Walter Dicketts: Difference between revisions
(39 intermediate revisions by 17 users not shown) | |||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Short description|British double agent}} |
|||
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} |
|||
{{Use British English|date=June 2022}} |
|||
{{Multiple issues| |
{{Multiple issues| |
||
{{Lead too long|date=May 2020}} |
{{Lead too long|date=May 2020}} |
||
Line 9: | Line 12: | ||
| allegiance = [[File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg|20px]] [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] |
| allegiance = [[File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg|20px]] [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] |
||
| service = [[MI5]], [[MI6]], [[Abwehr]] |
| service = [[MI5]], [[MI6]], [[Abwehr]] |
||
| serviceyears = |
| serviceyears = 1918–1919 and 1940–1943 |
||
| operation = [[World War I]] and [[World War II]] |
| operation = [[World War I]] and [[World War II]] |
||
| codename1 = Celery |
| codename1 = Celery |
||
| birth_name = Walter Arthur Charles Dicketts |
|||
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1900|3|31}} |
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1900|3|31}} |
||
| birth_place = [[ |
| birth_place = [[Southend-on-Sea]] |
||
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1957|8|16|1900|3|31}} |
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1957|8|16|1900|3|31}} |
||
| death_place = [[Paddington]], London |
| death_place = [[Paddington]], London |
||
| nationality = [[United Kingdom|British]] |
| nationality = [[United Kingdom|British]] |
||
| parents = Arthur Skinner Dicketts, Francis Dicketts nee Cromarty |
| parents = Arthur Skinner Dicketts, Francis Dicketts nee Cromarty |
||
| spouse = {{plainlist| |
|||
| spouse = '''Phyllis Hobson''' (1918–1924. Divorced) <br> '''''1st [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]]''', '''Dora Viva Guerrier''''' ''(1919-1922)''<br> '''Alma Wood''' (1929–1931. Divorced)<br>'''Vera Fudge''' (1933-1942. Divorced) <br> '''''2nd [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]]''', '''Kathleen Mary Holdcroft''''' ''(1939-1942)'' <br> '''Judith Kelman''' (1943-1957. Divorced)<br> |
|||
* {{marriage|Phyllis Hobson|1918|1924|end=divorced}} <br /> 1st [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]], Dora Viva Guerrier (1919–1922)<br /> {{marriage|Alma Wood|1929|1931|end=divorced}} |
|||
* {{marriage|Vera Fudge|1933|1942|end=divorced}}<br /> 2nd mistress, Kathleen Mary Holdcroft (1939–1942) <br /> {{marriage|Judith Kelman|1943|1957|end=divorced}} |
|||
⚫ | |||
| children = 6 |
| children = 6 |
||
| occupation = Import/Exporter, businessman, confidence trickster, [[intelligence officer]] |
| occupation = Import/Exporter, businessman, confidence trickster, [[intelligence officer]] |
||
|death_cause=[[Suicide]]}} |
|||
⚫ | |||
'''Walter Dicketts''' (31 March 1900 – 16 August 1957) was a British [[double agent]]<ref name = Archives>{{cite web|last1=Archives|first1=The National|title=The Discovery Service - Double Agent Celery's Security Services File, No: KV 2/674|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11016494|website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk}}</ref> who |
'''Walter Arthur Charles Dicketts''' (31 March 1900 – 16 August 1957) was a British [[double agent]]<ref name = Archives>{{cite web|last1=Archives|first1=The National|title=The Discovery Service - Double Agent Celery's Security Services File, No: KV 2/674|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11016494|website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk}}</ref> who was sent by [[MI5]] into [[Nazi Germany]] in early 1941 to infiltrate the [[Abwehr]] and bring back information about any impending invasion of Britain. |
||
Before his two years as a double agent, he was an [[RNAS]] officer<ref name="P&Sbook1">{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|isbn=9781526716149|location=Barnsley, UK}} pp.7 & 11</ref> who had worked in Air Intelligence during the latter part of [[World War I]] and had served several prison sentences for fraud. As he was unable to regain a commission in the [[RAF]] or work for [[British Intelligence]] due to his criminal past, Dicketts volunteered to work for the British Double Cross team.<ref name="P&Sbook">{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|isbn=9781526716149|location=Barnsley, UK|author-link=Carolinda Witt}}pp. 103, 107-108</ref> |
