Major C H Regnart - from high flying Intelligence Officer to exile on

[corisande]

Born 1878 Nov 26 , Winchmore Hill, Edmonton; son of Clare Henry Regnart and Harriet Elizabeth. His father was an upholsterer.

He shot himself 5 weeks after joining ADRIC, so he did not have much time for any intelligence work!

He was buried at St Helen Churchyard, Albury, Oxfordshire, England

[scall38]

Thanks very much for the info. Can you confirm for me that he was in Woodstock when he died. Regards

[corisande]

Yes, he shot himself at Woodstock House

You mention French, it is curious that the body was never recovered after the war. A number of them were. You don't happen to know if there were any local rumours as to where French was buried

[scall38]

Sorry for the delay in replying. I have heard rumours but to be honest I believe after he was shot his remains were buried somewhere in the Rower. I don't know if TCadet Ffrench is even commerated any where. I do have the name of the commander of the IRA patrol who was in charge that day. However I have never followed it up. I would consider writing to the local paper though to see what comes up.

[corisande]

Thanks.

I understand French was captured and shot by IRA from C Coy 5th battalion from the Rower district under command of James Mackey.

My question ws on the offchance that something had come up later in the local papers - though I have tried and failed to find anything

[Guest Keepboston]

I know this a long time after the original post by Ron617 but I have just discovered it.

We are very experienced family historians have been researching my wife's great grandfather, George James Rigden, for many years. We first did the research in the late 80s and hit a brick wall so left it until a recent reference sparked a reinvestigation .

George had a long career in the navy before transferring to the Coastguard. He retired from there in 1914 as Lt George J Rigden as he was by this time the Chief Officer at Barton Upon Humber. After retirement he moved to live in Sheffield - we have no idea why as the family had no connection with the city before this - just one of the mysteries about this man.

He appeared in the Navy list just after WW1 as Chief Officer at Ru Con when we first did our research but Kew (and others) had no idea where this was. In our original research we were only able to see his service until 1893. Kew staff told us that the next part until 1920 or so was still closed. We did press them on Ru Con and his work there but all we could establish was that it was still officially 'secret'.

Last week we visited Kew again and were able to see the next part of his service record. In 1917 he rejoined the navy and according to this service record went to London to be attached to HMS President 4. This was we gather was an accounting station for the RN Reserve and others. He again was given the rank of Chief Officer and put in charge of Ru Con. There was also a reference to Aultbea. We had no idea where Ru Con was until we read the posting from Ron617, so thanks Ron for helping us establish where Ru Con actually was!

Family stories say he was recalled by the navy, intially to a building in Sheffield (Upwell Street), then sent to London. We asked a relative who has now died and she vaguely remembered he was involved in secret code work and was somehow responsible for sending things to a Room something in Whitehall.

We now assume this was Room 40.

This trail of posts is interesting as it sort of confirms bits of what we had established but we are finding it hard to track down the truth so any ideas would be very welcome!

Does anyone, or Ron, know anything else about Ru Con or the area?

[Ron617]

Hi Kb,

I have sent you some information by PM regarding Ru Con Battery at Loch Ewe. From what you write I think is is likely that your wife's great grandfather was at least Chief Officer at Ru Con Port War Signal Station (PWSS) and possibly connected with intelligence duties there also? Just speculating!. During WW I the Coastguard service was an auxiliary service for the Royal Navy, manning signal stations, carrying out wireless telegraphy duties and sometimes manning small batteries. The PWSS at Ru Con probably was manned by 6-8 coastguard personnel. There was a naval intelligence unit based in the area (Aultbea) but likely their work was carried out at Ru Con? I hope this helps.

Ron

ps Aulbea received all of the U-boat intercepts for the whole of NW Scotland for analysis and presumably communicated with London on the content?

I wrote a book called "Defending St Kilda" which tenuously covered this aspect. During WW I most U-boats had to go out to and return from their areas of operation, via the north of Scotland as the English Channel was well patrolled and had many a/s defences to negotiate. They had to venture near St Kilda remote archipelago and as they had to travel mostly on the surface, were often seen by men from the naval station there, also their radio traffic intercepted, which was sent to Aultbea.

[chrismd]

Have read this, 8 years after the last post...!

I used to attend army cadet camps at Mellon Charles in Aultbea which is adjacent to Rubha a Coin (Ru Con) and used to wonder what  purpose this tin shed served as it doesn't look like anything associated with a battery given its construction materials..

I'm now wondering whether it served a purpose gathering naval intelligence on U Boat movements under the control of George Rigden albeit it may well have been built in WW2...

[KizmeRD]

Here’s what the place looked like during the Great War…

MB

[Champsavin]

On 30/03/2023 at 13:54, KizmeRD said:

Here’s what the place looked like during the Great War…

MB

This is a photo of Corran Point Battery (source: IWM collection). However, it can be assumed that Ru Con Battery looked quite similar.

On 30/03/2023 at 11:00, chrismd said:

Have read this, 8 years after the last post...!

I used to attend army cadet camps at Mellon Charles in Aultbea which is adjacent to Rubha a Coin (Ru Con) and used to wonder what  purpose this tin shed served as it doesn't look like anything associated with a battery given its construction materials..

I'm now wondering whether it served a purpose gathering naval intelligence on U Boat movements under the control of George Rigden albeit it may well have been built in WW2...

As far as I could find out, this was a civilian building, not connected to the military facilities on Rubh a Choin.

[KizmeRD]

Champsavin,

Thanks for correcting my misattributed Corran Point Battery photo, but as you say, Ru Con must have looked very similar - with 12 pounder guns and a couple of searchlights guarding the entrance of Loch Ewe.

MB