The Triumph of Fake News: How Le Queux’s Fiction Led to the Founding of MI5 and MI6
by
MB
Spies of the Kaiser, written and published in 1909 by William Le Queux, claimed to expose the network of fifty thousand German spies in Britain collecting evidence to send to Kaiser Wilhelm II.[1] William Le Queux had established himself as a fairly well known author through his most famous novel, The Invasion of 1910.[2] He was also a journalist and world traveler, and had been appointed to several temporary diplomatic positions[3]. Spies of the Kaiser enjoyed fantastic albeit unwarranted success,[4] delighting Le Queux and influencing readers in an ethno-centric tornado of propaganda appalling to modern sensibilities.[5] The subsequent political climate and public frenzy motivated the formation of the Secret Service Bureau, now known as MI5 and MI6.
The main character, Jack, is an English gentleman of the best birth who divides his time between breaking British homes to accuse British-German citizens of treasonous espionage against the Crown, and traipsing around Europe, exposing spies and narrowly escaping certain death. His partner in crime is Ray Raymond, likewise noble-born. Le Queux never clarified whether Mr. Raymond is an authorized government agent or an independent vigilante harassing Germans to try and prove to Britain that German spies do, in fact, exist. Le Queux’s novel consists of a choppy, mismatched jumble of short stories lacking basis or research melded together into a sorry excuse for a novel. Consequently, it lacks transitions from one “chapter” to the next, and fluidity. This may be due to its format—it was, among other things, serialized in the Daily Mail[6]—but for the fact that these short stories repeatedly employ identical plotlines: Valiant hero falls into danger, valiantly prevails against dastardly German arch-villains, and valiantly saves beautiful damsel[7].
The monotonous form of Le Queux’s chapters, as well as his plotlines, may be better understood when placed in the context of his life. He seems to have been extraordinarily confused and suffer from symptoms consistent with paranoid xenophobia. He seems to believe his own created fiction— Le Queux had previously had several “adventures” of his own. His obsession with spying had begun early in his life; by the 1900s, he had invented and believed spy fantasies, starring himself, to the extent that he openly boasted of them.[8] Among other things, he “claimed to have a close personal friend in Berlin—the under director of the Kaiser’s spy bureau, no less—who posited the existence of a vast German spy apparatus in Britain. In another, Le Queux claimed to have received a transcript of a secret meeting with the Kaiser and his military chiefs in Potsdam. The Kaiser had allegedly spoken at length about the conquest of Britain and illustrated his plans with maps and diagrams, and with models of new aircraft and long-range guns. When asked to produce a copy of the speech, Le Queux’s [sic] claimed it was unavailable, having been stolen by German spies from his publisher’s office.[9]”
Le Queux whole-heartedly believed these espionage fantasies even in adulthood— “armed with revolver, he went in search of the signallers [sic] and, in the manner of most conspiracy theorists, interpreted a nil result as evidence of just how clever these chaps were.[10]” Thus Le Queux, a renowned Anglophile[11], despite his French ancestry, fulfilled his fantasy of the strong English Hero who rescues nubile underage females from the advances of the evil foreigners and preserves what is left of the honor and glory of his country[12].The mysterious English Spy he had already attained[13], but his fiction allowed him to come into (what he considered to be) his own, so to speak.
His obsession is revealed by his style. His focus on the “German-ness” of the spies conveys the general idea that every German, German-British, naturalized German, or German-related citizen of Britain, man, woman, and child, has an individual role in “The Day”, the mass German takeover of the British Isles at sometime in the near but unspecified future[14]. (This sort of ethnocentric prejudice enjoyed a vogue from the 1910s to the 1940s, at which point it was mostly dropped as its logical end became clear from the revelations that emerged from World War II.) The Germans, ostensibly, had teamed up with Americans and Russians to capture the entirety of the British Empire. (The Americans would take care of Canada and Australia, and the Russians, India.[15]) Moreover, all aforementioned citizens have an undying dedication to the Kaiser. This assertion is not simply a fictional construct to provide a pretext for the story—Le Queux states in the introduction to Spies of the Kaiser that he truly believes it[16]. His tales may have been unrealistic and unsupported fantasies, but, importantly, they sold. Britain was caught up in a whirlwind of invasion fantasy and xenophobic fiction, and Le Queux struck at the perfect moment, feeding the incredible mania kindled by the pages of his Invasion of 1910[17].
