The Forgotten Spy by Nick Barratt Read Free Book Online Page A

national duty combined with sufficient fervour that four battalions were raised within days.
    Inside the Foreign Office there had been a similar eagerness to sign up, particularly amongst the King’s Messengers, who had traditionally come from a military background. At the outbreak of war there were four majors on the army reserve list who were keen to re-enlist so that they could ‘do their bit’. According to their colleague, Victor Wheeler-Holohan, the senior staff at the Foreign Office had other ideas:
    They were all liable to be called up, but the Foreign Office had the prior claim on their services, and at once communicated with the War Office with regard to securing their exemption from mobilisation. 27
    It was not just prior experience of active military duty that made the King’s Messengers such a valuable commodity – their familiarity with Europe and the various diplomatic networks around the world made them prime candidates for other work:
    Custance promptly reported to the War Office for duty, and was sent down to Falmouth for Military Intelligence duties... However, the Foreign Office was soon after him and on 10 August he was ordered back. His request to serve on with the army was refused, for in view of the fact that in addition to the usual languages he spoke Spanish and Portuguese fluently, he was too valuable and he was sent out to South America for intelligence work. At the same time he was laden with over 50 new and secret ciphers which had to be distributed all over the place. 28
    King’s Messengers were not the only personnel that the Foreign Office hierarchy were keen to retain, given the anticipated volume of work that the outbreak of war was likely to cause. As Chief Clerk and therefore holding responsibility for personnel, Tilley recalled:
    There was some divergence of opinion as to releasing any of our own men for military service. Crowe, for whom the office came very much first, would have liked to keep everyone. Others were inclined to think that we should let the younger men go but there was a special difficulty in this because the second division clerks had come in at about the age of 18 whereas the diplomatic clerks had come in at 22 to 25, so that to take all the youngest men first meant to take all second and no first division men. 29
    This meant that there was no immediate pressure on men like Ernest Oldham to enlist – although the perception that they were essential to the continued running of the Foreign Office was soon dispelled:
    On the other hand, the second division men were more easily replaced by women. It was a considerable time before it was arranged to let anyone go, but in the end a certain number of both categories were released, though many more second division than first. Of the second division clerks several died gallantly. 30
    Underpinning the initial public enthusiasm for war was a belief (if not actual downright confidence) that the stalwarts of the British Army – the Old Contemptibles – would prevail, sweeping the Hun aside and delivering a quick success within months. At the time of mobilisation, the strength of the army stood at 710,000, of which there were only 80,000 trained regulars, with the remainder in the Territorial forces – many of whom were simply not ready for front line action. Nevertheless, the British Expeditionary Force was sent to France on 7 August to halt the German advance.
    One person who did not share the public confidence was the new Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, who on the eve of the conflict thought that it would last for at least two or three years – hence the need to recruit more men, provided they were properly trained. Unfortunately, Kitchener was proved right. Both French and British forces were surprised by the sheer number of German troops massing in front of them. The various assaults over the first six weeks of the war, known collectively as the Battle of the Frontiers, failed to repel the German invasion