It is intended that this list should include all Parliamentary (Lords and Commons) personalities who are named as proposing an Anglo-German peace deal after the outbreak of war or as being in touch with the Nazi regime either directly or through neutrals in pursuit of such an accommodation.
Sources:
Unpublished:
- Home Office, (HO) Foreign Office (FO) and Prime Ministerial (PREM) papers in the Public Record Office, London;
- Neville Chamberlain papers, University of Birmingham (CHAM);
Christie papers, Churchill College Cambridge; - Kenneth de Courcy papers, Hoover Institution, Stanford, California;
- B.H. Liddell Hart papers (King’s College, London);
- R.R. Stokes papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford;
papers of the Spanish Foreign Ministry archives, Madrid;
documents released by the FBI under the Freedom of Information Acts.
Published:
- Documenti Diplomatici Italiani (DDI)
- Documents on German Foreign Policy (DGFP)
- Nicholas Bethell, The War Hitler Won (1972)
- Anthony Cave Brown, “C”: The Secret Life of Sir Stewart Menzies (1988)
- Richard Cockett, Twilight of Truth (1989)
John Costello, Ten Days that Saved the West (1991) - Richard Griffiths, Fellow Travellers of the Right (1980,1983)
- Simon Haxey, Tory M.P. (1939)
- David Irving, Goering (1989)
- R. Lamb, The Ghosts of Peace (1987)
- Lobster 17 (1988) and Who’s Who of the British Secret State (1989)
- Interview with Kenneth de Courcy.
- Biographical details are taken from Who’s Who, 1940.
In one case (Lord McGowan) I have included a name which is not referred to in the sources mentioned above. This is because McGowan’s business associates were all involved in peace moves; and because of this as well as of his own past (he attended the 1938 Nuremburg rally — see Davenport-Hines’s entry on him in the Dictionary of Business Biography (1984)), he cannot, at the very least, have been unaware of them.
The current list is not meant to be definitive. There were other names besides those quoted here: Richard Stokes, M.P., one of the fellow travellers, was able to organise a lobby of 30 M.Ps. who wanted a positive response from Churchill to Hitler’s peace offer of July 1940. His papers at the New Bodleian Library, Oxford do not however reveal all of the identities involved. It should also be remembered that 1,500 people were detained under Defence Regulation 18b between May and August 1940, a fate which the majority of names on the list escaped.(1) This Regulation was only invoked against known Fifth Columnists and Fascists. The individuals referred to here must therefore be only the tip of an iceberg whose full extent would reveal a very considerable network, or networks, of bankers, industrialists, landowners, service officers, members of the security and intelligence establishment, and politicians. Some of these were genuinely pro-Nazi, many more were committed to Anglo-German detente so that the wealth of the country would not be dissipated in war, leading to the collapse of the Empire and the triumph of socialism at home and Bolshevism abroad. This, after all, had been the rationale behind Chamberlain’s appeasement policy.(2)
In addition to what Griffiths calls “Fellow Travellers of the Right’, there are a handful of socialists featured here. Some, like Stokes, were more Right wing than Conservatives like Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan. Others, like Maxton and the Independent Labour Party group, operated from a conviction that war was a product of imperialism, which in itself was the highest stage of capitalism. It was therefore the duty of the working class and its representatives to mobilise for peace (in any case this argument faded most rapidly after the German invasion of the Soviet Union). The influence of this clique on the British Labour movement was very small; the anti-semitism and purges of socialists, liberals and trade unionists organised by the Nazi state, together with the help provided by Germany to Franco, had prepared the ground for a reluctant conviction that war was necessary.(3)
Some eyebrows may be raised at the omission from this list of David Lloyd George. Late in 1940 Churchill likened him to Petain; the mud has stuck, cemented by memories of the old Liberal’s visit to Hitler in 1936. Yet Churchill was unfair. Lloyd George was not an appeaser. He argued in favour of an alliance with the Soviet Union and was unhappy about the declaration of war because he did not see how, in the absence both of such an alliance, and of commitments of help from the United States, Britain could win a conflict with Germany, still less protect the territorial integrity of Poland. In the summer of 1940 he resisted the efforts of Stokes to recruit him to a peace drive, and maintained that such action would only be appropriate once the German threat to Britain had been militarily defeated. He was prepared to contemplate a fight to the finish if either or both of the Soviet Union and the United States came into the war on the British side.(4)
The list is in 2 parts: (i) Parliamentary Fellow Travellers; and (ii) extra-Parliamentary Fellow Travellers. Each curriculum vitae is quoted as it stood in 1940.
Notes
- John Costello, Ten Days That Saved the West (1991).
- Scott Newton, “The Economic Background to Appeasement and the Search for Anglo-German Detente before and during World War Two’, Lobster 20, 1990.
- See the biographies of Ernest Bevin, Hugh Dalton and Hugh Gaitskell by Alan Bullock (volume 2, 1967), Ben Pimlott (1985) and Philip Williams (1979), respectively.
- See memorandum by Lloyd George of 12 September 1940, in the Liddell Hart papers, King’s College, London; and see Box 1, Stokes papers, New Bodleian Library, Oxford.
Parliamentary
Aberconway (Lord)
Henry Duncan Mclaren, b. 1879
Chairman of John Brown Ltd, of Thomas Firth and John Brown Ltd (a corporate member of the Anglo-German Fellowship), of Tredegar Iron and Coal Co Ltd, of Firth Brown Steel, of Westland Aircraft, of English Clays Lovering Pochin and Co; a director of National Provincial Bank, the London Assurance, Doncaster Amalgamated Collieries and of the Sheepbridge Coal and Iron Co Ltd. Ex Liberal politician. Club: Brooks. Met Goering August 1939. Mentioned supporting negotiated peace March and July 1940. (See FO, PREM, Stokes).
Aga Khan
Rt Hon. Aga Sultan Sir Mahomed Shah, b. 1877.
Religious potentate; head of the Ismaili Mahomedans; premier Indian prince; chairman of British Indian delegation to the Round Table Conference, 1930 and 1931; led Indian delegation to the League of Nations Assembly, 1932-37; President, League of Nations Assembly, 1937. Covertly supported German victory in letters to senior German diplomats which were captured by British forces in 1945. Club: Marlborough. (FO)
Arnold (Lord)
Sydney Arnold, b. 1878.
Stockbroker. Ex Liberal and Labour M.P. Resigned from the Labour Party 1938 in disagreement with its stance on foreign affairs. Council of the Anglo-German Fellowship. Advocated negotiated peace throughout 1939-40. (FO and PREM)
Bearsted (Lord)
Walter Horace Samuel, b. 1882.
Industrialist and Banker. Chairman of Shell Transport and Trading Co Ltd (the British holding company of Royal Dutch Shell), corporate member of the Anglo-German Fellowship; founder of Samuel’s (merchant bank); trustee of National and Tate Galleries. MI6 (Secret Intelligence Service). Advocated negotiated peace, 1940. Club: Carlton, White’s, Orleans, Burlington Fine Arts, Buck’s, Bath, Beefsteak. (Stokes, Lobster 19)
Beaverbrook (Lord)
William Maxwell Aitken, newspaper magnate, b. 1879. Unionist M.P. 1910- 17 (created Baron, 1917). Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister of Information, 1918. Supporter of Chamberlain’s foreign policy and imperial isolationism in the 1930s. Kept Samuel Hoare (q.v.) on a retainer and worked for a negotiated peace in 1940. Club: Carlton; Marlborough. (Cockett; FO).
Bennett, Ernest, M.P.
National Labour M.P. for Central Cardiff 1931-1945 (Labour M.P. for same 1929-31). Anglo-German Fellowship. Advocated negotiated peace 1940. Club: Bath, Reform, Flyfishers’. (Stokes)
Brocket, Lord
Arthur Ronald Nall Nall-Cain, b. 1904.
Barrister and J.P.; member of Herts County Council; chairman of Land Union; of Central and Associated Chambers of Agriculture. Friend and confidant of Chamberlain. (Griffiths, p. 363) Anglo-German Fellowship. Advocated negotiated peace 1939-40. Club: Carlton, Marlborough. (FO, Stokes, Lobster, De Courcy interview).
Buccleugh, Duke of
Walter John Montagu-Douglas-Scott, b. 1894.