The public easily believed his conspiracy theories. The craze was already at such a height that his fan base turned in ‘reports’ of ‘spies,’ the products of paranoia supposedly caught lurking in neighborhoods. These were sent to the British government by Le Queux himself as more ‘evidence’ for the looming threat[18]. Unfortunately, by playing to the xenophobia rampant in Britain, he compromised the quality of his work. To write a wildly successful spy novel without leaning on the crutch of racism is certainly possible, as shown by Erskine Childers’ 1903 masterpiece, The Riddle of the Sands[19]. Perhaps Le Queux’s main serial publishers, The Daily Mail, hoped to capitalize upon the prevailing prejudiced mood. The publication was a success, and the number of letters increased enormously[20]. The Daily Mail told eager readers of the commonplace characters these sinister Germans assumed, warning, “Refuse to be served by a German waiter” and “If your waiter says he is Swiss, ask to see his passport.[21]” However, Le Queux’s works were yet to have their greatest and entirely unpredicted effect.
The idea of a specialized foreign intelligence agency pleased certain members of the government. Campaigns had been formed in 1907 (following the publication of Le Queux’s Invasion), calling for a bureau to deal with supposed threats, but these attempts had stagnated[22]. In Spies of the Kaiser, they found new fear-mongering material leading to the public support necessary to further their cause. Major (later Brigadier-General Sir) James Edmonds, leader of MO5 and the campaigns stated previously, was especially interested. Unsatisfied with the meager funding of his department, he seized the opportunity and drafted a paper, “Espionage in Time of Peace,” and a guide to “Intelligence Methods” in 1909, in which he expounded upon the intricate organizations operated by foreign spies[23]. This eventually reached Parliament, and the effect was lethal. A Committee of Imperial Defence was formed in 1909 to investigate and decide whether the ‘threat’ warranted a new department. It found in favor of Edmonds, and the Secret Service Bureau was born[24]. Investigations were formed, and British agents swarmed over England in search of these fifty thousand[25] prophesied German spies, finding…nothing. It soon became apparent that Le Queux’s ‘masterworks’ had nothing but his own imagination behind them. There was, in fact, “no evidence to suggest a network of spies. When the investigation dug a little deeper into some of these stories, it found out that one of the “spies” was an Oxford academic swearing in German to avoid giving offense; another “suspicious” German waiter turned out to be Swiss; the sinister elderly-care home in Suffolk turned out to be … an elderly-care home in Suffolk. There was no case to answer.[26]” The legendary MI5 and MI6 (Note 1.) were founded on fear and fluff.
These efforts were not entirely unsuccessful. Major-General Vernon Kell, head of MI5 from 1909 to 1940[27], dispensed with the fiction of Le Queux’s yellow journalism after it proved to be false, as he had suspected[28]. He continued the investigation, and uncovered an organization of actual German spies, working to acquire information and focused on the Navy[29]. They were neither waiters, nor ladies of high society, nor children, nor grandmothers, nor grocers, nor cabbies. They were mostly seamen or dock-workers[30], and those that weren’t had jobs that made sense for spies to have, such as owners of pubs popular among the military set (Adolf Schroeder[31]) or retired merchants offering their services to the wealthy as language tutors (Karl Hentschel[32]). The network certainly possessed neither the form nor the numbers that the Le Queux cult would have had Kell believe[33]. (To be fair, there were a few hairdressers.[34])
However fictional the catalysts were, they had served their purpose and done Britain a service entirely by accident. The Secret Service may have had questionable beginnings, but it proved to be invaluable during the war and has served Britain ever since. It may never have been founded if not for the World War I fantasies of Le Queux. His works may be the only ‘fake news’ for which Britain will ever be truly grateful.
