Chartwell Branch News - Feb 2012

FEBRUARY 2012

CHARTWELL

B R A N C H T C C ( U K )

ISSUE 15

THE NEWS President - Mr Randolph Churchill A REGULAR NEWSLETTER GIVING INFORMATION AND UPDATES TO THOSE INTERESTED IN ALL THINGS ‘CHURCHILL’ PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DISTRIBUTE TO ANYONE YOU FEEL MAY BE INTERESTED

February Meeting Our next meeting will be held on 23rd February, and will take place in the Mulberry Room at Chartwell.

I am delighted to confirm that our Guest Speaker will be Allen Packwood, Executive Director of The Churchill Centre UK and the Churchill Archive Centre.

to visit the Studio and new Exhibition Room after lunch, subject of course to weather!

Non National Trust members will have to pay the appropriate admission fee.

His topic will be: "Aspects of Churchill: insights into the man and his era drawn from his personal papers and those of his contemporaries". This will undoubtedly be of great interest to all our members.

The timing is 11.15am for 11.30am, whilst there is no need to confirm attendance, if you wish to stay on for lunch the restaurant would appreciate having some idea of numbers, so perhaps you could let me know if you have already made the decision.

As last year we can arrange to accompany any ‘non Chartwell volunteers’ who may like Email: chartwelltccuk@virginmedia.com

‘golden eggs’

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This was what WSC called the ULTRA intercepts he received from Bletchley Park. He insisted that they should come direct to him, probably on the basis that ‘knowledge is power’, but also remembering his experience from the Great War. The work of Bletchley Park is now well known, but the involvement of WSC in the security services is perhaps not so well known. His interest goes back in fact to the time of the “Great Game”, as the actions of the Russians were called, on the North West Frontier and Afghanistan. He writes in ‘The Malakand Field Force’: “The bazaars of India, like the coffee houses of the last century, are always full of marvellous tales - the invention of fertile brains. A single unimportant fact is exaggerated, and distorted, till it becomes unrecognisable. From it, a thousand wild, illogical and fantastic conclusions, are drawn.

So the game goes on.”

He was also aware of the important role that good intelligence played in the war in Egypt and the Boer War. It was at this time that the foundations were laid for the modern intelligence service.

In 1903, ʻThe Riddle of The Sandsʼ by Erskine Childers was published, and this added to the already Anglo-German rivalry, by creating an invasion scare, which led to the ʻspy maniaʼ of the time.

1909 seems to be the watershed, following the assassination of the political aide-de-camp to the Secretary of State to India in Kensington, by a Punjabi student, there was public outcry against aliens, and the Post Office was authorised to open telegrams between Britain and India.

This then led to the creation of the Secret Service Bureau. Also, later that year, Churchill was invited by the Kaiser to visit Wurzburg to witness the annual German Army manoeuvres, after which he realised the awesome strength of their military.

WSC was at the Board of Trade at this time, but upon hearing of the establishment of the secret service bureau, promptly offered his services, his information being considered relevant with regard to possible German logistics.

When he became Home Secretary his involvement increased, despite his inclinations as a humane reformer, any perceived threat to national security demanded a stern response. During his tenure the Aliens Restriction Bill was drafted and was in place to be passed at the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, having a swift passage through The House. In addition the Official Secrets Act 1889 was replaced in 1911, introducing fairly draconian powers. This Act was rather surreptitiously brought into law without much debate, and it was at this time that the infamous ʻD Noticeʼ was introduced curbing the press.

The ʻGolden Eggsʼ of World War 2 had their forerunner in the Great War in ʻSIGNITʼ (signals intelligence). In The World Crisis he was able to state “ Our intelligence service has won and deserved world-wide fame. More than perhaps any other Power, we were successful in the war in penetrating the intentions of the enemy” This was down to the efforts of the cryptographers in the famous ʻRoom 40ʼ based in the Admiralty Old Building in Whitehall. They were helped enormously by the Russians obtaining from a scuttled German light cruiser, the code and cypher book of the Imperial German Navy.

‘golden eggs’ cont...

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Churchill soon realised that being able to decode such high grade intelligence needed careful protection, to avoid discovery by the Central Powers. Although wishing to be very much ʻhands onʼ he also soon realised that these decrypts needed careful scrutiny to ensure the relevance of the material.

At this point the newly appointed Director of Naval Intelligence, Captain Reginald ʻBlinkerʼ Hall ( see picture ) later Admiral, stepped into the frame. He was more than a match for WSC, whilst being a great admirer of the man, he ensured that the intelligence gained was appropriately used.

Hallʼs greatest coup came in 1917 with the decrypt of the famous Zimmermann Telegram, which was instrumental in bringing the USA into the war, but that could be another story!

As with so many things that Churchill embraced, he was quick to see the significance of the value of good intelligence, once the situation was explained to him and did everything in his power to ensure the best people were recruited.

It is certainly not overstating the position by declaring that the efforts of Room 40 and Bletchley Park saved many lives and shortened both conflicts, and the name ʻGolden Eggsʼ was indeed very apt.

ay

’s D e n i t n e l a Happy V

MISCELLANY

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Remember Harriet from last summer?

Thought you might like to see her progress - here she is from Christmas Day - with her big brother George and older sister Rosie.

(Harriet is in the middle)

Forgive my self indulgence!!

WEBSITE After much consideration and searching for the best deal, we finally have our own website. Pleased to say it hasn’t cost anything but time.

Please check it out and let us have your comments: www.chartwellbranchtccuk.weebly.com

AGM The date for the AGM has been set for April. The venue will be The Grasshopper on The Green, Westerham. Final timings will be given next month.

We will be holding our ‘KBO’ Churchill quiz so start revising.

Email: chartwelltccuk@virginmedia.com