Numerous earldoms in Scotland and northern England; Lord Stewart of the Royal Household, 1937-41. Frequently visited Hitler pre-war. Consistent advocate of negotiated peace. Club: Guards, Turf, Carlton, New, Edinburgh. (FO, PREM, Lidell-Hart, Stokes).
Buckmaster, Lord
Owen Stanley Buckmaster, b. 1890. Committee of the London Stock Exchange. Advocate of negotiated peace. Club: United University. (Stokes)
Butler, R.A., M.P., b. 1902.
Conservative M.P. after 1929. Junior Minister 1932-38. Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1938-41. Supporter of appeasement, worked for negotiated peace 1939-41. Club: Carlton; Farmers’; Buck’s; Beefsteak. (DGFP, Costello, De Courcy).
Buxton, Charles Roden, M.P., b. 1875.
Ex Liberal and Labour M.P., representing Cambridge University in 1940. Confidant of Chamberlain. Drew up comprehensive scheme for economic appeasement for P.M. in July 1939; advocate of negotiated peace 1939- 40. (FO, PREM, Stokes).
Carnegie (Lord)
Charles Alexander Carnegie, KCVO.Scottish peer. Landowner. Scots Guards until 1925. ADC to Viceroy of India 1917-19. Member of the Right Club. Club: Guards. Advocate of negotiated peace 1939-40 (Griffiths; Stokes).
Chaplin (Lord)
Eric Chaplin, 2nd Viscount, b. 1877. Scottish peer. Landowner. Right Club. Club: Carlton; Marlborough; Royal Yacht Squadron; Cowes. Advocate of negotiated peace 1939-40. (Griffiths)
Chatfield (Lord)
Admiral of the Fleet Alfred Ernle Montacute Chatfield, 1st Baron (1937), GCB, KCMG, CVO, b. 1873. Privy Councillor 1939. Minister for Coordination of Defence 1939-40; First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, 1933-38. Club: Army and Navy. Anti-Soviet advocate of negotiated peace after dismissal in April 1940. (Spanish Foreign Ministry).
Cranbrook (Lord)
John David Gathorne-Hardy, b. 1900. Landowner, Conservative peer and junior Minister, 1927-28. County Councillor, E. Suffolk; J.P., Suffolk. Related to Goschen family (bankers). Club: Royal Cruising. Advocate of negotiated peace, 1940. (Stokes)
Culverwell, Cyril, Tom
B. 1895. Unionist M.P. for Bristol West since 1928. Club: Carlton; Royal Torbay Yacht; Clifton, Bristol. Apologist for Nazi regime; advocate of negotiated peace 1940. (Stokes)
Darnley (Lord)
Esme Ivo Bligh, b. 1886. Landowner, Conservative peer. Club: Bath. Advocate of negotiated peace 1939-40. (PREM, FO, Stokes)
Davies, Rhys, M.P.
B. 1877. Labour M.P. Advocate of negotiated peace 1940. (Stokes)
Davies, S.O., M.P.
B. 1886. Labour M.P. Advocate of negotiated peace, 1940. (Stokes)
Edmondson, Major (Sir) Albert James, M.P.
B. 1887.Government Whip, 1937-39; Lord Commissioner of the Treasury after 1939. Club: Carlton; Conservative; St. Stephen’s; 1900. Member of the Right Club. (Costello).
Halifax (Lord)
Edward Frederick Linley Wood, b. 1881. Yorkshire landowner. Former Unionist M.P. and junior Minister, Viceroy of India 1926-31. Succession of Cabinet appointments thereafter until made Foreign Secretary in 1938. Worked for negotiated peace 1939-41, possibly with approval of Chamberlain but behind the back of Churchill. Club: Carlton; Brook’s; Yorkshire; York. (FO,FBI,DGFP,Costello, De Courcy interview)
Harmsworth (Lord)
Cecil Bisshop Harmsworth, b. 1869. Newspaper magnate, brother of Lords Nothcliffe and Rothermere, both known for their extreme Right wing opinions. Liberal M.P. 1906-22; junior Minister 1915-22. Club: Reform; University; Dublin. Advocate of negotiated peace, 1939-40. (FO)
Harvey, Thomas Edmund, M.P.
B. 1889.Independent Progressive M.P. for Combined English Universities since 1937.Master of the Guild of St George, 1934 – . Club: National Liberal. Supported negotiated peace 1939-40. (Stokes)
Hoare, Sir Samuel, M.P.
B. 1880. Conservative M.P. for Chelsea since 1910. Privy Councillor since 1922. Aviator. Ex-Secret Intelligence Service (Poland, 1919- 20). Secretary of State for India, 1931-35; Foreign Secretary, 1935; First Lord of the Admiralty, 1935-37; Home Secretary, 1935-39; Lord Privy Seal, 1939-40; H.M.Ambassador to Spain, 1940-45. Leading appeaser; advocate of negotiated peace and involved in covert discussions with Germany, 1939-43 (at least) before being warned off by the Foreign Office. Club: Carlton. (FO, DDI)
Holden (Lord)
Angur William Eden Holden, b. 1898. Liberal peer. Ex Guards’ Regiment; Hon Attache, H.M. Mission to Holy See, 1918; to H.M. Embassy, Madrid, 1922; to Berlin, 1925. Club: Guards’, Royal Automobile. Advocate of negotiated peace, 1939-40. (FO, PREM, Stokes, Chamberlain, Cockett, De Courcy)
Kerr, Lt-Col Charles Iain, M.P.
B. 1874. Stockbroker (Kerr, Ware and Co.). Liberal National M.P. Montrose Burghs since 1932; Lord Commisioner of the Treasury and Chief Whip Liberal National Party, 1937-39. Member of the Right Club; advocate of negotiated peace, 1939-40. (Stokes; Costello)
Kimberley (Lord)
John Wodehouse Kimberley, 2nd Earl, b. 1883. Landowner (c. 11,200 acres). Liberal M.P. Mid. Norfolk, 1906-10. Club: Turf, Bath. Advocate of negotiated peace, 1940. (Stokes)
Lambert, George, M.P.
B. 1866. Liberal M.P. S. Molton, 1891-1924; 1929-31; Liberal National since 1931. Privy Councillor since 1912. Club: Reform; Devon and Exeter. Advocate of negotiated peace, 1940. (Stokes)
Londonderry (Lord)
Sir Charles Stewart Henry Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess, KG, MVO, b. 1878. Privy Councillor since 1919. Landowner with extensive estates in northern England and Northern Ireland; coalowner; aviator; Lord Lieutenant of Co. Durham since 1928; Chief Commissioner, Civil Air Guard, since 1938; Conservative M.P. for Maidstone, 1906-15; Ministerial experience in both London and Belfast including Secretary of State for Air, 1931-35; Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords, 1935.Club: Carlton; Royal Yacht Squadron. Advocate of appeasement before the war and of negotiated peace, 1939-41. Member of the Imperial Policy Group (FO, PREM, DGFP, De Courcy).
Lothian (Lord)
Philip Henry Kerr, 11th Marquess, b. 1882. Landowner (c. 28,000 acres). Editor, The Round Table, 1910-16; Secretary to the Prime Minister, 1916-21; Secretary of the Rhodes Trust, 1925-39; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1931; director of the National Bank of Scotland; member of the Anglo-German Fellowship; H.M. Ambassador in Washington since 1939. Advocate of appeasement before the war and of a negotiated peace, 1939-40, working for this with the tacit approval of Lord Halifax (q.v.). Club: Travellers’. (DGFP, FO, Costello)
Lucas, Major Sir Joceyln Morton, M.P.
B. 1889.Conservative M.P. Portsmouth South since 1939. Club: Carlton; Conservative; British; New York. Advocate of negotiated peace, 1940. (Stokes)
Lytton, Lord
Victor Alexander George Robert, b. 1876. Civil Lord of the Admiralty, 1916; 1919-20; Under Secretary of State for India, 1920-22; Governor of Bengal, 1922-27; leader of the Indian Delegation to the 8th and 9th Assemblies of the League of Nations, Geneva, 1927 and 1928; modest landowner (c. 600 acres); industrialist (Chairman of Palestine Potash, Ltd; of Central London Electricity, Ltd; director of the London Power Company.) Club: Athenaeum. Advocate of negotiated peace, 1939-40. (Stokes)
McGovern, John, M.P.
