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Major General Sir Stewart Graham Menzies, (; 30 January 1890 – 29 May 1968) was Chief of MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), from 1939 to 1952, during and after the Second World War.
Menzies was educated at Eton College, becoming president of the student society Pop, and left in 1909. He excelled in sports, hunting and cross-country running. He won prizes for his studies of languages, and was considered an all-around excellent student. C: The Life of Sir Stewart Menzies, by Anthony Cave Brown, 1987.
Menzies' regiment was decimated during fighting in 1915, suffering very heavy casualties in the Second Battle of Ypres. Menzies was seriously injured in a gas attack in 1915, and was honourably discharged from active combat service.
In 1924, Menzies was allegedly involved—alongside Sidney Reilly and Desmond Morton Zinoviev Letter in SIS forgery (no) Shock, The Poor Mouth.—in the forging of the Zinoviev letter.Page 121, Michael Kettle, Sidney Reilly: The True Story of the World's Greatest Spy, 1986, St. Martin's Press, . This forgery is considered to have been instrumental in the Conservative Party's victory in the United Kingdom general election of 1924, which ended the country's first Labour government. Telegraph, 5 February 1999.
Menzies kept Prime Minister Winston Churchill supplied daily with important Ultra decrypts, and the two worked together to ensure that financial resources were devoted toward research and upgrading technology at Bletchley Park, to keep pace with Nazi coding refinements, as well as directing talented workers to the massive effort, which employed nearly 10,000 workers by 1945. Bletchley's efforts were decisive in the battle against Nazi submarine warfare, which was severely threatening trans-Atlantic shipping, particularly in the first half of 1943. Britain, which was cut off from Europe after mid-1940, was almost completely dependent on North American supplies for survival. The access to Ultra was also vitally important in the battle for Normandy, leading up to D-Day in June 1944, and afterward. Bodyguard of Lies, by Anthony Cave Brown, 1975
Menzies has been suspected as being involved with the assassination, on 24 December 1942, of François Darlan, the Vichy France military commander who defected to the Allies in Algeria. British historian David Reynolds noted in his book, In Command of History, that Menzies—who rarely left London during the war—was in Algiers around the period he was killed, making SOE (Special Operations Executive) involvement seem likely.
Menzies, who was promoted to major-general in January 1944, also supported efforts to contact anti-Nazism resistance, including Wilhelm Canaris, the anti-Hitler head of Abwehr, in Germany. Prime Minister Winston Churchill was kept informed of these efforts throughout the war, and information from and about the Nazi resistance was exploited tactically. Menzies coordinated his operations with Special Operations Executive (SOE) (although he reputedly considered them "amateurs"), British Security Coordination (BSC), Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the Free French Forces. He was awarded the Order of the Yugoslav Crown.
Menzies was already the head of the service when Kim Philby joined in 1941. Nonetheless, Menzies deserved some of the blame for Soviet agents having penetrated MI6, according to Anthony Cave Brown in his book C: The Secret Life of Sir Stewart Graham Menzies, Spymaster to Winston Churchill. Cave Brown insists that Menzies's primary criteria were whether the applicants were upper-class former officers and recommended by another government department, or else were known to him personally. In his New York Times review of Brown's book, novelist Ken Follett makes this conclusion: "Mr Philby outwitted Menzies because Mr Philby was intelligent and professional and cool, where Menzies was an amiable upper-class sportsman who was out of his depth. And British intelligence, except for the code breakers, was like Menzies—amateur, anti-intellectual and wholly outclassed."
