Sir Vernon Kell | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 21 November 1873 |
| Died | 27 March 1942(1942-03-27) (aged 68) |
| Nationality | British |
| Other names | 'K' |
| Occupation(s) | Intelligence officer, soldier |
| Espionage activity | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service branch | MI5 |
| Service years | 1909–1940 |
| Rank | Director of MI5 |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service | British Army |
| Years of service | 1894–1939 |
| Rank | Major General |
| Unit | South Staffordshire Regiment |
| Battles / wars | Boxer Rebellion First World War |
| Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companion of the Order of the Bath Officer of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) Officer of the Legion of Honour (France) Officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Italy) |
Major GeneralSir Vernon George Waldegrave Kell,KBE, CB (21 November 1873 – 27 March 1942) was aBritish Army general and the founder and first Director of the British Security Service, otherwise known asMI5. Known asK, he was described inWho's Who as "Commandant, War Department Constabulary".[1]
Born inGreat Yarmouth,Norfolk, in 1873, Kell was the son of Major Waldegrave Kell of the38th Foot and his wife, Georgiana Augusta Konarska, daughter of Samuel Alexander Ernest Konarski and Harriet Fraser Lucas.[2]
After graduating from theRoyal Military College, Sandhurst, Kell was commissioned into theSouth Staffordshire Regiment on 10 October 1894,[3] and promoted tolieutenant on 15 December 1896.[4] He was in January 1900 seconded for service in China,[5] and fought in theBoxer Rebellion later that year. He could speak German, Italian, French and Polish with equal facility, and after serving and studying in China and Russia, he learned their respective languages too. While he was on the intelligence staff inTientsin he was also the foreign correspondent ofThe Daily Telegraph. He was promoted to the rank ofcaptain on 24 September 1901,[6] while still seconded in China where he served as a Railway Staff Officer (for which he was mentioned in despatches).[7]
After his return to London from China in 1902, Kell was employed to analyse German intelligence at theWar Office. He returned to a posting in his regiment from 1 October 1903,[8] and was appointed a staff captain serving at theWar Office on 9 February 1904.[9]
Rising public fears in Great Britain of German espionage precipitated the creation of a new government intelligence agency. In 1909 Kell was selected by the War Office and the Admiralty as one of two officers, alongsideMansfield Smith-Cumming, to head the newly formed Secret Service Bureau.[10] He retired from active duty on 16 October 1909, but remained on the reserve list.[11]
Kell and Cumming decided to divide the intelligence work, Kell taking responsibility for domestic concerns, while Cumming was to oversee foreign matters. However, their working relationship was fraught, as Cumming advocated the separation of the Bureau's work into two distinct departments (which evolved intoMI5 andMI6). The separation took place in 1910.[12]
Kell was promoted to the rank of major on 20 August 1913.[9] Following the outbreak of war in 1914, Kell was restored to active duty as a GSO 2,[13] and was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel on 5 September.[14] On 1 March 1915, he was appointed a GSO 1, retaining his temporary rank.[15] For his service, he received a brevet promotion to lieutenant-colonel on 3 June 1916, and received a temporary promotion to colonel on 21 December.[16][17]
During the First World War, Kell headedMI5(g), a section dealing with theIndian seditionist movement in Europe. Among Kell's officers were ex-ICS officersRobert Nathan and H. L. Stephenson.[18] Kell also worked closely with the Special Branch ofScotland Yard, then headed byBasil Thomson, and was successful in tracing the work of Indian revolutionaries collaborating with the Germans during the war.[19]
Kell was promoted to the rank of colonel in the reserve of officers on 1 April 1924.[20] Upon reaching the age of 60 on 21 November 1933, he was removed from the reserve list.[21] Kell received an honorary promotion to major-general on 27 September 1939.[22]
In December 1938, having reached retirement age, Kell asked to remain in post on a year-to-year basis.[23]: 218 With the onset of war, MI5 finally got the hiring and financial resources of which it had been starved for years. However, MI5 proved unable to deploy them without confusion[23]: 219 and Kell andhis deputy, both in their mid-60s, got the blame. On 10 June 1940 Kell was dismissed on the instructions ofWinston Churchill, after 30 years in post.[24] He was the longest-serving head of any British government department during the 20th century.[23]: 227
Kell was awarded the following orders and decorations:
Kell was the basis for a major character inBert Coules's radio adaptation ofArthur Conan Doyle'sHis Last Bow.[31]
Kell is depicted as an ally of a secret society of bodyguards attached to the radicalwomen's suffrage movement in the graphic novel trilogySuffrajitsu: Mrs. Pankhurst's Amazons (2015).[32]
InDennis Wheatley's novelThe Second Seal, Kell investigates the book's hero, theDuke de Richleau.[33]
In Bill Aitken's novelBlackest of Lies, Kell is involved in the concealment of Lord Kitchener's fictional death at the hands of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.[34]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)| Government offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Director General of MI5 1909–1940 | Succeeded by |
Media related toVernon Kell at Wikimedia Commons
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