B. 1887.Independant Labour Party M.P. for Shettlestone Division of Glasgow since 1930. Advocate of negotiated peace, 1939-40. (FO; Stokes)
McGowan, Lord
Harry Duncan McGowan, 1st Baron, b. 1874. Chairman of Imperial Chemical Industries; Deputy Chairman of African Explosives and Industries, Ltd; director of Canadian Industries, Ltd; director of General Motors Corporation, New York; director of the Midland Bank, Ltd; Advisory Director of the Overseas Bank, Ltd. Steered I.C.I. into cartel arrangements with I.G. Farben, Royal Dutch Shell and Standard Oil; launched I.C.I. on policy of founding joint overseas companies with US chemical manufacturers Du Pont. Advocate of appeasement before the war; fascist sympathiser; visited Nuremberg rally, 1938; member of the Anglo-German Fellowship; executives of companies with which McGowan was involved (e.g. Du Pont, Royal Dutch Shell and General Motors, the last two represented, respectively, by Baldwin Raper, q. v., and by James Mooney, the American Chairman of General Motors) all working covertly for negotiated peace, 1939-41. Economic League. Club: Carlton; St James’s; Bath; Conservative; Glasgow. (FO; Costello; Davenport-Hines; Haxey; Irving).
Mamhead (Lord)
Robert Hunt Stapylton Dudley Lydston Newman, b. 1871. Ex Unionist M.P.; advocate of negotiated peace, 1940. (Stokes)
Mansfield (Lord)
Mungo David Malcolm Murray, 7th Earl, b. 1900. Lieutenant in the Black Watch; Territorial Army; Unionist M.P. for Perth 1931-35; Chairman, Edinburgh Royal Insurance; Chairman, British Society of Monarchists; President, British Empire Union; founding member of the Imperial Policy Group. Club: Pratt’s; Carlton; M.C.C. Advocate of appeasement before the war and of a negotiated peace, 1939-41. (Costello, De Courcy, Lobster).
Marochetti (Lord)
George Charles Marochetti, 3rd Baron, b. 1894. Ex Military Intelligence (probably Secret Intelligence Service); Asst. Military Attache, Vienna, 1919-20; British delegate to International Commission of Blockade (Hungary), 1921; Inspector of Shipping, Madagascar, 1925; mission to South America, 1929-30; insurance broker with A.W. Bain and Sons Ltd, after 1932.Club: Junior Naval and Miltary; International Sportsmen’s; Berkshire Golf; Ganton Golf. Advocate of negotiated peace and replacement of Churchill Coalition, early 1941 (conversation with Raymond E. Lee January 1941 in which M. is quoted as speaking for opinion in the City of London, Secret Diaries of Raymond E. Lee, edited by James Leutze, 1971).
Maxton, James, M.P.
B. 1885.Labour M.P. Bridgetown Division of Glasgow since 1922; chairman of the Independent Labour Party, 1934-39. Advocate of negotiated peace, 1940. (Stokes; FO).
Milne (Lord)
Field Marshall George Francis Milne, 1st Baron, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., C.B., D.S.O., b. 1866. Soldier. Lieutenant of the Tower of London, 1920-23; A.D.C. to the King, 1923; Chief of Imperial General Staff, 1926-33. Club: Army and Navy. Advocate of negotiated peace, 1939-40 (CHAM).
Mitchell, Harold Paton, M.P.
B. 1900.Unionist M.P. for Brentford and Chiswick Division of Middlesex since 1931. Chairman, the Alloa Coal Co., Ltd and the Alloa Glassworks Co. Ltd; President, Luscar Coals Ltd and Mountain Park Coals, Ltd, Alberta; director, The New Zealand and Australian Land Co. Ltd. Club: Carlton; Bath; Alpine; New; Edinburgh. Member of the Right Club (Costello).
Mottisone (Lord)
Maj-Gen John Edward Bernard Seely, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., b. 1868. Ex soldier and Liberal M.P. Secretary of State for War, 1912-14; member of Anglo-German Fellowship. Club: Brooks’s; Athenaeum; Royal Yacht Squadron. Associated with peace plotters after the outbreak of war but acted as reporter on their activites to the government. (FO; Griffiths).
Noel-Buxton (Lord)
Noel Edward Noel-Buxton, 1st Baron Aylsham, b. 1869. Former Liberal and then Labour M.P. Privy Councillor 1930. Minister of Agriculture 1924, 1929-30.Club:Athenaeumn. Advocate of appeasement and of negotiated peace 1939-40. (FO, PREM, Stokes)
Phillimore (Lord)
Godfrey Walter Phillimore, 2nd Baron, b. 1879. Chair, Friends of National Spain (pro-Franco pressure group), 1936-39, and of Executive Council of the Country Landowners’ Association. Vice-President of the Economic League; member of the Imperial Policy Group..Club: Athenaeum; Carlton. Advocate of Anglo-German peace deal, 1939-41. (De Courcy)
Ponsonby (Lord)
Arthur Augustus William Ponsonby, 1st Baron, b. 1871. Labour peer, once diplomatic service and Liberal M.P. Advocate of appeasement and after outbreak of war of a negotiated peace. (FO, PREM, Stokes, De Courcy)
Raikes, Henry Victor Alpine MacKinnon, M. P.
B. 1901. Conservative M. P. for S. E. Essex since 1931. Violently anti-Soviet advocate of appeasement; member of the Imperial Policy Group. Club: Carlton, MCC, Pratt’s, Junior Carlton. Supported negotiated peace, 1939-41. (De Courcy, Lobster 12)
Ramsay, Captain. A. H. M.
B. 1890s. Unionist M.P. for Peebles since 1931. Military intelligence (S. D. 3, War Office) 1917-19. Vice-Chairman of the Cavendish Land Company. Club: Carlton.Pro-Nazi advocate of appeasement; member of the Link and the Right Club; detained under Regulation 18b in May 1940. (HO, Haxey, Costello)
Redesdale (Lord)
David Bertram Ogilvy Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron, b. 1878. Pro-fascist peer, admirer of Hitler, member of pro-Nazi organisation, The Link. Club: Marlborough. (Haxey, HO).
Riley, Ben, M. P.
B. 1866. Labour M. P. for Dewsbury. Parliamentary Private Secretary to Noel-Buxton (q. v.) 1930-31. Advocate of a negotiated peace, 1940. (Stokes)
Sanderson, Sir Frank Bernard, M. P.
B. 1880.Conservative M. P. for Ealing since 1931. Chairman of Salts (Saltaire) Ltd; of J. and J. Crombie Ltd, Aberdeen; and of Humber Fishing Co. Ltd. Director of United Premier Oils and Cake Co. Ltd. Member of the Anglo-German Fellowship; supporter of the Link. Club: Unionist; 1900; Carlton. Advocate of negotiated peace, 1940. (Stokes)
Semphill (Lord)
Colonel William Francis Forbes-Semphill, 14th Baron, b. 1893. Royal Flying Corps and then Royal Air Force in First World War. Helped to organise and train Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service, 1921. Aviator and industrialist; Deputy Chairman of London Chamber of Commerce, 1931-34; Chairman 1934-35; Vice-President, 1935-; executive committee of the Navy League; member of the Anglo-German Fellowship; on the Council of The Link; member of the Right Club; Deputy Chairman of the Royal Empire League; Chairman and director of F. T. M. Ltd.; director, Kelvin, Bottomly and Baird, Ltd. Club: Athenaeum; Beefsteak; Junior United Services; MCC. Advocate of peace with Germany, 1939-40. (Stokes; Costello; Haxey)
Stokes, Richard Rapier, M.P.
B. 1897.Labour M. P. for Ipswich since 1938; Chairman and Managing Director of Ransomes and Rapier Ltd. and Managing Director of Cochran and Co., Annan Ltd. Executive Committee, League of Nations Union; Committee for Civil and Religious Peace in Spain.Club: White’s; Bath. Advocate of appeasement and of negotiated peace, 1939-41; met Von Papen, German Ambassador to Turkey, February 1940; parliamentary organiser of peace lobby. (Stokes)
Tavistock (Lord)
Hastings William Sackville Russell, landowner, heir to Duke of Bedford whom he succeeded in 1940. B. 1888. Advocate of appeasment and of negotiated peace, 1939-40. (FO, PREM, Liddell-Hart, Costello)
Wellington (Duke of)
Arthur Charles Wellesley, 5th Duke, b. 1876. Landowner; member of Anglo-German Fellowship and of the Right Club. Advocate of appeasement and of negotiated peace, 1939-40. (Stokes, Costello, Haxey)
Westminster (Duke of)
Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, 2nd Duke, b. 1879. Landowner with estates in Scotland, Flintshire, Cheshire, and 600 acres in London. Admirer of Nazi regime. Advocate of Anglo-German peace 1939-40. (FO; Brown)
Wise, Alfred Roy, M. P.
