Person    | Male  Born 1/4/1859  Died 14/6/1923

Sir Mansfield Cumming

First Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6.

Born as Mansfield George Smith. Began his career in the navy aged 13, but suffering severe sea-sickness he was retired in 1885, and married for the first time that year. After his first wife's death he married again in 1889 and as part of the marriage settlement changed his surname first to Smith-Cumming and then Cumming. See William Burdett-Coutts for other men who have similarly honoured their wives.  

He was appointed head of a spying section in 1909 with Germany being the main target, and then Russia. After the war he became the head of all foreign espionage and remained so until his death. He initialled papers 'C' and that has lead to all subsequent chiefs being known as 'C'.

In 1914 he lost a leg in a car crash, in which his son who had been driving was killed. Died at home, 1 Melbury Road.

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:
Sir Mansfield Cumming

Commemorated ati

Sir Mansfield Cumming

Sir Mansfield Cumming, 1859 - 1923, first Chief of the Secret Service lived h...

Read More

Other Subjects

Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe

Playwright and poet, for definite. Spy? Atheist? Homosexual? Shakespeare? Baptized on 26th February at St George's Church, Canterbury. Educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. His plays inclu...

Person, Espionage, Poetry, Theatre

3 memorials
Graham Greene

Graham Greene

Author. Born Henry Graham Greene at St John's, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. After his marriage, he converted to Roman Catholicism, which became a theme in a number of his novels. During the second w...

Person, Espionage, Literature, Switzerland

2 memorials
Leopold Marks

Leopold Marks

Jewish writer, screenwriter, and cryptographer. Leopold (Leo) Samuel Marks, MBE, was Chief of Codes at Special Operations Executive (SOE) in WW2. He was a key trainer of secret agents sent to defea...

Person, Espionage

1 memorial
Ensign Denise Madeleine Bloch, Légion d'honneur, Croix de Guerre

Ensign Denise Madeleine Bloch, Légion d'honneur, Croix de Guerre

Denise Madeleine Bloch was born on 21 January 1916 in Paris, France to a Jewish family. Her father was Jacques Henri Bloch and her mother was Suzanne Levi-Strauss. She had three brothers. Her Wiki...

Person, Armed Forces, Espionage, Execution, France, Germany

War dead, WW2
1 memorial
Violette Szabo, GC, CdeG

Violette Szabo, GC, CdeG

British secret agent in WW2. Born in Paris as Violette Bushell of a French mother and English father who met in WW1. With 4 brothers she was a bit of a tomboy. From Violette Szabo Museum "The Bushe...

Person, Espionage, Execution, France

War dead, WW2
6 memorials

Previously viewed

Fryatt at Liverpool Street Station

Fryatt at Liverpool Street Station

EC2, Liverpool Street Station

Prior to the restoration of the station these memorials stood elsewhere. The war memorial was originally erected in the booking hall. One...

War dead | WW1
2 subjects commemorated, 2 creators
Mary Prince

Mary Prince

First African woman to publish her memoirs of slavery. Born Bermuda.  The daughter of slaves, she was first sold aged 10 for £20. Eventually bought for $300 in 1818 by John Wood who moved his whole...

Person, Literature, Race Issues, Antigua, Bermuda

1 memorial
Black Prince Road ceramics - plaque 12

Black Prince Road ceramics - plaque 12

SE11, Black Prince Road, Tunnel underneath railway bridge

These lovely ceramics plaques were installed some time in or before 2008. There are 12 oval ceramics of which 7 nos 1-7) are mosaic and r...

1 subject commemorated
Church WW1 Memorial

Church WW1 Memorial

E8, Kingsland Road

Very sad - a stump of a memorial that is also weathered into illegibility.

1 subject commemorated
Animals War Memorial Dispensary - 2 stone plaques

Animals War Memorial Dispensary - 2 stone plaques

NW6, Cambridge Avenue, 10

This 19th century building was converted by the architect John Oliver Brook Hitch MC, into an animal dispensary. It was opened on 10 Nove...

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator