Stewart Menzies
Encyclopedia
Major General
Sir Stewart Graham Menzies, KCB
, KCMG, DSO
, MC
(icon; 30 January 1890 – 29 May 1968) was Chief of MI6 (SIS), British
Secret Intelligence Service
, during and after World War II
.
into an immensely wealthy family, as the second son of John Graham Menzies and Susannah West Wilson, daughter of Arthur Wilson
of Tranby Croft
. His grandfather, Graham Menzies, was a whisky
distiller
who helped establish a cartel
and made huge profits. His parents became friends of King Edward VII
who at the time was rumoured to be Menzies' father, though this likely was not the case. Menzies was a nephew of Robert Stewart Menzies
. But Menzies' father was dissolute, never established a worthwhile career, and wasted his share of the family fortune; he died of tuberculosis
in 1911 in his early 50s, leaving only a minimal estate.
Menzies was educated at Eton College
, becoming president of the student society Pop, and graduating in 1909. His achievements were in sports, he excelled at hunting and cross country running; and he was also an excellent student.
as a Second Lieutenant
. After a year with this regiment, he transferred to the Second Life Guards (British Army)
. He was promoted to Lieutenant
and appointed Adjutant
by 1913.
he served in France
. He was wounded at Zandvoorde
in October 1914, and fought gallantly in the First Battle of Ypres
, November 1914. Menzies was promoted to captain on November 14, and received the DSO
in person from King George V on December 2.
. Menzies was seriously injured in a gas attack in 1915, and was honorably discharged from active combat service. He then joined the counterintelligence section of Field Marshal Douglas Haig
, the British commander. In late 1917 he reported to high British leadership that Haig's intelligence chief Brigadier John Charteris
was fudging intelligence estimates, which soon led to Charteris' removal. This whistle-blowing was apparently done very discreetly. Menzies was promoted to brevet major
before the end of the war.
became director-general of MI6 in 1924, and he made Menzies his deputy by 1929, with Menzies being promoted to full colonel
soon afterwards.
In 1924, Menzies was allegedly involved — alongside Sidney Reilly
and Desmond Morton — in the forging of The Zinoviev Letter
. 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.
. He expanded wartime intelligence and counterintelligence departments and supervised codebreaking efforts at Bletchley Park
. Before World War II
, the SIS had been a relatively minor and uninfluential branch of the British government; budgetary pressures after World War I
and during the 1930s years of the Great Depression
were the main reasons for this.
signals gave Menzies and his team enormous insight into Adolf Hitler
's strategy, and this was kept a closely held secret, not only during the war, but until as late as 1974. Frederick Winterbotham's 1974 book The Ultra Secret lifted the cloak of secrecy at last. The Nazis had suspicions, but believed Enigma to be unbreakable, and never knew during the war that the Allies were reading a high proportion of their wireless
traffic. Menzies kept Prime Minister Churchill supplied daily with important Ultra decrypts, and the two worked together to ensure that financial resources were devoted towards 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 afterwards.
Menzies has been suspected as being involved with the assassination of Francois Darlan
, the Vichy military commander who defected to the allies in Algeria. British historian David Raynolds 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 involvement seem likely. Furthermore, Darlan's assassin, La Chapelle, had been a member of the resistance group led by Henri d'Astier.
Menzies, who was promoted to major-general in January 1944, also supported efforts to contact anti-Nazi
resistance
, including Wilhelm Canaris
, the anti-Nazi 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 SOE
(although he reputedly considered them "amateurs"), BSC
, OSS
and the Free French Forces
.
. He absorbed most of SOE
. He was sometimes at odds with the Labour
governments. He also had to weather a scandal inside SIS after revelations that SIS officer Kim Philby
was actually a Soviet spy
, although this came after Menzies had retired.
After 43 continuous years of service in the British Army, Menzies retired to rural Wiltshire
at 62 in mid-1952. Menzies was certainly adept at bureaucratic intrigue, a virtual necessity in his position, but his efforts as 'C' had a major role in winning World War II, as evidenced by his nearly 1,500 meetings with Prime Minister Churchill during the war.
and Lady Muriel Agnes Brassey, daughter of the 1st Earl Brassey
. They were divorced in 1931, when she left him for another man.