B. 1901.Conservative M. P. for Smethwick since 1931. Member of the Imperial Policy Group.Club: United University. Advocate of appeasement and of Anglo-German peace. (De Courcy)
Extra-Parliamentary
Ball, Sir George Joseph
B. 1880.War Office 1911; HQ Irish Command 1914; British Expeditionary Force 1915-21; War Office, 1922. MI5; reorganised Conservative Research Department; signed the cheque which paid the forger of the Zinoviev letter; confidant of Chamberlain throughout his Prime Ministership; editor of Truth, a pro-Nazi paper which advocated peace with Germany after the outbreak of war and which consistently smeared Churchill. (Cockett, Information from A. Liddell Hart.)
Christie, Group-Capt. Malcolm Grahame
B. 1882. Aviator and businessman; Air Attache, Berlin, 1927-30. Travelled continent throughout the 1930s; had a house at Venlo, on the Dutch-German border. Worked for Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) “Z’ organisation and also reported to Sir Robert Vansittart, Chief Diplomatic Adviser to the Government after 1938. Met most of the leading Nazis; discussed negotiated peace with the S.S. and with representatives of Goering between 1939-40 under the instructions of the Foreign Office and MI6. (Christie; A. Read and D. Fisher, Colonel Z, 1984)
De Courcy, Kenneth Hugh
B. 1909. Secretary to the Imperial Policy Group; personal agent to Sir Stewart Menzies, Chief of Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from November 1939; reported also to Butler (q.v.) and to Chamberlain during the late 1930s on European diplomatic situation. Friendly with Londonderry, Mansfield and Phillimore (q.v). Anti-Soviet advocate of a policy of “imperial isolationism’ for British Commonwealth and Empire; attempted to negotiate Anglo-German peace through United States Ambassador to Great Britain Joseph Kennedy in May-June 1940, with the approval of Halifax (q. v.) and Butler. Warned off by Prime Minister Churchill. (De Courcy; Lobster 16; Costello)
Domville, Admiral Sir Barry Edward
B. 1878.Director of Naval Intelligence, 1927-30; President, Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and Vice Admiral Commanding War College, 1932-34; member of the Anglo-German Fellowship; founder and Chairman of The Link; pro-Nazi advocate of Anglo-German rapprochement; detained under Regulation 18b in May 1940.. Club: Roehampton; Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes. (Haxey; Costello)
Drummond Wolff, Henry
B. 1900. Conservative member for Basingstoke 1934-35; member of the Grand Council of the Primrose League; admirer of Goering; friend of the Duke of Westminster (q.v.); used by Chamberlain to pursue secret feelers towards Germany in May 1939; advocated Anglo-German peace deal after the outbreak of war. Club: Carlton; Pratt’s; Royal Air Force. (FO; DGFP; Brown).
Gibbs, Sir Philip
B. 1877. Author and journalist. Friend of Westminster and Drummond Wolff (q.v.). Supporter of appeasement and of negotiated peace after the outbreak of war. Club: Reform. (Griffiths)
Kelly, Sir David, C.M.G., M.C.
