Brigadier-General C. Delme-Radcliffe - was he MI5 ?

Discussion in 'Military Biographies' started by liverpool annie, Jan 12, 2009.

  1. liverpool annie

    liverpool annie New Member

    Don't ask me how I got into this ... it's a long story ....... :rolleyes: ... suffice to say ... I have a question ... was this man MI5 ? because I found some other information relating to ( I think ! ) this !!

    Brigadier-General C. Delme-Radcliffe, C.B., C.M.G., C.V.O., and the Staff of the British Mission, as well as the Liaison Officers, both Italian and British, rendered much valuable service. The translation of orders and the carrying of important messages threw a heavy responsibility on these officers, and the task was carried out without a hitch or difficulty of any sort.

    http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp67917&rNo=0&role=sit

    A British Military Mission under Brigadier-General Delmé Radcliffe, the former military attaché at Rome, was sent to the Italian headquarters with an intelligence section under Colonel Vivian Gabriel. The other Allies were represented by their actual military attachés in Italy. I received through the Foreign Office a memorandum drawn up by the War Office, defining the functions of the Military Mission and the correlative position of the military attaché. Its terms seemed quite satisfactory, and if properly observed they should have ensured general co-ordination with the Embassy at Rome. Unfortunately during the war there seems to have been a disposition in departments at home to shut themselves up like watertight compartments, and not always to remember that in a national cause all were members one of the other. This disposition was in certain cases reflected in their agents abroad. It is perhaps unnecessary to elaborate this point further, but I cannot do otherwise than insist that a tendency, which was, I gather, not peculiar to my experience, on the part of the Military Missions to act rather in rivalry and competition than in co-operation with the diplomatic establishment was much to be regretted, not only on the grounds of expediency but on account of the impression it produced in the country where they were stationed.

    http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/CHAPTER_XI:_ROME,_1915-1916

    Then I came across a medal card for the award of the Women's Service medals to a female member of MI5 !

    Medal card of Wookey, Florence J

    British Military Mission Rome Civilian Female MI5 Clerical Work
    Date 1914-1920

    http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/...asp?Edoc_Id=6306781&queryType=1&resultcount=1

    Then I found this ......

    So .... what do you think ? .... does anybody know anything about this man ??
     
  2. forester

    forester New Member

  3. forester

    forester New Member

  4. liverpool annie

    liverpool annie New Member

    Good job he didn't get any more medals ... he wouldn't have been able to fit them on !! :D

    I wish I could fathom the Archives stuff Phil .... I keep looking for information that's easy for me to understand ... can you understand it ??! :rolleyes:

    There's got to be an easier way !!

    Annie :)
     
  5. liverpool annie

    liverpool annie New Member

    I want to delve into this site a little deeper .... maybe theres something in here !! .... looks like he ended up in Canada ... wonder if he stayed there ??

    http://www.turtlebunbury.com/family/bunburyfamily_related/bunbury_family_related_ievers.html
     
  6. liverpool annie

    liverpool annie New Member

    Looks like it's a professional building now !! :) wonder if this is a picture of it ?? :rolleyes:

    http://www.clay.bc.ca/

    Annie
     
  7. Carey Pallister

    Carey Pallister New Member

    Brig-Gen Charles Delme Radcliffe died in Victoria 1937/12/13 Age 76
     
  8. phil tomaselli

    phil tomaselli New Member

    Delme-Radcliffe definitely wasn't MI5. MI5 took over the running of what had been SIS (MI6) Intelligence Mission in Rome in 1918 hence the lady being sent out there as one of the staff. Vivian Gabriel was SIS but serving under Delme Radcliffe whose mission as a whole was to the Italian Army but was separate from the Military Attache. There was a similar arrangement in Russia. Though it had some advantages (Delme Radcliffe was close to the front and the Attache was in Rome) it also produced duplication of reporting and some confusion as to who did what.
     

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