Captain Sir Mansfield G Smith-Cumming KCMG CB

Captain Sir Mansfield G Smith-Cumming KCMG CB
Title:Captain Sir
First name:Mansfield
Middle name(s):G
Surname:Smith-Cumming
Post-nominals:KCMG CB
Year elected:1907
Last year on list:1923
MembershipNaval
Born in 1839, Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming (often referred to as Sir Mansfield Cumming) was the first director of the Secret Intelligence Service, otherwise known as MI6. His initial C, which he signed in green ink, has been the acronym for the chief of the service ever since. The blue plaque in the picture was put up by English Heritage in Whitehall Place, London, in March 2015.

With his monocle and wooden leg, and his habit of driving his Rolls Royce at high speed through London, he was a well-known figure in society, although his work of recruiting and training agents to gather intelligence overseas remained strictly secret.  He created MI6 between 1909 and 1923 and, with it, many of the methods of 20th century espionage.

Fascinated by codes, gadgets, disguises and invisible inks, he was the first of many stranger-than-fiction characters who are reputed to have been the model for M in Ian Fleming's James Bond novels.  


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