While revamping the formatting on some of my older blogs, I came across this reference to the BBC Timewatch series on The Spies Who Fooled Hitler.
The show had some fascinating interviews with former secretaries and interrogators from MI5’s secret interrogation centre, Camp 020 (a.k.a. Ham or Latchmere House). I wrote a blog about some of those secretaries earlier this year. These were the women who defended Camp 020’s commandant, Lt. Col. Robin William George Stephens when the Spy! Camp 020 show aired in 1980.
While trying to grab a screen shot of one of the secretaries from the BBC episode, I noticed a photograph, one that had never really registered with me before. Pam McCallum was talking about how Stephens would play the role of the bully, while his assistant commandant would then come across as the nice guy. As she is talking, this photograph comes on the screen. (The photograph appears at the 4:25 minute mark of this video on YouTube).
Screen shot from BBC Timewatch episode entitle “The Spies Who Fooled Hitler” (1999)
The photograph shows a picture of three officers lounging in front of Latchmere House (I presume). The officer at the left is unknown to me but appears in several photographs from Huntercombe which Pete Mackean kindly shared with me. The officer in the centre is most definitely Lt. Col. R.W.G. Stephens. The officer at the right could be George Frederick Sampson. He was the interrogator who often came in after Stephens had achieved a break and milked the hapless spies for more information. On the other hand, he could be Christopher Harmer (an agent runner) who eventually married Peggy, one of the Double-Cross secretaries. The brushed-back hair, high forehead, and slender figure (Sampson was a bit stouter) rather makes me think it might be Harmer rather than Sampson. Both men wore glasses in other photographs so… it could also be someone else entirely. It is most definitely not Stimson, Goodacre or Short.
The show also provided two close-ups of Stephens and Sampson/Harmer…
Screen shot from BBC Timewatch episode entitle “The Spies Who Fooled Hitler” (1999)
Screen shot from BBC Timewatch episode entitle “The Spies Who Fooled Hitler” (1999)
The fact that this photograph exists makes me think these secretaries might have had more photographs… or even might have known when Stephens passed away. But, alas, I think they too have all passed away as well. Which leaves me wondering where the photographs might have ended up…
Hello
This is such an informative site. I wanted to make a couple of comments about Lt. Col. Robin W.G. Stephens and your recent post (A Photograph Of Robin W.G. Stephens…) and an earlier one (Wartime Secretaries Turned Spycatchers).
Lt Col. Stephens is a fascinating character. There are various lacuna in his public career, for instance after he left the Army in the late 1920s until he reappears in MI5 in the late 1930s or early 1940. It is pretty clear that he retained close relations with the military during this time.
When I compare the public record to other people I’ve studied, it is remarkably similar to those later revealed to have been involved in intelligence activities. It is only a hunch, but I suspect his time in Abyssinia, purportedly on humanitarian activities, was also tied up with intelligence work and his humanitarian work was cover. During the late 1920s through the 1930s, MI6, via Claude Dansey, operated the Z Network. Not a lot is known about it, but it seems it was funded largely by various business activities, some of them not entirely legal, and that the members collected intelligence through out the world, but largely in the Mediterranean and Middle East. Some members also used non-business cover. Again, a conjecture, but I have wondered if he was part of this outfit.
In terms of when he died, I have not been able to locate anything definitive. However, I agree he likely died sometime between 1963 and 1978. The apparent absence of a UK death record may suggest he died abroad or under a different name in the UK (or a mis-spelling). The fact he as known as “Caesar” to some, according to the death notice for his (possibly de facto) wife, Joan that you uncovered.
In terms of discovering what happened to Lt Col. Stephens, I would suggest perhaps contacting people who have written about the Lt Col’s associates, for instance, Geoffrey Elliott (Gentleman Spymaster). Anther person who may be able to point you in one direction or another is Laurence Rees. He produced the Timewatch program but may well have suggestions.
You have uncovered so much information about Lt Col Stephens and it makes for absolutely fascinating reading. Good luck! I await the next instalment.
Hello! And thank you for the comment. Yes, Stephens is a fascinating character. I too wonder if he wasn’t somehow involved with intelligence gathering during his time in Abyssinia. I’ve actually pieced together a fair bit of what he was up to during the 1930s. He was writing a couple of books… went to Abyssinia… spent some time in a hospital afterwards from wounds sustained there… and then went to Lincolnshire to head up the local National Fitness Council activities. While in Lincoln, he was quoted as saying he had traveled in the “dictatorships” of Europe, and I think Germany and Italy were specifically mentioned. If he was traveling there under the cover of “fitness”… that could have been another intelligence cover. As for his death, I’m inclined towards mid-1970s and abroad as well. I found an auction site a few years ago that was selling a silver cup given to him by the staff from Camp 020. Makes me wonder if he passed away in Italy… And yes, I have the Timewatch people in my sights too. I’m going to guess that all those lovely secretaries from Camp 020 might have heard of his passing, and perhaps the Timewatch people know. Laurence Rees and… there was the Director too I think, who is still involved in film-making. I had thought of writing to T.A. Robertson’s daughter and Geoffrey Elliot might be the fastest way to an address.
Thanks for all your comments and your interest!
Could the man on the left be Harold Dearden? Perhaps not as he seems to be in uniform. https://josefjakobs.info/2014/04/dr-harold-dearden-psychiatrist-at-camp_11.html
Hi Stephen, ooh, interesting theory. But as you say, Dearden didn’t wear a uniform. Pete had other pics of the same guy, taken at Huntercombe, with more full frontal shots and it’s definitely not Dearden. Plus, I don’t know that Stephens and Dearden would have been so chummy… given their tempestuous relationship. Thanks!