Notes:
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Footnotes
[1] William Le Queux, Spies of the Kaiser: Plotting the Downfall of England (London, England: The UK Bureau Books, 2017 [republication of William Le Queux, Spies of the Kaiser: Plotting the Downfall of England (London, England: Hurst & Blackett, Ltd., 1909)]), 172.
[2] William Le Queux, The Invasion of 1910 (Columbia, South Carolina: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015 [republication of William Le Queux, The Invasion of 1910 (London, England: E. Nash, 1906)]). It was originally commissioned
[3] A. & C. Black, pub., Who’s Who, 1907 ed. (London, England: A. & C. Black, 1907), 1048
[4] H.B. Lyle, “How fake news created the British secret service,” Los Angeles Times, 10 November 2017. <http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-lyle-fake-news-british-secret-service-20171110-story.html> (accessed November 11, 2017)
[5] Ibid.
[6] Shashank Joshi, “The Future of War by Lawrence Freedman—fire and fury,” Financial Times, 3 November 2017. <https://www.ft.com/content/50076a00-be37-11e7-823b-ed31693349d3> (accessed November 6, 2017). “Just as William Le Queux’s Daily Mail-serialised [sic] German invasion fantasies influenced the embryonic MI5 in the 1910s,…”
[7] Le Queux, Spies of the Kaiser. Theme and plot device throughout book. Each girl is invariably large-eyed and “neat-waisted.” A special emphasis is placed on her beauty to the point of referencing it every time she does anything (i.e., speaks) or is mentioned. She is either a damsel-in-distress or a femme fatale to lure him into a particular expedition.
[8] Brett F. Woods, “War, Propaganda, and the Fiction of William Le Queux,” Critique Magazine, no date (henceforth referred to as n.d.). <http://critique-magazine.com/article/lequeux.html> (accessed November 5, 2017).
[9] Ibid.
[10] Alan Judd, “The Art and Craft of the Clandestine,” The Spectator, 13 October 2001. <https://www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-85622746/the-art-and-craft-of-the-clandestine> (accessed November 7, 2017).
[11] Woods, “War, Propaganda, and the Fiction of William Le Queux.”
[12] Le Queux, Spies of the Kaiser, 174-187.
[13] Woods, “War, Propaganda, and the Fiction of William Le Queux.”
[14] Le Queux, Spies of the Kaiser, 3-5 (first mention and fullest explanation, constantly referred to throughout book).
[15] Ibid., 130.
[16] Ibid., 3-5.
[17] Lyle, “How fake news created the British secret service.”
[18] Woods, “War, Propaganda, and the Fiction of William Le Queux.”
[19] Erskine Childers. The Riddle of the Sands (Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2011 [republication of Erskine Childers. The Riddle of the Sands. (London, England: Smith, Elder and Company, 1903.)]).
[20] Woods, “War, Propaganda, and the Fiction of William Le Queux.”
[21] Christopher Andrews. “The Establishment Of [sic] The Secret Service Bureau,” MI5-The Security Service, n.d. <https://www.mi5.gov.uk/the-establishment-of-the-secret-service-bureau> (accessed November 10, 2017)
[22] Chris Northcott. MI5 at War 1909-1918: How MI5 Foiled the Spies of the Kaiser in the First World War (Great Britain: Tattered Flag Press, 2015), 4.
[23] Ibid., 5, 8-11.
[24] Ibid., 11-17. The committee had three meetings discussing the various reasons for founding such a department and supporting evidence. Members appointed were R. B. Haldane MP (Secretary of State for war), R. McKenna MP (First Lord of the Admiralty), H.J. Gladstone MP (Secretary of State for Home Affairs), S. Buxton MP (Postmaster General), Viscount Esher (Member of the committee of Imperial Defense), Sir C. Hardinge (Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs), Sir G.H. Murray (Permanent Secretary to the Treasury), Rear Admiral A.E. Bethell (Director of Naval Intelligence), Major-General J.S. Ewart (Director of Military Operations), Brigadier-General A.J. Murray (Director of Military Training), and Sir E.R. Henry (Commissioner of Metropolitan Police).