|||
==Early life== |
|||
⚫ | Given the codename Celery, Dicketts accompanied |
||
⚫ | Walter Dicketts was born in [[Southend-on-Sea]], the son of Arthur, a stockbroker's clerk, and his wife Francis.<ref name= P&Sbook11>{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=9781526716149|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046}} pp. 6, 7 & 20</ref> Dicketts attended the local grammar school and in 1915 he ran away from school and enlisted with the [[RNAS]]<ref name= P&Sbook1/> at the age of [[Youngest British soldiers in World War I|fifteen]]. He served in [[Armored car (military)|armoured cars]], and [[Tanks in World War I|tanks]] before becoming a [[Aviation in World War I|pilot]] in 1917. After a crash in which he was badly injured he became an [[intelligence officer]] with the [[Air Ministry]] with the rank of captain.<ref name= P&Sbook1/> |
||
In 1919 he married Phyllis Hobson, the daughter of a wealthy silver cutlery manufacturer, with whom he had a son called Graeme in 1919.<ref name= P&Sbook12>{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=9781526716149|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046}} pp. 11, 12, 13 -16</ref> During the early part of their marriage Dicketts met Dora Viva Guerrier, a dancer with the famous [[Tiller Girls]], and began a relationship, resulting in the birth of Dicketts' only daughter, Effie. The following year he had a second son by Phyllis and several months later a son to Dora, who was given away at birth.<ref name= P&Sbook12/> Unable to meet his expenses, Dicketts turned to crime, purchasing goods with false cheques and then selling the items. He was sentenced to hard labour and as a result lost both his wife and his mistress. |
|||
At the age of thirty, Dicketts eloped with a sixteen-year-old girl named Alma Wood and married her, prompting a nationwide search to catch him before the marriage could take place.<ref name= P&Sbook13>{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=9781526716149|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046}} pp. 48 - 51</ref> |
|||
He married two more times to Vera Fudge and Judith Kelman and maintained a second mistress called Kathleen "Kay" Holdcroft during his marriage to Vera. Kay "Dicketts" played an integral role as part of his [[Undercover operation|cover]] during his [[Espionage|mission]] to [[South America]] in 1941.<ref name= P&Sbook14>{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=9781526716149|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046}} pp. 55 & 203</ref> Dicketts was the father of six children. |
|||
== |
== Work with MI5 == |
||
Dicketts was sent by [[MI5]] into [[Nazi]] Germany in early 1941 to infiltrate the [[Abwehr]] and bring back information about any impending invasion of Britain. As part of the [[Double-Cross System]]<ref name="Archives" /> Dicketts role was to convince the Germans he was a traitor<ref name="P&Sbook" /> who was willing to sell out his country in return for cash, whilst continuing to report to MI5. |
|||
⚫ | Walter Dicketts was born in [[Southend-on-Sea]], the son of Arthur, a |
||
He was also an ex [[RNAS]] officer<ref name="P&Sbook1" /> who had worked in Air Intelligence for the [[Air Ministry]] during the latter part of [[World War I]] and had subsequently served several prison sentences for fraud. Unable to regain a commission in the [[RAF]] or work for [[British Intelligence]] due to his criminal past, Dicketts volunteered to work for the British Double Cross team<ref name="P&Sbook" /> led by Lt.Col [[T.A. Robertson]] (Thomas Argyle Robertson, known as Tar by his initials). |
|||
