in 1907, Gertrude Attenborough and had two sons. They were divorced in 1920.[15][16]
Awards and decorations
- 1911 King George V Coronation Medal[17]
- 1916 Companion of the Order of the Bath[18]
- 1918 3rd Class, Order of the Rising Sun[19]
- 1918 Officer, the Legion of Honour[20]
- 1935 Knight Commander, the Order of the Bath[21]
- 1937 King George VI Coronation Medal[22]
References
- ^ National Archives, Ref: ADM 196 141 96
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008
- ^ National Archives, Ref: ADM 196 89 78
- ^ "Senior Royal Navy Appointments" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
- ^ "No. 33139". The London Gazette. 5 March 1926. p. 1650.
- ^ "No. 33606". The London Gazette. 16 May 1930. p. 3069.
- ASIN B002ALSXTC.
- Dansey, Sir Claude Edward Marjoribanks(1876–1947)", rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008
- ISBN 0-330-41929-3, p. 20
- ^ "Spy secrets failed to win Whitehall's trust". Financial Times. 31 March 2005. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
- ^ Foreign Office files Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Andrew. pp. 436–438.
- ^ Sinclair family papers - Royal Museums Greenwich|https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-482549
- ^ Berrow's Worcester Journal (Worcester, England), Saturday, 18 May 1895; pg. 2; Issue 10517
- ^ The Times (London, England), Wednesday, Dec 22, 1920; pg. 4
- ^ National Archives, Ref: J 77/1688/2518. Divorce Court File: 2518.
- ^ Royal Navy Medal Rolls 1793-1955, Ref: ADM171-61
- ^ "No. 12947". The Edinburgh Gazette. 5 June 1916. p. 980.
- ^ "No. 31038". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 November 1918. p. 14091.
- ^ "No. 31063". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 December 1918. p. 14685.
- ^ "No. 34166". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 May 1935. p. 3594.
- ^ King George VI 1937 Coronation Medal Roll, Ref: QLIB5-7
 Directors of Naval Intelligence | |
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