Bernard Frederick Trench [1] | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 July 1880 United Kingdom |
| Died | 10 October 1967 (aged 87) |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Rank | Captain |
| Commands held | Royal Marines |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Audrey Taylor |
| Other work | Spy, Royal Marines |
Captain Bernard Frederick Trench (17 July 1880 – 10 October 1967) was a British soldier and famous spy who was caught and convicted by the German authorities just a few years before World War I. In 1913 he was released as a present to Ernest Augustus the Duke of Brunswick when Augustus married the German Kaiser's daughter, Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia.[2]
Background[edit]
Trench was a descendant of Lord Ashtown and of Archbishop Trench.[3]
Career[edit]
Trench was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Royal Marine Light Infantry on 1 January 1899, and promoted to lieutenant on 1 January 1900.[4]
Captain Trench was arrested and went to trial with another man, Lieutenant Vivian R. Brandon R.N., who had been arrested a few days earlier.[3] Trench had other accomplices on his mission to scout out information about the military installations on the island of Borkum but was the only person arrested from his spy ring.[1][5] He was an agent of the spymaster and future first director of what would become the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), also known as MI6, Mansfield Smith-Cumming.[6] Trench's codename was COUNTERSCRAP.[6]
Trench and Brandon's trial took place at the Leipzig Supreme Court in the so-called Great Court of the Reichsgericht on 22 December 1910.[3] Convicted of espionage they were both sentenced to a term of four years.[3]
During his imprisonment, Trench hanged himself from the ceiling by his neck but survived.[7] In letters, he claimed that he did not intend to commit suicide or escape. Trench's letters, however, condemned Captain Lux, a French officer who escaped from the fortress during Trench's imprisonment. Trench complained that the lax security at the fort was possible because of a promise from the prisoners not to attempt to break out.[7]
Captain Trench and another British subject caught spying, Captain Bertrand Stewart, were pardoned and released by the German Kaiser as a present to Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick when Augustus married the Kaiser's daughter, Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia.[2] (They married on 24 May 1913).
He fought in the Second World War and married Mary Audrey Taylor, daughter of Reverend Robert Fetzer Taylor, on 8 September 1943.[8]
Notes[edit]
- ^ a b The New York Times 1910
- ^ a b Emmerson 2013, p. 13
- ^ a b c d GlobalSecurity.org 2014
- ^ "No. 27170". The London Gazette. 2 March 1900. p. 1433.
- ^ Reader 1991, p. 70
- ^ a b West 2006, p. 37
- ^ a b The West Australian 1912
- ^ thepeerage.com 2004
References[edit]
- Emmerson, Charles (2013). 1913: The World before the Great War (2013 ed.). Random House. ISBN 9781448137329. - Total pages: 544
- GlobalSecurity.org (2014). "Borkum". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
- Reader, W. J. (1991). At Duty's Call: A Study in Obsolete Patriotism (1991 ed.). Manchester University Press. ISBN 9780719024092. - Total pages: 160
- The New York Times (22 December 1910). "Britons Admit Spying.; Trial of Capt. Trench and Lieut. Brandon Is Begun In Germany" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
- The West Australian (19 January 1912). "Captain Trench's Case". The West Australian. Perth, WA. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
- West, Nigel (2006). Historical Dictionary of International Intelligence (2006 ed.). Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810864931. - Total pages: 360
- thepeerage.com (7 February 2004). "Person Page - 3352". thepeerage.com. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
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