Person    | Male  Died /6/1982

Flight Lieutenant Charles Cholmondeley

Categories: Armed Forces

Cholmondeley and Ewen Montagu conceived the idea behind Operation Mincemeat and carried it out.

He joined the Royal Air Force Voluntary Reserve (RAFVR) in 1939 and was commissioned as a pilot officer. But his height (6'3") and poor eyesight meant he could not be a pilot.

Wikipedia describes him as "a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force who had been seconded to MI5, Britain's domestic counter-intelligence and security service. He had been appointed as the secretary of the Twenty Committee, a small inter-service, inter-departmental intelligence team in charge of double agents."

Wikipedia has this photo captioned "Charles Cholmondeley and Ewen Montagu on 17 April 1943, transporting the body to Scotland."

Erenow gives an account of Charles Christopher Cholmondeley's life after the war: "In October 1945 he joined the “Middle East Anti-Locust Unit” as “First Locust Officer,” a job that involved chasing swarms of locusts all over the Arab states and feeding them bran laced with insecticide", going on to suggest that this was a cover for the work he was still doing for the British secret service. He was appointed MBE in 1948. This intelligence work also took him to Malaya but he left MI5 in 1952, moved to the West Country, married Alison, and set up a business selling horticultural machinery.

The plaque describes him as a British aristocrat which seems likely but we can't corroborate. 

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Flight Lieutenant Charles Cholmondeley

Commemorated ati

Operation Mincemeat

The Biblical quotation draws attention to the secrecy which was essential to ...

Read More

Other Subjects

Captain Robert Hansler

Captain Robert Hansler

JP for Middlesex. At Rootschat we found a "Captain Robert Jacob Hansler, a magistrate for Middlesex" He was the eldest son of Sir John Jacob Hansler (1788 -1867) and Maria (d.1858), daughter of Mr ...

Person, Armed Forces

1 memorial
W. R. Beardwell

W. R. Beardwell

Co-partner or employee of the South Suburban Gas Company. Served but did not die in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War served, WW1
1 memorial
William Henry Grimbaldeston, VC

William Henry Grimbaldeston, VC

Awarded the VC for his heroism on 16 August 1917, age 27, while serving in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers. "In spite of heavy fire from a blockhouse, he pressed on towards its entrance, threaten...

Person, Armed Forces

War served, WW1
1 memorial
F. T. Cook

F. T. Cook

Co-partner or employee of the South Suburban Gas Company. Served but did not die in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War served, WW1
1 memorial
E. Phillips

E. Phillips

Co-partner or employee of the South Suburban Gas Company. Served but did not die in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War served, WW1
1 memorial

Previously viewed

J. T. Latham

J. T. Latham

Killed in WW1.

Person

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
F. Alford
War dead, WW1
1 memorial