⚫ | Given the codename Celery, Dicketts accompanied Britain's first double agent [[Arthur Owens]] (Snow) to neutral [[Lisbon]] where he was introduced to Major [[Nikolaus Ritter]] of the [[Abwehr]].<ref name="P&Sbook3">{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|isbn=9781526716149|location=Barnsley, UK}} pp.108-116</ref> Ritter arranged for Dicketts to be brought to [[Hamburg]] to be interrogated by members of the Abwehr.<ref name="Ritter">{{cite book|last1=Ritter|first1=Nikolaus|title=Deckname Dr. Rantzau : die Aufzeichnungen d. Nikolaus Ritter, Offizier im Geheimen Nachrichtendienst|date=1972|publisher=Hoffmann und Campe|isbn=9783455063356|location=Hamburg}} pp. 247, 250, 251-254</ref> Dicketts was drugged,<ref name="Ritter" /> plied with alcohol, tricked and strenuously interrogated for five days and was accepted as a German agent whose role was to ferry German spies and equipment into England by boat from the occupied [[Channel Islands]].<ref name="P&Sbook4">{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|isbn=9781526716149|location=Barnsley, UK}} pp. 135-136, & 144</ref> Dicketts remained in Hamburg and later in [[Berlin]] for four weeks. |
||
When Dicketts returned to England with Owens their stories did not match<ref name="P&Sbook5">{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|isbn=9781526716149|location=Barnsley, UK}} pp.170-180</ref> and MI5 spent many hours interrogating their two agents, trying to establish who was telling the truth. In the end Dicketts' account was believed over Owens',<ref name="P&Sbook6">{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|isbn=9781526716149|location=Barnsley, UK}} pp.181-183</ref> who was imprisoned until 1944<ref name="Archives2">{{cite web|last1=Archives|first1=The National|title=The Discovery Service - Double Agent Snow's Security Services File, No: KV 2/451|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11016494|website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk}}</ref> for betraying Dicketts to the Germans before he even went into Germany, and for informing Ritter that the [[radio transmitter]] he had given him before the war, was now under MI5 control. MI5 were never certain of Owens' loyalty,<ref name="P&Sbook" /> or if he betrayed Dicketts due to jealousy or whether he was a genuine traitor.<ref name="Archives2" /> If the latter was the case, then Owens may have continued to betray other [[List of British spies|British agents]] or disclosed secret details about [[Military deception|deceptions]] of vital importance to Britain. |
|||
Shortly after Owens' imprisonment, MI5 sent Dicketts back to Lisbon to help an Abwehr officer to defect,<ref name="P&Sbook7">{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|isbn=9781526716149|location=Barnsley, UK}} pp. 184 -186</ref> and several months later he was sent to South America shortly before the [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor]].<ref name="P&Sbook8">{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|isbn=9781526716149|location=Barnsley, UK}} pp. 201-204</ref> Dicketts' mistress Kay was given false papers in the name of Mrs Dicketts despite her "husband" being legally married at the time.<ref name="P&Sbook8" /> |
|||
In 1919 he married Phyllis Hobson, the daughter of a wealthy silver cutlery manufacturer, with whom he had a son called Graeme in 1919.<ref name= P&Sbook12>{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=9781526716149|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046}} pp. 11, 12, 13 -16</ref> During the early part of their marriage Dicketts met Dora Viva Guerrier, a dancer with the famous [[Tiller Girls]], and began a relationship, resulting in the birth of Dicketts’ only daughter, Effie. The following year he had a second son by Phyllis and several months later a son to Dora, who was given away at birth.<ref name= P&Sbook12/> Unable to meet his expenses Dicketts turned to crime, purchasing goods with false cheques and then selling the items. He was sentenced to hard labour and as a result lost both his wife and his mistress. |
|||
In his business life, Walter Dicketts used up to twenty-three different [[aliases]]<ref>{{cite news|date=29 May 1929|title=WAC Dicketts, 23 Aliases. Poster For Every Police Station|newspaper=[[Daily Mirror]]}}</ref> and served several prison sentences for fraud (forging cheques and obtaining money by false pretences) in the UK, as well as one in Austria and one in France. Dicketts married four times and maintained two [[Mistress (lover)|mistresses]] during two of those marriages.<ref name="P&Sbook9">{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|isbn=9781526716149|location=Barnsley, UK}} pg. xiv</ref> Police and media described Dicketts variously as elusive, well educated, well spoken, with charming manners and a charming smile.<ref name="P&Sbook10">{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|isbn=9781526716149|location=Barnsley, UK}} pp. 45, 50</ref> |
