Major Cecil Aylmer Cameron

[corisande]

Major Cecil Aylmer Cameron CBE, DSO (1883 to 1924)

Perhaps you can help add to my information on this fascinating character. In particular I am interested to find out about the spy school he ran in England post WW1 and sent undercover men to Ireland 1920/21

My page on him is on this link

The details can be seen on that link, but the outline of his life is

• The son of Colonel Aylmer Cameron VC, he was educated at Eastman's Academy, Bath College, and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery in 1901.
• 1911 May. Jailed for fraud for 3 years and his wife gets the same sentence
• Following his release, a petition for a pardon was signed by, among others, five dukes, twenty privy councillors, and 126 generals. During her imprisonment, his wife had confessed that she alone was the guilty party and Cameron had only been protecting her. He received a full pardon and was restored to his rank of Lieutenant.
• Served in WW1 becoming a Major and ran a spy network in German occupied France. Much decorated
• Served in British Intelligence in Russia. Chief Intelligence Officer with the British Military Mission to Siberia during the Russian Civil War,
• Back to UK. And ran a spy school training operatives for Ireland
• Committed suicide. Blew his own brains out in Hillsborough Barracks in Sheffield in 1924. The coroner returned a verdict of suicide while temporarily insane.

I have tried in vain to get a photograph of the man. And details of spy schools are always hard to come by.

Any additional help would be appreciated.

Edited 21 February , 2020 by corisande
link updated

[ForeignGong]

Hi corisande

Have you seen these

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Cecil+Ay...s%3A1&tbo=1

Peter

[corisande]

Thanks you Peter

I think I have been through everything on Google, had another look just in case but nothing I missed

[Mike763222]

Hello Corisande,

Cameron is one of my interests. A mysterious man about whom it is difficult to find info. There is quite a bit about his WW1 service in Janet Morgan's book 'The Secrets of Rue St Roch'.

I have yet to find a photo of Cameron.

My interest stems from where I live in Folkestone, which is where he was based during 1914-1916. The address was 8 The Parade. I've got phtos of the address and been round the house which is now let as bed sits. He recruited a number of French and Belgian refugees who arrived in Folkestone and trained them as spies to go back into occupied areas. I copy below the section from my book Dover and Folkestone during the Great War in th ehope that it may be of interest.

Perhaps we might work together in trying to unearth more about this man? Please feel free to PM me.

Ironically, unknown to the spy obsessed people of Folkestone, the town actually was a hotbed of espionage. Military Intelligence, the forerunner of today’s MI5, was quick to realise that some of the refugees arriving at the harbour might have valuable information about events in Europe. Some might even be persuaded to return to gather more. Under the control of Colonel George Kynaston Cockerill, Folkestone became the headquarters of a tripartite bureau, including French and Belgian intelligence officers. The British section was based in Marine Parade, Folkestone, and was headed by Captain (later Major) Cecil Aylmer Cameron, whose codename was ‘Evelyn’, but usually referred to as ‘B’, to distinguish him the London chief, ‘C’.

As soon as Louise de Bettignies arrived at Folkestone in October 1914 it was clear to the officers at the refugee centre that she was special, and her details were quickly passed to Major Cameron. Louise was found accommodation in a local hotel and that evening she received a visit from Cameron. He established that Louise was 34 years of age and came from a noble French family. She was well travelled and confident and, when asked if she would be willing to train as an agent, she readily agreed. She was fluent not only in French but also Italian and German. The training began and the techniques taught were surprisingly sophisticated. These included writing in invisible ink on tissue paper, messages in the hems of skirts and engraved in minute letters on the lenses of spectacles.

Louise was given the operational name of Alice Dubois and she set off for France to establish a new network of spies and to organise escape routes for allied prisoners. These were the days before radio and messages were sent back to Folkestone by homing pigeons. The ‘Dubois Service’, as it became known, provided critical information which led to the destruction of several German batteries and, most notably, provided details of the date and time when the Kaiser’s train would be visiting Lille. Several bombers were despatched to attack the train and it was only by chance that none of the bombs hit the German Emperor’s carriage.

In October 1915 Louise was given instructions by Major Cameron to travel to Tournai and then to Brussels to organise the agents there. By this time the Germans had become much more alert to the presence of spies. It was the week before Louise set off on her latest mission that Edith Cavell had been caught and executed by firing squad. Louise was carrying her instructions on a thin roll of paper wrapped inside her signet ring. Stopped for an identity check, it soon became clear that it would be more than a cursory examination. Louise removed the roll of paper and tried to swallow it, but her actions were noticed by the German officer. She was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Though later commuted to life in prison, Louise de Bettignies contracted tuberculosis due the appalling conditions in which she was held, and she died on 17^th September 1918. She may have found some comfort in learning that the Allies had retaken Ostend and Lille.