His second wife Pamela Thetis Beckett (d. 13 March 1951), fourth daughter of Hon. 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
, whom he married in 13 December 1932, was an invalid for many years, suffering from clinical depression
and anorexia nervosa
, but she bore him his only child, a daughter, Fiona, in 1934.
His third marriage was in 1952 (as her fourth husband) to Audrey Clara Lilian Latham (b. 1899), formerly wife of Sir Henry Birkin, 2nd Bt.
(and two other men), and daughter of Sir Thomas Paul Latham, 1st Bt.
. Stewart and Audrey were both over age 50 at the time of their marriage, 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. By his third marriage, he had two stepdaughters Pamela Buxton (later wife of Lord Buxton of Alsa
) and Sara Hanbury. Anthony Cave Brown
also reports that Menzies had a long-standing affair with one of his secretaries, which he ended upon retirement (and presumably re-marriage) in 1952; the secretary apparently tried to kill herself at that time.
Menzies died 29 May 1968.
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Sir Stewart Graham Menzies, KCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, KCMG, DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
, MC
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
(icon; 30 January 1890 – 29 May 1968) was Chief of MI6 (SIS), British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Secret Intelligence Service
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
, during and after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Early life, family
Stewart Graham Menzies was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
into an immensely wealthy family, as the second son of John Graham Menzies and Susannah West Wilson, daughter of Arthur Wilson
Arthur Wilson (shipping)
Arthur Wilson was a prominent English ship-owner who is best known for playing host to his friend Albert Edward, Prince of Wales at his home Tranby Croft, the scene of the Royal Baccarat Scandal.- Life :...
of Tranby Croft
Tranby Croft
Tranby Croft is a large country house and estate at Anlaby, near Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The mansion is now a co-educational, independent day school, Hull Collegiate School.Tranby Croft is a Grade II listed building....
. His grandfather, Graham Menzies, was a whisky
Whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and corn...
distiller
Distillation
Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....
who helped establish a cartel
Cartel
A cartel is a formal agreement among competing firms. It is a formal organization of producers and manufacturers that agree to fix prices, marketing, and production. Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve homogeneous products...
and made huge profits. His parents became friends of King Edward VII
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
who at the time was rumoured to be Menzies' father, though this likely was not the case. Menzies was a nephew of Robert Stewart Menzies
Robert Stewart Menzies
Robert Stewart Menzies was a Scottish Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1889.Menzies was the son of Graham Menzies , an Edinburgh distiller of Hallyburton, Cupar Angus, and his wife Beatrice , daughter of William Dudgeon, merchant of Leith, Edinburgh...
. But Menzies' father was dissolute, never established a worthwhile career, and wasted his share of the family fortune; he died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in 1911 in his early 50s, leaving only a minimal estate.
Menzies was educated at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, becoming president of the student society Pop, and graduating in 1909. His achievements were in sports, he excelled at hunting and cross country running; and he was also an excellent student.
Joins Life Guards
From Eton he joined the Grenadier GuardsGrenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...
as a Second Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
. After a year with this regiment, he transferred to the Second Life Guards (British Army)
Life Guards (British Army)
The Life Guards is the senior regiment of the British Army and with the Blues and Royals, they make up the Household Cavalry.They originated in the four troops of Horse Guards raised by Charles II around the time of his restoration, plus two troops of Horse Grenadier Guards which were raised some...
. He was promoted to Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
and appointed Adjutant
Adjutant
Adjutant is a military rank or appointment. In some armies, including most English-speaking ones, it is an officer who assists a more senior officer, while in other armies, especially Francophone ones, it is an NCO , normally corresponding roughly to a Staff Sergeant or Warrant Officer.An Adjutant...
by 1913.
World War I combat
During World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
he served in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He was wounded at Zandvoorde
Zandvoorde (Zonnebeke)
Zandvoorde is a village in the Belgian province of West Flanders and a part of the municipality of Zonnebeke. Zandvoorde is a rural village, in the rolling landscape of the southern part of the province.-History:...
in October 1914, and fought gallantly in the First Battle of Ypres
First Battle of Ypres
The First Battle of Ypres, also called the First Battle of Flanders , was a First World War battle fought for the strategic town of Ypres in western Belgium...
, November 1914. Menzies was promoted to captain on November 14, and received the DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
in person from King George V on December 2.
Enters intelligence service
Menzies' regiment was decimated during fighting in 1915, suffering very heavy casualties in the Second Battle of YpresSecond Battle of Ypres
The Second Battle of Ypres was the first time Germany used poison gas on a large scale on the Western Front in the First World War and the first time a former colonial force pushed back a major European power on European soil, which occurred in the battle of St...
. Menzies was seriously injured in a gas attack in 1915, and was honorably discharged from active combat service. He then joined the counterintelligence section of Field Marshal Douglas Haig
Douglas Haig
Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig was a British soldier and senior commander during World War I.Douglas Haig may also refer to:* Club Atlético Douglas Haig, a football club from Argentina* Douglas Haig , American actor...
, the British commander. In late 1917 he reported to high British leadership that Haig's intelligence chief Brigadier John Charteris
John Charteris
Brigadier General John Charteris CMG, DSO was a British general during the First World War. He was Sir Douglas Haig's Chief of British Army Intelligence Officer at the British Expeditionary Force's headquarters from 1915 to 1918....
was fudging intelligence estimates, which soon led to Charteris' removal. This whistle-blowing was apparently done very discreetly. Menzies was promoted to brevet major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
before the end of the war.
Joins MI6
Following the end of the war, Menzies entered MI6 (also known as SIS). He was a member of the British delegation to the 1919 Versailles Peace Conference. Soon after the war, Menzies was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the Imperial General Staff, General Staff Officer, first grade. Within MI6, he became assistant director for special intelligence. Admiral Hugh SinclairHugh Sinclair
Admiral Sir Hugh Francis Paget Sinclair KCB , nicknamed "Quex", was a British intelligence officer. Between 1919 and 1921, he was Director of British Naval Intelligence, and helped to set up the Secret Intelligence Service before the Second World War.-Career:Sinclair joined the Royal Navy in the...
became director-general of MI6 in 1924, and he made Menzies his deputy by 1929, with Menzies being promoted to full colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
soon afterwards.
In 1924, Menzies was allegedly involved — alongside Sidney Reilly
Sidney Reilly
Lieutenant Sidney George Reilly, MC , famously known as the Ace of Spies, was a Jewish Russian-born adventurer and secret agent employed by Scotland Yard, the British Secret Service Bureau and later the Secret Intelligence Service . He is alleged to have spied for at least four nations...
and Desmond Morton — in the forging of The Zinoviev Letter
Zinoviev Letter
The "Zinoviev Letter" refers to a controversial document published by the British press in 1924, allegedly sent from the Communist International in Moscow to the Communist Party of Great Britain...
. This forgery is considered to have been instrumental in the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
's victory in the United Kingdom general election of 1924
United Kingdom general election, 1924
- Seats summary :- References :* F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* - External links :* * *...
, which ended the country's first Labour government.
Becomes Chief of MI6
In 1939, when Admiral Sinclair died, Menzies was appointed Chief of SISSecret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
. He expanded wartime intelligence and counterintelligence departments and supervised codebreaking efforts at Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...
. Before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the SIS had been a relatively minor and uninfluential branch of the British government; budgetary pressures after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and during the 1930s years of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
were the main reasons for this.
Oversees codebreaking
When World War II began, SIS expanded greatly. Menzies insisted on wartime control of codebreaking, and this gave him immense power and influence, which he used judiciously. By distributing the Ultra material collected by the Government Code & Cypher School, for the first time, MI6 became an important branch of the government. Extensive breaches of Nazi EnigmaEnigma machine
An Enigma machine is any of a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used for the encryption and decryption of secret messages. Enigma was invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I...
signals gave Menzies and his team enormous insight into Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's strategy, and this was kept a closely held secret, not only during the war, but until as late as 1974. Frederick Winterbotham's 1974 book The Ultra Secret lifted the cloak of secrecy at last. The Nazis had suspicions, but believed Enigma to be unbreakable, and never knew during the war that the Allies were reading a high proportion of their wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
traffic. Menzies kept Prime Minister Churchill supplied daily with important Ultra decrypts, and the two worked together to ensure that financial resources were devoted towards 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
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, leading up to D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
in June 1944, and afterwards.
Menzies has been suspected as being involved with the assassination of Francois Darlan
François Darlan
Jean Louis Xavier François Darlan was a French naval officer. His great-grandfather was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar...
, the Vichy military commander who defected to the allies in Algeria. British historian David Raynolds 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 involvement seem likely. Furthermore, Darlan's assassin, La Chapelle, had been a member of the resistance group led by Henri d'Astier.
Menzies, who was promoted to major-general in January 1944, also supported efforts to contact anti-Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
resistance
German Resistance
The German resistance was the opposition by individuals and groups in Germany to Adolf Hitler or the National Socialist regime between 1933 and 1945. Some of these engaged in active plans to remove Adolf Hitler from power and overthrow his regime...
, including Wilhelm Canaris
Wilhelm Canaris
Wilhelm Franz Canaris was a German admiral, head of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944 and member of the German Resistance.- Early life and World War I :...
, the anti-Nazi head of Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
, in Germany. Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
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 SOE
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
(although he reputedly considered them "amateurs"), BSC
British Security Coordination
British Security Coordination was a covert organization set up in New York City by the British Secret Intelligence Service in May 1940 upon the authorization of Winston Churchill.-Operation:...
, OSS
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
and the Free French Forces
Free French Forces
The Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
.
After WWII
After the war, Menzies reorganised the SIS for the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. He absorbed most of SOE
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
. He was sometimes at odds with the Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
governments. He also had to weather a scandal inside SIS after revelations that SIS officer Kim Philby
Kim Philby
Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby was a high-ranking member of British intelligence who worked as a spy for and later defected to the Soviet Union...
was actually a Soviet spy
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
, although this came after Menzies had retired.
After 43 continuous years of service in the British Army, Menzies retired to rural Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
at 62 in mid-1952. Menzies was certainly adept at bureaucratic intrigue, a virtual necessity in his position, but his efforts as 'C' had a major role in winning World War II, as evidenced by his nearly 1,500 meetings with Prime Minister Churchill during the war.
Marriages
His first marriage was in 1918 to Lady Avice Ela Muriel Sackville, younger daughter of Gilbert George Reginald Sackville, 8th Earl De La WarrEarl De La Warr
Earl De La Warr is a title created in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1761.In the United States, Thomas West, 3rd baron is often named in history books simply as Lord Delaware. He served as governor of the Jamestown Colony, and the Delaware Bay was named after him...
and Lady Muriel Agnes Brassey, daughter of the 1st Earl Brassey
Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey
Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey GCB, JP, DL, TD , was a British Liberal Party politician, Governor of Victoria and founder of The Naval Annual.-Background and education:...
. They were divorced in 1931, when she left him for another man.
His second wife Pamela Thetis Beckett (d. 13 March 1951), fourth daughter of Hon. 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
Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey
Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey PC , styled Lord Paget 1812 and 1815 and Earl of Uxbridge between 1815 and 1854, was a British peer and Whig politician...
, whom he married in 13 December 1932, was an invalid for many years, suffering from clinical depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
and anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...
, but she bore him his only child, a daughter, Fiona, in 1934.
His third marriage was in 1952 (as her fourth husband) to Audrey Clara Lilian Latham (b. 1899), formerly wife of Sir Henry Birkin, 2nd Bt.
Henry Birkin
Sir Henry Ralph Stanley "Tim" Birkin, 3rd Baronet was a British racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s.-Background and family:...
(and two other men), and daughter of Sir Thomas Paul Latham, 1st Bt.
Latham Baronets
The Latham Baronetcy, of Crow Clump in Walton-upon-Thames in the County of Surrey, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 24 May 1919 for Thomas Latham. He was Joint managing Director and Deputy Chairman of Courtaulds and also gave valuable to service to the Ministry...
. Stewart and Audrey were both over age 50 at the time of their marriage, each had separate estates (his in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, west of London, hers in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, east of London), and they for the most part lived separately, but they met in London for dinner each Wednesday. By his third marriage, he had two stepdaughters Pamela Buxton (later wife of Lord Buxton of Alsa
Aubrey Buxton, Baron Buxton of Alsa
Major Aubrey Leland Oakes Buxton, Baron Buxton of Alsa KCVO, MC, DL was a British soldier, politician, television executive and writer.-Career:...
) and Sara Hanbury. Anthony Cave Brown
Anthony Cave Brown
Anthony Cave Brown was an English-American journalist, espionage non-fiction writer and historian.-Early years:...
also reports that Menzies had a long-standing affair with one of his secretaries, which he ended upon retirement (and presumably re-marriage) in 1952; the secretary apparently tried to kill herself at that time.
Menzies died 29 May 1968.