After 43 continuous years of service in the British Army, Menzies retired to Bridges Court in Luckington in rural Wiltshire at 62 in mid-1952. His success at SIS was not limited to adeptness at bureaucratic intrigue, a virtual necessity in his position; Menzies' efforts as chief had a major role in winning the Second World War, and certainly earned Churchill's trust, as evidenced by nearly 1,500 meetings with the prime minister during its duration. C: The Secret Life of Sir Stewart Graham Menzies, Spymaster to Winston Churchill, by Anthony Cave Brown, 1987
He next married Pamela Thetis Garton (née Beckett), on 13 December 1932, fourth daughter of Rupert Evelyn Beckett by his wife Muriel Helen Florence Paget, daughter of Lord Berkeley Charles Sydney Paget, himself a younger son of the 2nd Marquess of Anglesey. Garton was an invalid for many years, suffering from clinical depression and anorexia nervosa. She had Menzies' only child.
His third marriage was in 1952 to Audrey Clara Lilian Latham, formerly wife of Henry Birkin, Lord Edward Hay, and Niall Chaplin, and daughter of Latham Baronets Stewart and Audrey were both over age 50 at the time of their marriage, her fourth. Each had separate estates (his in Wiltshire, west of London, hers in Essex, east of London), and they for the most part lived separately, but they met in London for dinner each Wednesday.Cave Brown
Anthony Cave Brown also reported that Menzies had a long-standing affair with one of his secretaries, which he ended upon retirement (and presumably remarriage) in 1952; the secretary apparently tried to kill herself at that time.
Menzies died on 29 May 1968.
Honours and awards
+ Knight Commander of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (KCB) 7 June 1951 Had been made companion in the 1942 New Year's Honours before being promoted to Knight Commander when at the rank of Major-General. Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) 1 January 1943 For official services while Colonel (local Brigadier). Distinguished Service Order (DSO) 1 December 1914 While Lieutenant of the 2nd Life Guards. For showing the greatest coolness during the attack on German position on 7 November 1914, in support of the right flank of the 4th Guards Brigade, and then again on the evening of that day. Military Cross (MC) 3 July 1915 While Captain of the 2nd Life Guards. On 13 May 1915 near Ypres, after his commanding officer had been wounded, for displayed conspicuous ability, coolness and resource in controlling the action of his regiment and rallying the men. 1914 Star British War Medal Victory Medal With mentioned in dispatches device. 1939–1945 Star War Medal 1939–1945 King George V Coronation Medal 1911 King George V Silver Jubilee Medal 1935 King George VI Coronation Medal 1937 Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 1953 Knight of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)
Chevalier de I'Ordre de la Couronne 14 February 1917 Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honour (France)
Chevalier de l' Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur 2 June 1917 War Cross (Belgium)
Croix de guerre 11 March 1918 Commander's Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland (Poland)
Order Odrodzenia Polski Komandorski 8 October 1943 War Cross 1940 with Palm (Belgium)
Croix de Guerre 1940 avec Palme 16 January 1947 Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold with Palm (Belgium)
Grand officier de l'Ordre de Léopold avec Palme 16 January 1947 Grand Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau with Swords (Netherlands)
Orde van Oranje-Nassau Royal Decree no. 34 of 13 February 1947
British Permission 14 May 1948 Nationaal Archief, Archive 2.02.32, Dossier 375, Registry Number 759 Commander with Star of the Order of Saint Olav (Norway)
Sanct Olavs Orden Commander with Star/Grand Officer 19 November 1948 Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States) 28 January 1949 Order of the Yugoslav Crown (Yugoslavia)
Orden Jugoslavenske Krune
Notes
Categories: 1890 Births, 1968 Deaths, British Anti-communists, British Army Major Generals, British Army Personnel Of World War I, British Army Generals Of World War Ii, British Life Guards Officers, Cold War Mi6 Chiefs, Cold War Spies, Companions Of The Distinguished Service Order, Knights Commander Of The Order Of St Michael And St George, Knights Commander Of The Order Of The Bath, People Educated At Eton College, Bletchley Park People, Recipients Of The Military Cross, Recipients Of The Order Of The Yugoslav Crown, Military Personnel From London, Grenadier Guards Officers, World War Ii Spies For The United Kingdom
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