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. 

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

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

C. T. Clarkson

C. T. Clarkson

J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. staff member who died in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Edward Arthur Martyn

Edward Arthur Martyn

Edward Arthur Martyn was born on 26 December 1888 in Linkfield Lane, Isleworth, Middlesex (now Greater London), the eldest of the six children of Arthur Edward Martyn (1863-1897) and Annie E. Marty...

Person, Armed Forces, Emergency Services

War dead non-military, WW2
1 memorial
Job Drain

Job Drain

Soldier. Born Job Henry Charles Drain in Barking, Essex. In WW1 he was a driver in the 37th Battery, Royal Field Artillery. On 26 August 1914 at Le Cateau, France, he and another driver saved two B...

Person, Armed Forces, France

3 memorials
J. A. Maslin

J. A. Maslin

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
The Trafalgar Way

The Trafalgar Way

The route used to carry news of the Battle of Trafalgar overland from Falmouth to the Admiralty in Whitehall. At the 21 stops to change horses, plaques similar to the one in Whitehall have been ere...

Place, Armed Forces, Transport

5 memorials

Previously viewed

Jeremiah le Souef

Jeremiah le Souef

For 20 years vice-consul of the United States.

Person, Politics & Administration, USA

1 memorial
Nicholas Dimbleby

Nicholas Dimbleby

Son of Richard and younger brother of the better known David and Jonathan.

Person, Art

1 memorial
Councillor Ray Adamson, Mayor of Camden

Councillor Ray Adamson, Mayor of Camden

Ray Adamson served as the Mayor of the London Borough of Camden for the year 1997-98 and from the Camden New Journal published on 13 August 2009 we learn that he was born on 10 August 1928 and died...

Person, Photography, Politics & Administration

3 memorials
Wayan Tamba

Wayan Tamba

Non-British, killed by the Bali bomb.

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial
H. F. Gosling

H. F. Gosling

Resident of Hendon who served and died in WW2.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW2
1 memorial