History: Origins
The establishment of the Secret Service Bureau
Captain Vernon Kell
In 1909, the Committee of Imperial Defence reviewed Britain's defences against espionage, focusing particularly on the danger to British naval ports from German spies.
At the time, Britain and Germany were engaged in a naval arms race in which the two countries sought to gain technological superiority for their fleets.
The Anglo-German rivalry was reflected in sensational newspaper coverage of German espionage activity, with numerous (and much exaggerated) reports of spies and invasion plots. The Weekly News, for instance, offered £10 to readers to provide information on German agents to its "Spy Editor"; it was quickly inundated with letters reporting supposed German espionage activities.
The War Office and Admiralty agreed to jointly establish a Secret Service Bureau to coordinate intelligence work. Captain Vernon G.W. Kell of the South Staffordshire Regiment and Captain Mansfield Cumming of the Royal Navy were nominated to head the new Bureau, which was established in October 1909.
The Bureau subsequently received an additional requirement from the Admiralty for information about Germany's new navy. Kell and Cumming therefore decided to divide their work. Kell's Home Section took responsibility for countering foreign espionage within the United Kingdom and Cumming's Foreign Section was responsible for gathering intelligence abroad on Britain's potential enemies. These two sections later became the Security Service (MI5) and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).
Although Kell had only modest resources at his disposal - by April 1914, he only had fourteen staff - he was able to achieve considerable success against German espionage. Between 1909 and the outbreak of World War I, more than 20 spies were identified by the Secret Service Bureau and arrested.
German spies in Britain: the Gould case
Frederick Gould
On 22 February 1914, Frederick and Maud Gould were arrested on suspicion of espionage. Maud Gould was found in possession of sensitive documents relating to the Royal Navy, which she was carrying onto a train bound from Charing Cross Station in London to Ostend in Belgium.
Her German-born husband Frederick was subsequently arrested at his home in Wandsworth. A considerable quantity of other stolen official documents was discovered there.
The documents revealed that Frederick Gould had acted as a German spy for several years. He had regularly corresponded with a "Mr St." in Potsdam - in reality, the German spymaster Gustav Steinhauer - and had asked for money in exchange for sensitive documents.
Gould pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years' penal servitude (imprisonment and hard labour) followed by deportation. His wife was found not guilty after the court found that there was insufficient evidence that she knew the contents of the documents that she was carrying.
- More information on this case can be found in the National Archives (new window) in file CRIM 1/145/2.
