Mansfield Smith was born on 1st April 1859. After attending Dartmouth Royal Naval College, he served as sub-lieutenant in HMS Bellerophon. Smith saw action in the East Indies and was decorated for his role in the Egyptian campaign of 1882.

Smith suffered from poor health and in 1885 was placed on the retired list as "unfit for service". He married the extremely rich May Cumming and as part of the marriage settlement changed his name to Smith-Cumming.

In November 1898 Smith-Cumming was recruited by the foreign section of the Secret Service Bureau. This organization had responsibility for supplying intelligence to the Admiralty and to the War Office.

In 1907 Major Vernon Kell become Director of the Home Section of the Secret Service Bureau with responsibility of investigating espionage, sabotage and subversion within and without Britain. In 1911, a new section, headed by Smith Cumming became responsible for for secret operations outside Britain. Over the next few years he became known as 'C'.

During this period Smith-Cumming's main task was to collect evidence of German planning for a war against Britain. Without the resources to employ full-time agents, Smith-Cumming was unable to find any evidence of such a plan. His most important was Sidney Reilly based in St Petersburg.

Smith-Cumming had a reputation for fast driving and in 1914 was involved in a serious road accident in France. His son was killed and Smith-Cumming had to have a leg amputated.

Working closely with Vernon Kell of MI5 and Sir Basil Thomson of the Special Branch, Smith-Cumming helped to arrange on the outbreak of the First World War the arrest of 22 German agents. Eleven men were executed, as was Sir Roger Casement, who was found guilty of treason in 1916.

During the war Smith-Cumming's unit became known as MI6. Agents who worked for MI6 during the war included John Buchan and Somerset Maugham.

After the war the government cut back on expenditure on the Secret Service. As a result Smith-Cumming lost MI6 stations in Madrid, Lisbon, Zurich and Luxembourg.

Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming died in 1923.

 

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