[25] Le Queux, Spies of the Kaiser, 172.
[26] Lyle, “How fake news created the British secret service.”
[27] MI5 Security Service, “Major-General Sir Vernon Kell (Director 1909-1940),” MI5-The Security Service, n.d. <https://www.mi5.gov.uk/major-general-sir-vernon-kell> (accessed November 12, 2017). He retired in 1940 on the orders of Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister, and died in 1942.
[28] Northcott, MI5 at War 1909-1918, 24. Kell states in an entry in his office diary on January 6, 1911, that “a Colonel Seton had been giving lectures on National Service…and in one of them he said that he had certain definite information about German waiters having their arms with them over here, and that they were practising [sic] at night-time in under-ground ranges. (This is the usual yarn dished up in another form.).”
[29] Ibid., 33-57, and Andrews, “The Establishment Of The Secret Service Bureau.”
[30] Ibid.
[31] Northcott, MI5 at War 1909-1918, 49-50.
[32] Ibid., 50-51.
[33] Ibid.
[34] Ibid., 41-42, 48, 52, 53, 54, 57. There was one waiter-cum-storekeeper. Other occupations included a dentist with military clientele, coal merchants, and ship’s chandlers.
The main character, Jack, is an English gentleman of the best birth who divides his time between breaking British homes to accuse British-German citizens of treasonous espionage against the Crown, and traipsing around Europe, exposing spies and narrowly escaping certain death. His partner in crime is Ray Raymond, likewise noble-born. Le Queux never clarified whether Mr. Raymond is an authorized government agent or an independent vigilante harassing Germans to try and prove to Britain that German spies do, in fact, exist. Le Queux’s novel consists of a choppy, mismatched jumble of short stories lacking basis or research melded together into a sorry excuse for a novel. Consequently, it lacks transitions from one “chapter” to the next, and fluidity. This may be due to its format—it was, among other things, serialized in the Daily Mail[6]—but for the fact that these short stories repeatedly employ identical plotlines: Valiant hero falls into danger, valiantly prevails against dastardly German arch-villains, and valiantly saves beautiful damsel[7].
The monotonous form of Le Queux’s chapters, as well as his plotlines, may be better understood when placed in the context of his life. He seems to have been extraordinarily confused and suffer from symptoms consistent with paranoid xenophobia. He seems to believe his own created fiction— Le Queux had previously had several “adventures” of his own. His obsession with spying had begun early in his life; by the 1900s, he had invented and believed spy fantasies, starring himself, to the extent that he openly boasted of them.[8] Among other things, he “claimed to have a close personal friend in Berlin—the under director of the Kaiser’s spy bureau, no less—who posited the existence of a vast German spy apparatus in Britain. In another, Le Queux claimed to have received a transcript of a secret meeting with the Kaiser and his military chiefs in Potsdam. The Kaiser had allegedly spoken at length about the conquest of Britain and illustrated his plans with maps and diagrams, and with models of new aircraft and long-range guns. When asked to produce a copy of the speech, Le Queux’s [sic] claimed it was unavailable, having been stolen by German spies from his publisher’s office.[9]”
Le Queux whole-heartedly believed these espionage fantasies even in adulthood— “armed with revolver, he went in search of the signallers [sic] and, in the manner of most conspiracy theorists, interpreted a nil result as evidence of just how clever these chaps were.[10]” Thus Le Queux, a renowned Anglophile[11], despite his French ancestry, fulfilled his fantasy of the strong English Hero who rescues nubile underage females from the advances of the evil foreigners and preserves what is left of the honor and glory of his country[12].The mysterious English Spy he had already attained[13], but his fiction allowed him to come into (what he considered to be) his own, so to speak.