|||
He married two more times to Vera Fudge and Judit Kelman and maintained a second mistress called Kathleen Holdcroft during his marriage to Vera. Kay ‘Dicketts’ played an integral role as part of his [[Undercover operation|cover]] during his [[Espionage|mission]] to [[South America]] in 1941.<ref name= P&Sbook14>{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=9781526716149|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046}} pp. 55 & 203 </ref> Dicketts was the father of six children. |
|||
==Later life== |
==Later life== |
||
After leaving MI5 in 1943 Dicketts imported oranges into England from [[South America]] and became involved in a variety of different businesses, including property development. When his businesses began to fail, Dicketts and his wife |
After leaving MI5 in 1943 Dicketts imported oranges into England from [[South America]] and became involved in a variety of different businesses, including property development. When his businesses began to fail, Dicketts and his wife Judith fled to [[East Grinstead]], where he established himself as a wealthy [[philanthropist]] called Charles Stewart Pollock.<ref name= P&Sbook15>{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=9781526716149|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046}} pp. 207-211</ref> He became very successful, owned a manor house, and drove around in a white [[Rolls-Royce Motor Cars|Rolls-Royce]]. The money he obtained from investors was used to repay other investors and in classic [[Ponzi scheme]] style, his businesses began to collapse and Dicketts was unable to repay his debts and soon gave himself up to police.<ref name= P&Sbook15/> |
||
Dicketts was sentenced to four years prison of which he served two years for good behaviour and then left England to run a [[rubber plantation]] in [[Federation of Malaya|Malaya]].<ref name= P&Sbook15/> |
Dicketts was sentenced to four years prison of which he served two years for good behaviour and then left England to run a [[rubber plantation]] in [[Federation of Malaya|Malaya]].<ref name= P&Sbook15/> |
||
In October 1957, [[John Bull (magazine)|John Bull |
In October 1957, ''[[John Bull (magazine)|John Bull]]'' magazine published an article called "Hitler's Wartime Spies in Britain"<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Charles Wighton |author2=Gunther Peis|title=Hitler's Wartime Spies in Britain|issue=3054962 |page=34|magazine=[[John Bull (magazine)|John Bull]] |date=October 1957}}</ref> which named [[Arthur Owens]] but not Walter Dicketts. Dicketts was described by his German codename Brown, and was pictured being drugged by the [[Abwehr]] who removed his opening [[signet ring]]<ref name=Ritter/> to see if any hidden [[Cryptography|secret code]] was written behind the photograph of his girlfriend Kay. |
||
Dicketts died in August 1957 of [[Carbon monoxide poisoning|coal-gas poisoning]],<ref name= P&Sbook16>{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=9781526716149|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046}} pp. 213 - 214</ref> having apparently killed himself, and Owens died in December of the same year of [[cardiac asthma]], a condition secondary to heart failure that is marked by breathing difficulty. |
Dicketts died in August 1957 of [[Carbon monoxide poisoning|coal-gas poisoning]],<ref name= P&Sbook16>{{cite book|last1=Witt|first1=Carolinda|title=Double Agent Celery|date=November 2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=9781526716149|url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Double-Agent-Celery-Hardback/p/14046}} pp. 213 - 214</ref> having apparently killed himself, and Owens died in December of the same year of [[cardiac asthma]], a condition secondary to heart failure that is marked by breathing difficulty. |
||
In 1972 [[John Cecil Masterman]] published ''The Double Cross System in the War of 1939 to 1945'', an intimate account of wartime British military deception, in which Celery is mentioned, but not identified as Walter Dicketts. His family did not discover his role with British intelligence in both |
