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William MelvilleWilliam Melville (1850-1918) was a British law enforcement officer and the first chief of British Secret Service and forerunner of MI5. William Melville was born son of a baker and publican in Direenaclaurig Cross in Sneem, County Kerry, Ireland. He immigrated to London in the 1860's and followed his father's footsteps as a baker before he joined the Metropolitan Police in 1872. He was once dismissed for subordination but was later reinstated. He was promoted to Criminal investigation Department. In 1882 he was chosen to be one of the founding members of the Special Irish Branch that was founded to work against Fenians, Irish republican dynamiters, and anarchists. Melville was posted to the Le Havre port. \ In December 1888 Melvile returned to London and assigned to protect the Shah of Persia in his state visit. His duties later expanded to the protection of British Royal Family and he foiled the Jubilee Plot against Queen Victoria in 1887. In 1891 he began to campaign against anarchists by raiding and wrecking anarchist clubs and underground printing houses. He also revealed the Walsall Plot. In 1893 Melville became Superintendent of Scotland Yard's Special Branch when his predecessor John Littlechild retired to become a private investigator. When he fired veteran sergeant Patrick McIntyre, McIntyre went to press and claimed that Melville had instigated the whole Walsall Plot himself. In the next ten years, Melville embarked on a large series of well-publicized raids against anarchists. He went to Victoria Station to personally arrest bomber Theodule Meunier. In 1896 Melville recruited Sigmund Rosenblum (later known as Sidney Reilly) as an informer in an organization he suspected to be involved with Russian anarchists. In 1901 he worked with Gustav Steinhauer of the German Secret Service to thwart a plot against Kaiser during the funeral of Queen Victoria. In June 1900 Melville met future stage magician Harry Houdini when he came to Scotland Yard to showcase his abilities as an escapologist. When Houdini released himself easily from the police handcuffs, Melville befriended him and reputedly learned lock picking. In November 1 1903 Melville resigned as superintendent. According to to the conclusions of author Andrew Cook, which are not accepted by all historians, Melville then became the head of British Secret Service with the code name "M". He founded a private detective agency with one of his pseudonyms, William Morgan. Still, the service had small budget and in occasion Melville had to do the job himself. After 1903, when relations between Britain and Germany cooled, Melville lobbied the government to create a counterespionage service. In 1906 Melville obtained German mobilization plans and investigated their financial support to the Boers. He hired a Courage Brewery representative in Hamburg to supply intelligence for him and in 1909 went to Germany himself to recruit more agents. Melville got what he wanted In October 1909 when the War Office authorized the creation of the Secret Service Bureau. It was divided into MI5 and MI6. His own section continued as a separate Special Section and he concentrated on looking for German spies. In August 1914 he eventually was able to identify the barbershop of Karl Gustav Ernst, that was the center of a German spy ring. After the outbreak of World War I, Secret Service received more funding. Melville recruited more personnel for his section when it was attached to newly found G-section, that concentrated on investigating suspected agents. He also founded a spy school opposite the War Office at Whitehall Court. William Melville died of kidney failure in November 1918, before the war ended. References - Andrew Cook - M: MI5's First Spymaster (2004)
External links Melville, William Melville, William Melville, William
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