His obsession is revealed by his style. His focus on the “German-ness” of the spies conveys the general idea that every German, German-British, naturalized German, or German-related citizen of Britain, man, woman, and child, has an individual role in “The Day”, the mass German takeover of the British Isles at sometime in the near but unspecified future[14]. (This sort of ethnocentric prejudice enjoyed a vogue from the 1910s to the 1940s, at which point it was mostly dropped as its logical end became clear from the revelations that emerged from World War II.) The Germans, ostensibly, had teamed up with Americans and Russians to capture the entirety of the British Empire. (The Americans would take care of Canada and Australia, and the Russians, India.[15]) Moreover, all aforementioned citizens have an undying dedication to the Kaiser. This assertion is not simply a fictional construct to provide a pretext for the story—Le Queux states in the introduction to Spies of the Kaiser that he truly believes it[16]. His tales may have been unrealistic and unsupported fantasies, but, importantly, they sold. Britain was caught up in a whirlwind of invasion fantasy and xenophobic fiction, and Le Queux struck at the perfect moment, feeding the incredible mania kindled by the pages of his Invasion of 1910[17].
The public easily believed his conspiracy theories. The craze was already at such a height that his fan base turned in ‘reports’ of ‘spies,’ the products of paranoia supposedly caught lurking in neighborhoods. These were sent to the British government by Le Queux himself as more ‘evidence’ for the looming threat[18]. Unfortunately, by playing to the xenophobia rampant in Britain, he compromised the quality of his work. To write a wildly successful spy novel without leaning on the crutch of racism is certainly possible, as shown by Erskine Childers’ 1903 masterpiece, The Riddle of the Sands[19]. Perhaps Le Queux’s main serial publishers, The Daily Mail, hoped to capitalize upon the prevailing prejudiced mood. The publication was a success, and the number of letters increased enormously[20]. The Daily Mail told eager readers of the commonplace characters these sinister Germans assumed, warning, “Refuse to be served by a German waiter” and “If your waiter says he is Swiss, ask to see his passport.[21]” However, Le Queux’s works were yet to have their greatest and entirely unpredicted effect.
The idea of a specialized foreign intelligence agency pleased certain members of the government. Campaigns had been formed in 1907 (following the publication of Le Queux’s Invasion), calling for a bureau to deal with supposed threats, but these attempts had stagnated[22]. In Spies of the Kaiser, they found new fear-mongering material leading to the public support necessary to further their cause. Major (later Brigadier-General Sir) James Edmonds, leader of MO5 and the campaigns stated previously, was especially interested. Unsatisfied with the meager funding of his department, he seized the opportunity and drafted a paper, “Espionage in Time of Peace,” and a guide to “Intelligence Methods” in 1909, in which he expounded upon the intricate organizations operated by foreign spies[23]. This eventually reached Parliament, and the effect was lethal. A Committee of Imperial Defence was formed in 1909 to investigate and decide whether the ‘threat’ warranted a new department. It found in favor of Edmonds, and the Secret Service Bureau was born[24]. Investigations were formed, and British agents swarmed over England in search of these fifty thousand[25] prophesied German spies, finding…nothing. It soon became apparent that Le Queux’s ‘masterworks’ had nothing but his own imagination behind them. There was, in fact, “no evidence to suggest a network of spies. When the investigation dug a little deeper into some of these stories, it found out that one of the “spies” was an Oxford academic swearing in German to avoid giving offense; another “suspicious” German waiter turned out to be Swiss; the sinister elderly-care home in Suffolk turned out to be … an elderly-care home in Suffolk. There was no case to answer.[26]” The legendary MI5 and MI6 (Note 1.) were founded on fear and fluff.
These efforts were not entirely unsuccessful. Major-General Vernon Kell, head of MI5 from 1909 to 1940[27], dispensed with the fiction of Le Queux’s yellow journalism after it proved to be false, as he had suspected[28]. He continued the investigation, and uncovered an organization of actual German spies, working to acquire information and focused on the Navy[29]. They were neither waiters, nor ladies of high society, nor children, nor grandmothers, nor grocers, nor cabbies. They were mostly seamen or dock-workers[30], and those that weren’t had jobs that made sense for spies to have, such as owners of pubs popular among the military set (Adolf Schroeder[31]) or retired merchants offering their services to the wealthy as language tutors (Karl Hentschel[32]). The network certainly possessed neither the form nor the numbers that the Le Queux cult would have had Kell believe[33]. (To be fair, there were a few hairdressers.[34])
However fictional the catalysts were, they had served their purpose and done Britain a service entirely by accident. The Secret Service may have had questionable beginnings, but it proved to be invaluable during the war and has served Britain ever since. It may never have been founded if not for the World War I fantasies of Le Queux. His works may be the only ‘fake news’ for which Britain will ever be truly grateful.
