The Book
Agent Jack: The True Story of MI5’s Secret Nazi Hunter; Robert Hutton; St. Martin’s Press, 2019.
Summary
I had come across Agent Jack King (and Maxwell Knight) as I researched various other spies and traitors. I hadn’t really paid much attention to this mysterious agent, and am not quite sure how this book escaped my notice when it first came out.
Agent Jack King (real name Eric Roberts) was a mild-mannered clerk at the Bank of England who had worked for MI5 before the Second World War. Once the war started, he was recruited by Maxwell Knight (another unique character) to infiltrate the British Union of Fascists. Roberts (as Agent Jack) did a spectacularly good job. He posed as a Gestapo agent and nurtured various pro-Nazi cells of disgruntled Britons. This might seem counter-intuitive but Maxwell Knight (and MI5) generally thought that having these agitators in sight and under control was better than arresting known traitors and thus forcing similar cells underground. It seems to have worked.
We learn about some key British traitors and malcontents such as Philip Jackson, a British Army gunner whose letter to the Germans via the Spanish Embassy was intercepted and placed within the hands of MI5. Jackson was nurtured for a few weeks and met with a mysterious Mr. Brown… Eric Roberts posing as a German operative… before finally being arrested.
Eric Roberts wasn’t part of the aristocratic old boy’s network and after the war was tossed aside by MI5. He immigrated to Canada where he eventually settled on Salt Spring Island, off the coast of Vancouver Island (and less than an hour’s drive from my own location!).
Review
I enjoyed this book and found it very informative. It deepened my understanding of Fifth Column activities in England in the early years of the war, one of the reasons why I bought it. The book moved along at a good pace and held my interest.
Review Score
5 out of 5 – very informative and well-researched