In 1972 [[John Cecil Masterman]] published ''The Double Cross System in the War of 1939 to 1945'', an intimate account of wartime British military deception, in which Celery is mentioned, but not identified as Walter Dicketts. His family did not discover his role with British intelligence in both world wars until his security services file<ref name=Archives/> was released by the [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|British National Archives]] in 2006. It was at this time that his family discovered the existence of his other wives, mistresses and children. |
||
In 2017, his granddaughter [[Carolinda Witt]], published a biography of Dicketts called ''Double Agent Celery – |
In 2017, his granddaughter [[Carolinda Witt]], published a biography of Dicketts' called ''Double Agent Celery – MI5's Crooked Hero''. |
||
==See also== |
==See also== |
||
Line 63: | Line 74: | ||
===Bibliography=== |
===Bibliography=== |
||
*'The Double-Cross System in the War of 1939-1945' by J.C. Masterman (Yale University Press, Boston, Mass 1972) |
*''The Double-Cross System in the War of 1939-1945'' by J.C. Masterman (Yale University Press, Boston, Mass 1972) |
||
*'Double Agent Celery' by Carolinda Witt (Pen & Sword, Barnsley 2017) |
*''Double Agent Celery'' by Carolinda Witt (Pen & Sword, Barnsley 2017) |
||
*'Snow: |
*''Snow: The Double Life of a World War Two Spy'' by [[Nigel West]] and Madoc Roberts (Biteback, London 2011) |
||
*'The Guy Liddell Diaries' by Guy Liddell (Routledge, London 2005) |
*''The Guy Liddell Diaries'' by Guy Liddell (Routledge, London 2005) |
||
*'The Mirror of Deception' by Gunther Peis (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1976) |
*''The Mirror of Deception'' by Gunther Peis (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1976) |
||
*'Aurora, by K.F., Ritter (Xlibris, Bloomington 2006) |
*''Aurora'', by K.F., Ritter (Xlibris, Bloomington 2006) |
||
*'Deckname Dr. Rantzau, by Nikolaus Ritter, (Hoffmann und Campe Verlag, Hamburg 1972) |
*''Deckname Dr. Rantzau'', by Nikolaus Ritter, (Hoffmann und Campe Verlag, Hamburg 1972) |
||
*' |
*''Hitler's Spies and Saboteurs'' (also known as ''They Spied on England'' in UK) by Gunter Peis & Charles Wighton (New York: Henry Holt, 1958) |
||
*'Tiller's Girls' by Doremy Vernon, (Robson Books, London, 1988) |
*''Tiller's Girls'' by Doremy Vernon, (Robson Books, London, 1988) |
||
==External links== |
==External links== |
||
*[https://www.wsj.com/articles/five-best-helen-fry-on-books-about-clandestine-agents-in-world-war-ii-11551450585 |
*[https://www.wsj.com/articles/five-best-helen-fry-on-books-about-clandestine-agents-in-world-war-ii-11551450585 "Five Best Books about Clandestine Agents in WWII"]. - ''Wall Street Journal'', March 2, 2019. |
||
*[https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol-62-no-1/pdfs/io-bookshelf.pdf] CIA Center For The Study of Intelligence |
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20180425183628/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol-62-no-1/pdfs/io-bookshelf.pdf "Intelligence Officer's Bookshelf"]. CIA Center For The Study of Intelligence, Vol 62, No. 1, March 2018. |
||
*[http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-09/mi5-double-agent-celery-how-carolinda-witt-found-secret-past/9505870 |
*[http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-09/mi5-double-agent-celery-how-carolinda-witt-found-secret-past/9505870 "Four wives, two mistresses and a double agent: How Carolinda Witt found out her grandfather's secret spy past"]. |
||
*[http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/conversations-carolinda-witt/9418096 |
*[http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/conversations-carolinda-witt/9418096 "The daring and scandalous life of British double agent 'Celery'"]. ABC Radio Program ''Conversations'' with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski. |
||
*[https://www.smh.com.au/nsw/a-spy-who-stayed-out-in-the-cold-20170921-gyly0x.html |
*[https://www.smh.com.au/nsw/a-spy-who-stayed-out-in-the-cold-20170921-gyly0x.html "A Spy Who Stayed Out In The Cold"]. ''Sydney Morning Herald''. |
||
