The Forgotten Spy by Nick Barratt Read Free Book Online

21 M ARCH 1918
    On 4 August, the knowledge that Britain had issued an ultimatum to Germany brought crowds onto the streets of London, congregating outside Downing Street, considered the most likely place where a formal response from the German ambassador would be announced.
    The Times
described the scene in its edition published the next day:
    As the evening wore on, the crowd became denser and excitement grew. The German reply was not expected before 11.00 pm.Towards 11, a number of visitors and members of the permanent staff of the Foreign Office gathered in the corridors, which were brilliantly lighted. But the expected dispatch from Sir Edward Goschen was unaccountably delayed. For reasons which can only be surmised, the German Government appears to have delayed it.
    Information from a reliable quarter nevertheless reached His Majesty’s Ministers, shortly before 11, that the British demand for assurances in regard to the neutrality of Belgium had been summarily rejected. The necessary decisions were therefore taken and an official statement was issued to the effect that, in consequence of this rejection, His Majesty’s Ambassador at Berlin had received his passports and that his Majesty’s Government had declared to the German Government that a state of war existed between Great Britain and Germany as from 11.00pm.
    Notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, several members of the Diplomatic Corps called at the Foreign Office to ask for information. The scene was one of extraordinary animation, though a sense of the extreme gravity of the moment was everywhere noticeable.
    As the news of the declaration of war reached the street, the crowd expressed its feelings in loud cheering. It left the precincts of Downing Street and gathered in front of the War Office, where patriotic demonstrations continued until an early hour this morning. 24
    Although adverts and messages occupied the first two pages as always, there was extensive coverage in the rest of the paper, including a large notice at the heart of page three, the first news page, which left the public in no doubt as to the seriousness of the unfolding events – a pre-prepared recruitment advert:
    Your King and Country Needs You!
    Will you answer your country’s call? Each day is fraught with the gravest possibilities and at this very moment the empire is on the brink of the greatest war in the history of the world.
    In this crisis your country calls on all young unmarried men to rally round the flag and enlist in the ranks of her army.
    If every patriotic young man answers her call, England and her empire will emerge stronger and more united than ever.
    If you are unmarried between 18 and 30 years old will you answer your country’s call? And go to the nearest recruiter – whose address you can get from any post office – and
    JOIN THE ARMY TODAY! 25
    Swept up in the patriotic fervour, people from all walks of life responded to the impassioned call to arms, with 750,000 recruited by September and over a million by January 1915. Many men joined together from the same town, workplace or sports club, encouraged by figures such as General Sir Henry Rawlinson to enlist; his direct appeal to financiers in the City of London led to 1,600 stockbrokers signing up to the 10th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers within days of the outbreak of war. General Rawlinson would oversee the British assault on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916, during which many of the Pals battalions would receive horrific casualties that left entire communities bereft of their menfolk.
    Another leading figure to inspire mass recruitment was Edward Stanley, the 17th Earl of Derby, who captured the spirit of the time when he announced his aim of raising troops from Liverpool: ‘This should be a battalion of pals, a battalion in which friends from the same office will fight shoulder to shoulder for the honour of Britain and the credit of Liverpool.’ 26 Local pride and