Notes:
- The Secret Service Bureau originally consisted of MI1 through MI9. It was later condensed to MI5 and MI6.
Primary Sources
- A & C. Black. Who’s Who, 1907 ed. London: A. & C. Black, 1907.
- Andrew, Christopher. “The Establishment of the Secret Service Bureau.” M15-The Security Service, n.d. <https://www.mi5.gov.uk/the-establishment-of-the-secret-service-bureau> (accessed November 10, 2017).
- Childers, Erskine. The Riddle of the Sands. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2011. (Republication of Childers, Erskine. The Riddle of the Sands. London, England: Smith, Elder and Company, 1903.)
- Le Queux, William. The Invasion of 1910. Columbia, South Carolina: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015. (Republication of Le Queux, William. The Invasion of 1910. London: E. Nash, 1906.)
- Le Queux, William. Spies of the Kaiser: Plotting the Downfall of England. London: The UK Bureau Books, 2017. (Republication of Le Queux, William. Spies of the Kaiser: Plotting the Downfall of England. London: Hurst & Blackett, Ltd., 1909.)
Secondary Sources
- Joshi, Shashank. “The Future of War by Lawrence Freedman—fire and fury.” Financial Times, 3 November 2017. https://www.ft.com/content/50076a00-be37-11e7-823b-ed31693349d3 (accessed November 6, 2017).
- Judd, Alan. “The Art and Craft of the Clandestine.” The Spectator, 13 October 2001. https://www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-85622746/the-art-and-craft-of-the-clandestine (accessed November 7, 2017).
- Lyle, H.B. “How fake news created the British secret service.” Los Angeles Times, 10 November 2017. <http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-lyle-fake-news-british-secret-service-20171110-story.html> (accessed November 11, 2017).
- MI5-The Security Service. “Major-General Sir Vernon Kell (Director 1909-1940).” M15-The Security Service, n.d. < https://www.mi5.gov.uk/major-general-sir-vernon-kell> (accessed November 12, 2017)
- Northcott, Chris. M15 at War 1909-1918: How M15 Foiled the Spies of the Kaiser in the First World War. Great Britain: Tattered Flag Press, 2015.
- Woods, Brett F. “War, Propaganda, and the Fiction of William Le Queux.” Critique Magazine, n.d. <http://critique-magazine.com/article/lequeux.html> (accessed November 5, 2017).
Footnotes
[1] William Le Queux, Spies of the Kaiser: Plotting the Downfall of England (London, England: The UK Bureau Books, 2017 [republication of William Le Queux, Spies of the Kaiser: Plotting the Downfall of England (London, England: Hurst & Blackett, Ltd., 1909)]), 172.
[2] William Le Queux, The Invasion of 1910 (Columbia, South Carolina: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015 [republication of William Le Queux, The Invasion of 1910 (London, England: E. Nash, 1906)]). It was originally commissioned
[3] A. & C. Black, pub., Who’s Who, 1907 ed. (London, England: A. & C. Black, 1907), 1048
[4] H.B. Lyle, “How fake news created the British secret service,” Los Angeles Times, 10 November 2017. <http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-lyle-fake-news-british-secret-service-20171110-story.html> (accessed November 11, 2017)
[5] Ibid.
[6] Shashank Joshi, “The Future of War by Lawrence Freedman—fire and fury,” Financial Times, 3 November 2017. <https://www.ft.com/content/50076a00-be37-11e7-823b-ed31693349d3> (accessed November 6, 2017). “Just as William Le Queux’s Daily Mail-serialised [sic] German invasion fantasies influenced the embryonic MI5 in the 1910s,…”
[7] Le Queux, Spies of the Kaiser. Theme and plot device throughout book. Each girl is invariably large-eyed and “neat-waisted.” A special emphasis is placed on her beauty to the point of referencing it every time she does anything (i.e., speaks) or is mentioned. She is either a damsel-in-distress or a femme fatale to lure him into a particular expedition.
[8] Brett F. Woods, “War, Propaganda, and the Fiction of William Le Queux,” Critique Magazine, no date (henceforth referred to as n.d.). <http://critique-magazine.com/article/lequeux.html> (accessed November 5, 2017).
[9] Ibid.
[10] Alan Judd, “The Art and Craft of the Clandestine,” The Spectator, 13 October 2001. <https://www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-85622746/the-art-and-craft-of-the-clandestine> (accessed November 7, 2017).
[11] Woods, “War, Propaganda, and the Fiction of William Le Queux.”
[12] Le Queux, Spies of the Kaiser, 174-187.
[13] Woods, “War, Propaganda, and the Fiction of William Le Queux.”
[14] Le Queux, Spies of the Kaiser, 3-5 (first mention and fullest explanation, constantly referred to throughout book).
[15] Ibid., 130.
[16] Ibid., 3-5.
[17] Lyle, “How fake news created the British secret service.”
[18] Woods, “War, Propaganda, and the Fiction of William Le Queux.”
[19] Erskine Childers. The Riddle of the Sands (Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2011 [republication of Erskine Childers. The Riddle of the Sands. (London, England: Smith, Elder and Company, 1903.)]).
[20] Woods, “War, Propaganda, and the Fiction of William Le Queux.”
[21] Christopher Andrews. “The Establishment Of [sic] The Secret Service Bureau,” MI5-The Security Service, n.d. <https://www.mi5.gov.uk/the-establishment-of-the-secret-service-bureau> (accessed November 10, 2017)
[22] Chris Northcott. MI5 at War 1909-1918: How MI5 Foiled the Spies of the Kaiser in the First World War (Great Britain: Tattered Flag Press, 2015), 4.
[23] Ibid., 5, 8-11.
[24] Ibid., 11-17. The committee had three meetings discussing the various reasons for founding such a department and supporting evidence. Members appointed were R. B. Haldane MP (Secretary of State for war), R. McKenna MP (First Lord of the Admiralty), H.J. Gladstone MP (Secretary of State for Home Affairs), S. Buxton MP (Postmaster General), Viscount Esher (Member of the committee of Imperial Defense), Sir C. Hardinge (Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs), Sir G.H. Murray (Permanent Secretary to the Treasury), Rear Admiral A.E. Bethell (Director of Naval Intelligence), Major-General J.S. Ewart (Director of Military Operations), Brigadier-General A.J. Murray (Director of Military Training), and Sir E.R. Henry (Commissioner of Metropolitan Police).
[25] Le Queux, Spies of the Kaiser, 172.
[26] Lyle, “How fake news created the British secret service.”
[27] MI5 Security Service, “Major-General Sir Vernon Kell (Director 1909-1940),” MI5-The Security Service, n.d. <https://www.mi5.gov.uk/major-general-sir-vernon-kell> (accessed November 12, 2017). He retired in 1940 on the orders of Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister, and died in 1942.
[28] Northcott, MI5 at War 1909-1918, 24. Kell states in an entry in his office diary on January 6, 1911, that “a Colonel Seton had been giving lectures on National Service…and in one of them he said that he had certain definite information about German waiters having their arms with them over here, and that they were practising [sic] at night-time in under-ground ranges. (This is the usual yarn dished up in another form.).”
[29] Ibid., 33-57, and Andrews, “The Establishment Of The Secret Service Bureau.”
[30] Ibid.
[31] Northcott, MI5 at War 1909-1918, 49-50.
[32] Ibid., 50-51.
[33] Ibid.
[34] Ibid., 41-42, 48, 52, 53, 54, 57. There was one waiter-cum-storekeeper. Other occupations included a dentist with military clientele, coal merchants, and ship’s chandlers.