*[http://www.monmouthshirebeacon.co.uk/article.cfm?id=108224&headline=Delving%20into%20the%20tale%20of%20the%20war-time%20MI5%20double%20agent§ionIs=news&searchyear=2017 |
*[http://www.monmouthshirebeacon.co.uk/article.cfm?id=108224&headline=Delving%20into%20the%20tale%20of%20the%20war-time%20MI5%20double%20agent§ionIs=news&searchyear=2017 "Delving into the tale of the war-time MI5 double agent"]. ''Monmouthshire Beacon''. |
||
{{Authority control}} |
{{Authority control}} |
||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dicketts, Walter}} |
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dicketts, Walter}} |
||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
[[Category:1900 births]] |
[[Category:1900 births]] |
||
⚫ | |||
[[Category:1957 deaths]] |
[[Category:1957 deaths]] |
||
[[Category: |
[[Category:20th-century English criminals]] |
||
[[Category:20th-century planters]] |
|||
[[Category:Writers from Essex]] |
|||
[[Category:Abwehr personnel of World War II]] |
|||
[[Category:Double agents]] |
[[Category:Double agents]] |
||
[[Category:World War II spies for the United Kingdom]] |
[[Category:World War II spies for the United Kingdom]] |
||
[[Category:Double-Cross System]] |
[[Category:Double-Cross System]] |
||
[[Category:MI5 personnel]] |
[[Category:MI5 personnel]] |
||
[[Category:Military personnel from Southend-on-Sea]] |
|||
[[Category:British people convicted of fraud]] |
|||
[[Category:English prisoners and detainees]] |
|||
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales]] |
|||
[[Category:Royal Naval Air Service personnel of World War I]] |
|||
⚫ | |||
[[Category:Pyramid and Ponzi schemes]] |
|||
[[Category:Suicides by carbon monoxide poisoning]] |
Latest revision as of 12:02, 6 June 2024
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
Walter Dicketts | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 16 August 1957 Paddington, London | (aged 57)
Cause of death | Suicide |
Nationality | British |
Occupation(s) | Import/Exporter, businessman, confidence trickster, intelligence officer |
Spouses | Phyllis Hobson
(m. 1918; div. 1924)1st mistress, Dora Viva Guerrier (1919–1922) Alma Wood
(m. 1929; div. 1931)Vera Fudge
(m. 1933; div. 1942)2nd mistress, Kathleen Mary Holdcroft (1939–1942) Judith Kelman
(m. 1943; div. 1957) |
Children | 6 |
Parent(s) | Arthur Skinner Dicketts, Francis Dicketts nee Cromarty |
Espionage activity | |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service branch | MI5, MI6, Abwehr |
Service years | 1918–1919 and 1940–1943 |
Codename | Celery |
Operations | World War I and World War II |
Walter Arthur Charles Dicketts (31 March 1900 – 16 August 1957) was a British double agent[1] who was sent by MI5 into Nazi Germany in early 1941 to infiltrate the Abwehr and bring back information about any impending invasion of Britain.
Before his two years as a double agent, he was an RNAS officer[2] who had worked in Air Intelligence during the latter part of World War I and had served several prison sentences for fraud. As he was unable to regain a commission in the RAF or work for British Intelligence due to his criminal past, Dicketts volunteered to work for the British Double Cross team.[3]
Early life
[edit]Walter Dicketts was born in Southend-on-Sea, the son of Arthur, a stockbroker's clerk, and his wife Francis.[4] Dicketts attended the local grammar school and in 1915 he ran away from school and enlisted with the RNAS[2] at the age of fifteen. He served in armoured cars, and tanks before becoming a pilot in 1917. After a crash in which he was badly injured he became an intelligence officer with the Air Ministry with the rank of captain.[2]
In 1919 he married Phyllis Hobson, the daughter of a wealthy silver cutlery manufacturer, with whom he had a son called Graeme in 1919.[5] During the early part of their marriage Dicketts met Dora Viva Guerrier, a dancer with the famous Tiller Girls, and began a relationship, resulting in the birth of Dicketts' only daughter, Effie. The following year he had a second son by Phyllis and several months later a son to Dora, who was given away at birth.[5] Unable to meet his expenses, Dicketts turned to crime, purchasing goods with false cheques and then selling the items. He was sentenced to hard labour and as a result lost both his wife and his mistress.
