Behind every good spy interrogator, there’s a secretary taking the notes and typing up reports. This was true for Lt. Col. Robin W.G. Stephens, commandant and interrogator par excellence at MI5’s secret wartime interrogation centre, Camp 020. While Stephens was verbally demolishing the hapless spy who appeared in his interrogation room, the exchange was always being captured in exquisite detail by a female secretary. And, while Stephens, was likely deceased by 1980, his memory lived on in the recollections of those same secretaries.
In 1980, the BBC aired a mini-series entitled Spy! which presented the tales of various exciting spy adventures. One of the episodes focused on Camp 020 and, while changing some names and details, was clearly trying to recreate the initial interrogation of a German agent named Wulf Schmidt, soon to be known as double agent TATE. In one scene, the commandant of the interrogation centre, complete with monocle (and clearly meant to be Stephens – see photo above) roughs up Schmidt, an intervention which we are led to believe helps to break the stubborn agent.
While Stephens was unable to defend himself from the implication that he used violence to extract confessions from agents, a squadron of loyal, and very upset, former secretaries from Camp 020 rose up in protest. Letters were written and the BBC found itself besieged by the righteous fury of this women.
Those letters were all preserved in the BBC archives and recently (2019) Christopher J. Murphy reviewed them and published an article in the Intelligence and National History journal. I had assisted Murphy by sending him a copy of the Spy! Camp 020 episode and he returned the favour by sending me a copy of his article.
I had thought that perhaps these women might have shared some tiny snippet of information about Stephens which would help us to pin down the date and location of his death but, alas, I found nothing. I then researched each of the secretaries, some with greater success than others, and posted a blog about them.
After writing that blog, I had a rather hazy recollection that I had seen a number of these women being interviewed for a documentary. A bit of searching and… here is my original 2014 blog post on a BBC documentary entitled: BBC Timewatch – The Spies Who Fooled Hitler (1999). The show is also available for viewing on YouTube using this link.
I had hoped that some of these secretaries might still be alive but… I doubt it. The BBC Timewatch episode aired 21 years ago and all of the individuals were well into their 70s and 80s at that point. Still, perhaps there is a family member out there who might have some documents that would help us in our quest to lay Robin W.G. Stephens to rest.
The Timewatch episode is 45 minutes long and I noted a few key points where various individuals make an appearance:
Peggy Harmer
Appears at the 2:00 and 27:00 minute marks. Peggy Harmer worked for B1A (formerly B2A), the double-cross section and is likely Margaret Gordon Philips, born 9 February 1922. She married Christopher Hedley Harmer (an MI5 officer) in 1943 after a secret office courtship. Peggy does not appear to have contributed to the irate letters written to the BBC, likely because she did not work at Camp 020, but in the B1A offices with Major Thomas A. Robertson. Christopher Harmer passed away in 1996 and Peggy left this world in 2011.
(screen shot from BBC Timewatch – The Spies Who Fooled Hitler)
Frances and Alan Shanks
Appear at 4:00 minute mark. Alan D.F. Shanks was an interrogator at Camp 020, along with his brother, William. Frances M.H. Lepper was a secretary at Camp 020 and the two got married in 1944. Both had been part of the group that wrote letters to the BBC in the aftermath of the Spy! Camp 020 episode. Frances passed away in 2007 while Alan passed away in 2011.
Pat McCallum
Appears at 4:45 minute mark. Pat McCallum worked in the MI5 Registry office. I’m not sure if she’s identical with Aenea Allen who later married William Sidney Allen in 1955. Perhaps she used “Pat” as a nickname. If this is the same lady as Aenea Allen, then she passed away in 1996.
Joyce Hall
Appears at 17:15 minute mark. Joyce Hall (née Bisset) was another one of the secretaries who wrote to the BBC in 1980. I wasn’t able to trace her in my earlier blog. In the Timewatch episode, Joyce recounts some details of Karel Richter’s interrogation, and how his arrest was noticed by members of the public. Joyce was obviously at Camp 020 in 1941 and may even have been present during Josef’s interrogations.
Sarah Bishop
Appears at the 37:30 minute mark. Sarah was the assistant to Tommy Harris who ran double agent GARBO. Sarah does not seem to have worked at Camp 020.
There are also several other key figures who appear in the video including Hugh Trevor-Roper (around 35:30 minute mark), Hugh Astor (first 2 minutes and around the 6:30 minute mark) and Ronnie Reed of the RSS (around 8:30 minute mark).
Interestingly, the producers also tracked down a secretary who had worked for the German Abwehr from 1939 to 1942, one Inga Haag.
Peggy: “Top MI5 Female Spy”
While doing some background research for some of these secretaries, I came across a 2007 article by Ben Macintyre entitled: How Hitler’s Spies were Turned. Ben had managed to track down Peggy Harmer and was able to interview her. She was the last member of the B1A team still alive and still had clear memories about individuals like Karel Richter and Tor Glad.
(from Special Forces Roll of Honour website)
Four years after her interview with Ben Macintyre in 2007, Peggy passed away on 2 April 2011 in Oxfordshire. The Daily Mail wrote a rather sensationalized piece with a bold headline stating that Peggy was the “top MI5 female spy”. That might be a bit of a stretch. It’s not as if Peggy Harmer headed off to enemy territory to spy on the Germans. But she was certainly involved, in some sort of capacity, in capturing, turning and managing MI5’s stable of double agents.
Her death marked the end of an age, the quiet passing of the last remaining member of the British spycatchers. So many of the wartime stories revolve around the men and it’s nice to come across some stories, however brief, about the women who worked tirelessly in the background, doing their part to keep Britain safe.
Featured image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay