Mansfield George Smith-Cumming

Smith-Cumming as he appeared when granted his Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate in 1913.

Captain SIR Mansfield George Smith-Cumming, K.C.M.G., C.B., Royal Navy, Retired (1 April 1859 – 14 June 1923) was an officer of the Royal Navy and the first head of the Secret Intelligence Service, more commonly known as MI6.

Life & Career

Mansfield George Smith was born at Lee in Kent on 1 April 1859, the son of John Thomas Smith, Royal Engineers, and Marie Sarah Smith. He passed the qualifying examination for entry as an officer of the Military Branch of the Royal Navy at an examination on 29 or 30 November or 2 December 1871. On 15 January 1872 he was appointed to the training ship Britannia at Dartmouth as a Naval Cadet. Biographer Alan Judd claimed "The 'college' comprised two elderly sailing ships moored in the River Dart". He evidently didn't realise that the oldest of the two, Hindostan, had been launched thirty years earlier, and the Britannia itself, had been a steam ship of the line launched only 11 years earlier. Smith spent the customary four terms, or two years, there, gaining a total of six months' time (out of a possible 12) towards the rating of Midshipman, with a second class for study (and no time for fair conduct). On 20 December 1873 (according to his service record) or 1 January 1874 (according to the Navy List) he was appointed to the corvette Modeste on the China Station joining her in January 1874. On 20 June he was rated Midshipman.

From 3 December 1875 to 5 January 1876 he served as Aide-de-Camp to his captain, Captain Alexander Buller, who commanded a Naval Brigade against Malay pirates on the Perak River. The Commander-in-Chief on the China Station, Vice-Admiral Alfred P. Ryder, wrote:

For nearly a month the brigade under Captain Buller had nothing to eat but preserved meat, supplemented occasionally by wild buffalo—no vegetables or bread; the men were constantly wet through by rain, they had frequently to wade through water and mud over their waists. For the last three days of their advance on Kinta they had to thread their way in a thick jungle, which, during the whole of that time, allowed them no sight of the sky. During the ten days' advance they had no cover of any kind, but slept in the "open."

Of his Clerk and Smith, Buller wrote in his despatches: "They were always with me in the front, and were energetic and attentive in the performance of the duties required of them." The Midshipman returned to the United Kingdom in the troop ship Tamar between May and July 1877, had three months foreign service leave, before being appointed to the Bellerophon, flagship on the North America and West Indies Station, wearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Sir Astley C. Key, Captain John A. Fisher. He took passage out in the troop ship Simoom and joined the Bellerophon in November. From January to May 1878 he was lent to the corvette Sirius, Captain George L. Sulivan.

On 19 June 1878 Smith passed his examination in Seamanship before a board composed of Captain St. George C. D'Arcy-Irvine of Bellerophon (who had succeeded Fisher in April), Captain Thomas Barnardiston of Rover, and Commander Robert H. Harris of Argus. He attained a third class, with 605 marks out of 1,000. Five marks fewer and he would have failed. Normally he would have been promoted Acting Sub-Lieutenant the day he passed, but for some reason he took the examination a day before he eligible, with the result that his promotion took effect from 20 June. He attended the Royal Naval College, Greenwich from January to September 1879, passing with a third class. From 4 to 18 November he was in Haslar naval hospital for reasons unknown, and from November to April 1880 he attended Excellent, the gunnery training establishment at Portsmouth, passing with a second class in gunnery on 13 April. Immediately afterwards he was appointed to the torpedo depôt ship Hecla in the Mediterranean, under the command of Captain Arthur K. Wilson, V.C. In December he was granted the Perak clasp to the India General Service Medal. This distinction, along with being mentioned in Buller's despatch, likely led to his appointment to the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert on 1 July 1881. On 16 September he received the automatic promotion to Lieutenant which followed a season in the yacht.

From 30 September 1881 to July 1882 he took a voluntary course of study at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and received the Honorary Certificate for completing it. On 14 June he was appointed to the composite sloop Daring on the China Station, with a brief stint in the Ruby in the composite corvette East Indies Station on the way. On 29 June 1883 he was invalided for "sea sickness", and arrived from on 22 August via mail steamer. The trip would have been dear, as he was not entitled to free passage. After 15 days' full pay leave he was appointed to the ironclad Sultan on 8 September 1883, with "a report on health to be made in 6 months". It was reported on 11 March 1884 that he "has not suffered from sea-sickness since he joined Sultan & health has been in all respects excellent". He was superseded on 31 July 1884 and on 30 September was appointed to Vernon to qualify for Torpedo Duties at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. It is thought he didn't complete these studies, as on 6 March 1885 he was appointed Flag Lieutenant to Rear-Admiral Sir Walter J. Hunt-Grubbe, Commander-in-Chief on the Cape of Good Hope Station. On 3 October he was appointed to the Pembroke Castle as Transport Officer, but on 5 November was discharged to half pay. On 8 December he was appointed to the trooper Malabar, but was superseded on the 16th "owing to sea sickness". He was placed on the Retired List as "unfit for further service" on 21 December. Alan Judd comments, "This is slightly odd because he had spent most of the previous twelve years at sea with, apart from a fortnight in the naval hospital at Haslar in 1879, no suggestion of incapacitating health problems." He apparently did not know that Smith had been sent home, halfway across the world, because of seasickness in 1883.

Retirement and Secret Service

While at the Cape he married Dora Cloete, of Great Constantia, Cape Colony, in 1885. She died, aged only 20, on 28 November 1887. Captain Lionel G. Dawson claimed that at one time Smith-Cumming served as land agent to Admiral Sir Francis C. B. Bridgeman, who had land in Yorkshire, and that "He had been a keen balloonist when that adventurous sport was in vogue; and had broken most of the bones in his body at various times".

At the parish church of Cossington in Somerset on 13 March 1889 Smith was married again, to Leslie Marian Valiant-Cumming, the daughter of Lockhart Muir Valiant-Cumming.

On 1 August 1898 Smith-Cumming was appointed for Boom Defence at Southampton for six weeks. That six weeks turned into over eleven years. In 1903 he had applied for a step in rank on the Retired List, but this was refused. However, on 25 January 1906 he was granted the rank of Retired Commander under the Order in Council of 24 April, 1902. He gave up the appointment on 1 October 1909, when appointed head of the Foreign Section of the Secret Service Bureau, later the Secret Intelligence Service commonly known as MI6. The Secret Intelligence Service's website claims Smith-Cumming had "neither intelligence experience nor linguistic skills", but the latter ignores the fact that Smith-Cumming was noted as speaking French by successive commanding officers while in the Navy.

Smith-Cumming kept busy in his leisure time. On 10 November 1913 he obtained his Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate, No. 727, in a Maurice Farman biplane at the Farman School, Étampes, France. On 5 December he received a similar French certificate, No. 1568. In the Birthday Honours of 1914 he was appointed an Ordinary Member of the Civil Division of the Third Class, or Companion, in the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (C.B.) on 22 June. On 2 October he was seriously injured in a car accident in France, breaking both legs and having his right foot amputated. His son Alastair died of his injuries. Curiously his service record in ADM 196/39 claims it was the left foot. It also notes his condition was serious on 7 October, satisfactory on the 8th, and again on 2 November. Smith-Cumming was given the Acting Rank of Captain on 15 January 1915, and on 30 November an Order in Council was obtained granting him a pension of £300 a year from naval funds in compensation for his injuries, taking effect from the date of his accident. His left leg was so impaired as to be "nearly equiv. to loss of a limb". On 25 June 1919 he was promoted to the rank of Captain on the Retired List, dated 11 November 1918. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (K.C.M.G.) on 30 June, and was invested with the honour at Buckingham Palace by the King on 26 July. He reverted to the Retired List on 15 November. He died suddenly on 14 June 1923. The gross value of his estate at probate was £39,276 19 shillings: not bad for someone who had spent 30 years on retired pay of 6 shillings per diem (£109 10 shillings a year).

Bibliography

• Hesilrige, Arthur G. M., ed. (1921). Debrett's Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage, in which is included full information respecting the Collateral Branches of Baronets, and the Issue of Knights. London: Dean and Son, Limited.
• Dawson, Captain Lionel (1935). Flotillas: A Hard-Lying Story. London: Rich & Cowan Ltd.
• Judd, Alan (1999). The Quest for C: Sir Mansfield Cumming and the Founding of the British Secret Service. London: Harper CollinsPublishers.

Service Records

• The National Archives. ADM 196/39/438.
• The National Archives. ADM 196/20/123.