B. 1891. Military intelligence, World War One; Foreign Office from 1919. Club: Athenaeum; St James’s; Marlborough; Travellers’. In fact worked for Secret Intelligence Service. Minister to Switzerland, 1939. There met a succession of German officials and discussed the possibility of a negotiated peace with them from 1939 onwards. (DGFP; Costello)
Mosley, Sir Oswald
B. 1896. Former Conservative and Labour M.P.. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1929-30. Founded the New Party and then the British Union of Fascists in 1932. Married Diana, daughter of Lord Redesdale (q.v.) in 1936. Arrested under Regulation 18b in 1940. Club: White’s. (Costello)
Mountain, Sir Edward Mortimer
B. 1872. Chairman and Managing Director of Eagle Star and British Dominions Insurance Company, Ltd; of British Crown Assurance Company; of Threadneedle Insurance company (1923). Advocate of appeasement; met Goering secretly in August 1939 along with Robert Renwick and C. F. Spenser (q.v.). Persisted in contacts with Goering via Swedish businessman Birger Dahlerus after the outbreak of war, against the advice of the Foreign Office. (FO)
Norman, Montagu Collet
B. 1871. Governor of the Bank of England since 1920. Privy Councillor 1923. Club: Athenaeum. Advocate of appeasement; worked successfully to keep Anglo-German financial ties intact throughout the 1930s; alleged by Roosevelt to be involved in discussions concerning a negotiated Anglo-German peace with former Reichsbank Director Hjalmar Schacht, 1941-42. (FO)
Raper, Alfred Baldwin
B. 1889. Managing Director of Shell-Mex; RAF in First World War; Special Mission to Finland, 1918 (probably Secret Intelligence Service); Conservative and Unionist M.P. for N. E. Behnall Green, 1918-22. Clubs: Royal Air Force; City of London. In touch with Goering via Swedes, February 1940, concerning compromise peace. (FO)
Renwick, Sir Robert Burnham
B. 1904. Stockbroker (W. Greenwell); director of electricity supply companies stretching all the way across Southern England from Bournmouth to Folkestone. Club: White’s; Orleans; City. Involved along with Mountain and Spencer (q.v.) in the discussions with Goering, August 1939. Continued these after the outbreak of war through Dahlerus against Foreign Office advice. (FO)
Spencer, C. F.
B. ? Director of John Brown; of Associated Electrical Industies; Chairman of Swan Edison Cables; financial adviser to Co-operative Wholesale Society; friend of the pro-German go-between Birger Dahlerus who called him “one of the pillars of the Conservative Party’; participated in the Goering negotiation of August 1939; stayed in touch after outbreak of war via Dahlerus against Foreign Office wishes. (FO; Bethell)
Tiarks, Frank Cyril
B. 1874. Banker; partner in J. Henry Schroder since 1902 (the German branch of Schroder’s had financed the Nazi Party when it had been on the edge of insolvency in 1931-32); director of the Bank of England since 1912; Lieutenant of the City of London; worked with Norman (q.v.) to keep Anglo- German financial connections intact throughout the 1930s; member of the Anglo-German Fellowship representing Schroder’s and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Club: Carlton; Royal Thames Yacht. Advocate of Anglo- German rapprochement; alleged by Roosevelt to have been engaged in covert talks with Schacht on behalf of Norman with a view to setting out the terms for a negotiated Anglo-German peace, 1941/2. (FO; Haxey)
Walker, Sir Alexander
B. 1869. Chairman of The Distillers’ Company. Member of the Right Club. (Costello)
Wernher, Sir Harold Augustus, K.V.C.O
B. 1893. Anglo-Swedish businessman. Chairman of Associated Theatre Properties (London) Ltd; of Electrolux, Ltd and of Ericssen Telephones. Associated with Dahlerus, who was the Managing Director of Electrolux, and with Axel Wenner Gren, Swedish owner of the Electrolux Group. Wenner Gren was a friend of Goering and of the Duke of Windsor (q.v.) and banker for the Nazis (see Sunday Times Magazine, 17 June 1990). Wernher was involved with Spencer and Dahlerus in attempts to broker peace during the summer of 1939 and probably after the outbreak of war. (FO)
Windsor, Duke of
His Royal Highness Edward David, King and Emperor, 1936 (Edward VIII), b. 1895. Abdicated. Admirer of Hitler and of Nazi Germany. Passed information to Germans while working as Major-General on Allied General Staff, 1939-40. Governor of the Bahamas, 1940–. (Brown; Costello, DGFP)
Wiseman, Sir William George Eden
B. 1885. Banker; partner in Kuhn, Loeb and Co., New York; Worked for Secret Intelligence Service in United States during First World War. Club: Athenaeum; Garrick. Autumn 1940 was involved in negotiations with Fritz Wiedemann, ex-adjutant to Hitler and German Consul-General in San Fransisco, and Stefanie Hohenlohe-Waldenberg, a Nazi agent, designed to create framework for Anglo-German peace deal. Claimed to be operating on behalf of the section of the Conservative Party which owed allegiance to Halifax (q.v.); probably working under the instructions of Lord Lothian (q.v.). (FBI; Costello)