Another woman who passed through the hands of Military Intelligence in Folkestone was Margaretha Geertruida Zelle. She was picked up at Folkestone Harbour in December 1915, waiting to embark on a boat for France. Secret reports reveal that she was questioned by Captain S Dillon, who noted: ‘Although she had good answers to every question, she impressed me very unfavourably, but after having her very carefully searched and finding nothing, I considered I hadn't enough grounds to refuse her embarkation. She was handsome, bold ... well and fashionably dressed [in a costume with] raccoon fur trimming and hat to match.’ The woman told Dillon that she was travelling to The Hague to be with her lover, a Dutch colonel. A later report disclosed that she was: ‘in relation with highly placed people and during her sojourn in France she made the acquaintance of many French and Belgian officers. She is suspected of having been to France on important mission for the Germans.’ In pre war Paris Zelle had acquired a reputation as an exotic dancer and courtesan, and she was better known as Mata Hari. Her confidence and ability to talk her way out of trouble deserted her in 1917 when she was arrested in France. The secret report states that she confessed to the French: ‘Mata Hari today confessed that she has been engaged by Consul Cremer of Amsterdam for the German Secret Service.’ In fact, later information about her trial revealed that Mata Hari strenuously denied her guilt. Tried and convicted by a court martial, Mata Hari was executed by firing squad. The story of her activities as a spy is still one of the most enduring of the Great War. How different it may have been if Major Dillon had found something incriminating on her that day in Folkestone.

Leon Trulin was 17 and lived with his mother and nine sisters in Lille when the Germans invaded Belgium. He wanted to fight for his country and in May 1915 he stole away, making his way into Holland and then finding a boat to England. He arrived at Folkestone where he found his way to Adolph Peterson whom he asked to help him join the Belgian army. The boy failed the medical assessment, but jumped at the chance of becoming a secret agent and, following a week’s training at Folkestone’s spy school in unit and artillery recognition, he was slipped back into Belgium. His task done, the young spy returned to Folkestone on 26 July 1915 to present his report and, such was the quality of his information, that he was then introduced to the British spymaster, Cameron. His next mission was to return to enemy territory and to recruit local agents to set up observation on the railway network.

Mike

[corisande]

Hi

Thanks for that information on his time and work as a spy in Folkestone.

Interesting that we are looking at the same man for different reasons. I will be getting back to him next week - I have taken the easier option of doing the CVs of the men in British Propaganda in Dublin first. The Intelligence men, I guess for obvious reasons have neither their photos nor details of their work published.

My method of work is easy for you to follow, if and when I get new info on anyone I add it to their web pages and its there for you to see

I assume he got all those generals to sign his pardon because his father was a VC, but I have no real idea. Seems a bit OTT the signatures with Dukes and Generals when he obviously did do it.

I am also interested in the suicide(s) in Ireland of men involved in Intelligence. There seem to be implications with this man that he topped himself for financial reasons. The fact that suicide was a crime at the time has meant that little was actually reported.

[centurion]

His wife didn't do much time http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article/...11216.2.42.aspx

[corisande]

Thanks for that - interesting too that it does appear to have been reported by The Times in London

From what I can gather Cameron himself did serve the time.

[rflory]

The Cameron trial and his aftermath as an intelligence operative is covered in some detail in the chapter titled "The Cameron Case" (pages 184-221) in Winter's Tale: An Autobiography by Sir Ormonde Winter, who as Chief of Intelligence in Ireland in 1920 invited Cameron to work with him. According to Winter, Cameron committed suicide because his appointment as military attache to Riga was canceled by the PM, Ramsay Macdonald, because Cameron "had undergone a sentence of penal servitude."

There is also some information on Cameron in Steve Cobham's "Will the Real Aylmer Cameron Please Stand Up?" in The Journal of the Orders and Medals Research Society, March 2010. Regards, Dick Flory

[corisande]

Thanks Dick

I have made a note to order that copy of The Journal of the Orders and Medals Research Society, March 2010. when it becomes available - I tried just now, but they are only selling up to Dec 2009

I assume because suicide was a crime at that time Prior to the Suicide Act 1961 it was a crime to commit suicide and anyone who attempted and failed could be prosecuted and imprisoned, while the families of those who succeeded also could potentially be prosecuted.

little was said in UK Press. This is an Australian article (sorry a bad copy, but that was all I could find)

Coroner gives "suicide while temporally insane" and mentions both Riga and financial difficulties. I knew he had been turned down for Riga, but did not realise the reason.