At the age of thirty, Dicketts eloped with a sixteen-year-old girl named Alma Wood and married her, prompting a nationwide search to catch him before the marriage could take place.[6]
He married two more times to Vera Fudge and Judith Kelman and maintained a second mistress called Kathleen "Kay" Holdcroft during his marriage to Vera. Kay "Dicketts" played an integral role as part of his cover during his mission to South America in 1941.[7] Dicketts was the father of six children.
Work with MI5
[edit]Dicketts was sent by MI5 into Nazi Germany in early 1941 to infiltrate the Abwehr and bring back information about any impending invasion of Britain. As part of the Double-Cross System[1] Dicketts role was to convince the Germans he was a traitor[3] who was willing to sell out his country in return for cash, whilst continuing to report to MI5.
He was also an ex RNAS officer[2] who had worked in Air Intelligence for the Air Ministry during the latter part of World War I and had subsequently served several prison sentences for fraud. Unable to regain a commission in the RAF or work for British Intelligence due to his criminal past, Dicketts volunteered to work for the British Double Cross team[3] led by Lt.Col T.A. Robertson (Thomas Argyle Robertson, known as Tar by his initials).
Given the codename Celery, Dicketts accompanied Britain's first double agent Arthur Owens (Snow) to neutral Lisbon where he was introduced to Major Nikolaus Ritter of the Abwehr.[8] Ritter arranged for Dicketts to be brought to Hamburg to be interrogated by members of the Abwehr.[9] Dicketts was drugged,[9] plied with alcohol, tricked and strenuously interrogated for five days and was accepted as a German agent whose role was to ferry German spies and equipment into England by boat from the occupied Channel Islands.[10] Dicketts remained in Hamburg and later in Berlin for four weeks.
When Dicketts returned to England with Owens their stories did not match[11] and MI5 spent many hours interrogating their two agents, trying to establish who was telling the truth. In the end Dicketts' account was believed over Owens',[12] who was imprisoned until 1944[13] for betraying Dicketts to the Germans before he even went into Germany, and for informing Ritter that the radio transmitter he had given him before the war, was now under MI5 control. MI5 were never certain of Owens' loyalty,[3] or if he betrayed Dicketts due to jealousy or whether he was a genuine traitor.[13] If the latter was the case, then Owens may have continued to betray other British agents or disclosed secret details about deceptions of vital importance to Britain.
Shortly after Owens' imprisonment, MI5 sent Dicketts back to Lisbon to help an Abwehr officer to defect,[14] and several months later he was sent to South America shortly before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.[15] Dicketts' mistress Kay was given false papers in the name of Mrs Dicketts despite her "husband" being legally married at the time.[15]
In his business life, Walter Dicketts used up to twenty-three different aliases[16] and served several prison sentences for fraud (forging cheques and obtaining money by false pretences) in the UK, as well as one in Austria and one in France. Dicketts married four times and maintained two mistresses during two of those marriages.[17] Police and media described Dicketts variously as elusive, well educated, well spoken, with charming manners and a charming smile.[18]
Later life
[edit]After leaving MI5 in 1943 Dicketts imported oranges into England from South America and became involved in a variety of different businesses, including property development. When his businesses began to fail, Dicketts and his wife Judith fled to East Grinstead, where he established himself as a wealthy philanthropist called Charles Stewart Pollock.[19] He became very successful, owned a manor house, and drove around in a white Rolls-Royce. The money he obtained from investors was used to repay other investors and in classic Ponzi scheme style, his businesses began to collapse and Dicketts was unable to repay his debts and soon gave himself up to police.[19]
Dicketts was sentenced to four years prison of which he served two years for good behaviour and then left England to run a rubber plantation in Malaya.[19]
In October 1957, John Bull magazine published an article called "Hitler's Wartime Spies in Britain"[20] which named Arthur Owens but not Walter Dicketts. Dicketts was described by his German codename Brown, and was pictured being drugged by the Abwehr who removed his opening signet ring[9] to see if any hidden secret code was written behind the photograph of his girlfriend Kay.
Dicketts died in August 1957 of coal-gas poisoning,[21] having apparently killed himself, and Owens died in December of the same year of cardiac asthma, a condition secondary to heart failure that is marked by breathing difficulty.