[centurion]

Prior to the Suicide Act 1961 it was a crime to commit suicide and anyone who attempted and failed could be prosecuted and imprisoned, while the families of those who succeeded also could potentially be prosecuted.

Indeed at one time attempted suicide was a capital offence (which sort of misses the point).

[alain dubois]

Hi,

I come across in my researches about the French and Belgian spies behind the lines during the great war one of my fellow citizen of Valenciennes Alfred PAGNIEN, shot at dawn on 1916 , March 23rd at Gand ( Belgium). The chief of the spies for Belgium was Charles VANDERNOTTE under orders of Major Cameron.

Have you some other informations about the Major's work during the war - at Folkestone . Is there a photograph of him ?

Regards

Alain

[RaySearching]

On 24/06/2010 at 14:37, corisande said:

I have tried in vain to get a photograph of the man. And details of spy schools are always hard to come by.

Any additional help would be appreciated.

 

Although an old thread

 

Hi Corisande

I don't know if you ever managed to get a photo of Cecil

 

Photos of the man  I believe can be found HERE

 

Click on Gallery top right where several more can be found

 

Regards Ray

 

 

 

 

[corisande]

Ray

 

Thanks for that link, I am on to it now. Cameron seems to have intrigued a number of researchers for different reasons.

 

It seems that particularly men involved in Intelligence were more likely to commit suicide, and Cameron was but one of many.

[David26]

Hi Corisande,

 

it may just be a coincidence, but a Lt Aylmer Lochiel Cameron RFA served under Winter in 58th Bde RFA.  (I've tried to find a definite link between Cecil Aylmer Cameron and Aylmer Lochiel Cameron in Census etc but without success so far). 

 

David.

[corisande]

Interesting potential association with Winter!

 

I could not link the 2 . You can get AL's parents as Evan Duncan Cameron , a RHA Lt stationed in India.But I cannot tie him to CA's father Alymer S. Cameron V.C

[David26]

No, nor me.  But I was rather struck by the coincidence!

[corisande]

You could say that it all seemed to be wheels within wheels in Ireland at that time. If they did not serve under Winter , they served under Crozier!

[Guest]

Hi I know this is a old thread but I’m researching the life of Major Cameron (I can provide details/my credentials if necessary) I was wondering if anyone had a copy of Ormonde Winter’s autobiography or any photographs of Cameron’s grave? 
In addition if anyone has any other information they would like to share I would be very grateful. 
Rebecca 

[travers61]

Assume you have already seen this online biography:

http://www.bloodysunday.co.uk/castle-intelligence/cameron/cameron-ca.html

 

A newspaper article on there shows buried at "Burngrave Cemetery", but as the death was in Sheffield, this was probably Burngreave Cemetery.

 

You may get some help from the Friends of Burngreave Cemetery:

http://www.friendsofburngreavecemetery.btck.co.uk

 

The findagrave website has listings of some graves there & photos of some, but Cameron is not listed.

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2141129/burngreave-cemetery

[RaySearching]

3 hours ago, travers61 said:

A newspaper article on there shows buried at "Burngrave Cemetery", but as the death was in Sheffield, this was probably Burngreave Cemetery.

 

From SHEFFIED INDEXES

 

CAMERON, Cecil Almer (Major R.H.A., age 41).
     Died at Hillsborough Barracks; Buried on August 21, 1924 in Consecrated ground; 
     Grave Number 1925, Section FF of Burngreave Cemetery, Sheffield.
     Parent or Next of Kin if Available: . Remarks: Officiating Minister, A E Farrow: Removed from Sheffield Parish

 

Ray

[David26]

5 hours ago, Rebecca223 said:

Hi I know this is a old thread but I’m researching the life of Major Cameron (I can provide details/my credentials if necessary) I was wondering if anyone had a copy of Ormonde Winter’s autobiography or any photographs of Cameron’s grave? 
In addition if anyone has any other information they would like to share I would be very grateful. 
Rebecca 

Rebecca,

 

Winter's papers are held by the Imperial War Museum, if you have the chance to visit there, under reference www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030003102.  And I believe a copy of his autobiography is available at a library in Oxford or Reading if memory serves. 

 

David.

[corisande]

16 hours ago, travers61 said:

Assume you have already seen this online biography:

http://www.bloodysunday.co.uk/castle-intelligence/cameron/cameron-ca.html