In 1972 John Cecil Masterman published The Double Cross System in the War of 1939 to 1945, an intimate account of wartime British military deception, in which Celery is mentioned, but not identified as Walter Dicketts. His family did not discover his role with British intelligence in both world wars until his security services file[1] was released by the British National Archives in 2006. It was at this time that his family discovered the existence of his other wives, mistresses and children.
In 2017, his granddaughter Carolinda Witt, published a biography of Dicketts' called Double Agent Celery – MI5's Crooked Hero.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c Archives, The National. "The Discovery Service - Double Agent Celery's Security Services File, No: KV 2/674". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
- ^ a b c d Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149. pp.7 & 11
- ^ a b c d Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149.pp. 103, 107-108
- ^ Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149. pp. 6, 7 & 20
- ^ a b Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149. pp. 11, 12, 13 -16
- ^ Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149. pp. 48 - 51
- ^ Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149. pp. 55 & 203
- ^ Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149. pp.108-116
- ^ a b c Ritter, Nikolaus (1972). Deckname Dr. Rantzau : die Aufzeichnungen d. Nikolaus Ritter, Offizier im Geheimen Nachrichtendienst. Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe. ISBN 9783455063356. pp. 247, 250, 251-254
- ^ Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149. pp. 135-136, & 144
- ^ Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149. pp.170-180
- ^ Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149. pp.181-183
- ^ a b Archives, The National. "The Discovery Service - Double Agent Snow's Security Services File, No: KV 2/451". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
- ^ Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149. pp. 184 -186
- ^ a b Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149. pp. 201-204
- ^ "WAC Dicketts, 23 Aliases. Poster For Every Police Station". Daily Mirror. 29 May 1929.
- ^ Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149. pg. xiv
- ^ Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149. pp. 45, 50
- ^ a b c Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149. pp. 207-211
- ^ Charles Wighton; Gunther Peis (October 1957). "Hitler's Wartime Spies in Britain". John Bull. No. 3054962. p. 34.
- ^ Witt, Carolinda (November 2017). Double Agent Celery. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526716149. pp. 213 - 214
Bibliography
[edit]- The Double-Cross System in the War of 1939-1945 by J.C. Masterman (Yale University Press, Boston, Mass 1972)
- Double Agent Celery by Carolinda Witt (Pen & Sword, Barnsley 2017)
- Snow: The Double Life of a World War Two Spy by Nigel West and Madoc Roberts (Biteback, London 2011)
- The Guy Liddell Diaries by Guy Liddell (Routledge, London 2005)
- The Mirror of Deception by Gunther Peis (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1976)
- Aurora, by K.F., Ritter (Xlibris, Bloomington 2006)
- Deckname Dr. Rantzau, by Nikolaus Ritter, (Hoffmann und Campe Verlag, Hamburg 1972)
- Hitler's Spies and Saboteurs (also known as They Spied on England in UK) by Gunter Peis & Charles Wighton (New York: Henry Holt, 1958)
- Tiller's Girls by Doremy Vernon, (Robson Books, London, 1988)
External links
[edit]- "Five Best Books about Clandestine Agents in WWII". - Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2019.
- "Intelligence Officer's Bookshelf". CIA Center For The Study of Intelligence, Vol 62, No. 1, March 2018.
- "Four wives, two mistresses and a double agent: How Carolinda Witt found out her grandfather's secret spy past".
- "The daring and scandalous life of British double agent 'Celery'". ABC Radio Program Conversations with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski.
- "A Spy Who Stayed Out In The Cold". Sydney Morning Herald.
- "Delving into the tale of the war-time MI5 double agent". Monmouthshire Beacon.
- 1900 births
- 1957 suicides
- 1957 deaths
- 20th-century English criminals
- 20th-century planters
- Writers from Essex
- Abwehr personnel of World War II
- Double agents
- World War II spies for the United Kingdom
- Double-Cross System
- MI5 personnel
- Military personnel from Southend-on-Sea
- British people convicted of fraud
- English prisoners and detainees
- Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales
- Royal Naval Air Service personnel of World War I
- British planters
- Pyramid and Ponzi schemes
- Suicides by carbon monoxide poisoning