Andrew Cook - To Kill Rasputin

The firm in Glasgow was also undergoing great changes at the end of the century. In 1898 his uncle Stephen of Alley and McLellan died, and his son, Stephen’s cousin Stephen Evans Alley (who was only twenty-six), took over his share of the business. McLellan retired in 1903 and Stephen Evans Alley absorbed a rival firm, starting to develop the Sentinel Steam Wagon in Glasgow: it would eventually be used in road vehicles as well as railway locomotives.

With the new regime came the inevitable family dispute.

I disagreed with my cousin as to commissions and started my own office in Westminster.

He also joined the Surrey Imperial Yeomanry, whose ‘A’ Squadron was conveniently close to Victoria Street in Pimlico. The following year, with the Russo-Japanese War in progress, he translated the Japanese sappers’ secret manual (obtained in Russian) into English for the War Office.

But there were business problems.

Whilst I was on my own I represented Hodgkinson, Stokers’ tyre lever which I had patented and started pushing, but… the business went wrong and I got into debt. For the time being, I had a partner who helped me and took over my affairs. I went abroad in order to repay my debts. 13

In 1910 he went to Russia for three years to help build the first heavy oil pipeline to the Black Sea. This was the period of the Caspian oil boom; the Nobels and the Rothschilds were backing the Russian endeavour to transport oil out of Baku, then part of the Tsar’s empire. Huge fields lay beneath the Caucasus, and Russian oil transported by Shell already accounted for about a third of the world’s production.

On the outbreak of war in 1914, having the rare advantage of being truly bilingual, Alley was recruited by the Military Intelligence Department and sent to Petrograd. On a brief period back in London on leave, he attended a Secret Service course in Russell Square where he was ‘taught the art of counter-espionage and many other things’ by former Scotland Yard Superintendent William Melville, by then MI5’s Chief Detective. Back in Petrograd as part of the British Intelligence Mission, he:

…collected a lot of suitable officers in Russia, all who really could speak the language, and popped them about to keep me informed as to what was happening. Folks at home were apparently not satisfied with the information they were getting and they sent out Sam Hoare.

At the outbreak of war Sir Samuel Hoare was a Conservative MP. He later recalled that in August 1914 he knew nothing of military matters and had no interest in them:

Army affairs I had particularly neglected. Never even a territorial… year by year I had sleepily heard the debates on Army Estimates. 14

Although initially commissioned in the (territorial) Norfolk Yeomanry, he had, at the end of 1914, been declared unfit for active service and faced the prospect of being invalided out of the army. During 1915 he was running a recruitment office in Norwich Cattle Market, growing increasing restive and depressed at his misfortune. He therefore sought to pull political strings and find himself a job on ‘one of the remoter fronts where an Englishman might still be required’. In February 1916 a friend at the War Office told him of a possible post in Petrograd. After taking a course of Russian lessons in Norwich, Hoare arranged, through his friends and contacts in government circles, an interview with ‘C’, Captain Mansfield Cumming, the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service:

I had expected to be put through an examination in the Russian language, and a questionnaire as to what I knew about Russian politics and the Russian army… instead, there were a few conventional words… a searching look and a nod to say that while it was not much of a job, I could have it if I wanted it. 15

The job firstly involved going out to Petrograd to review the working of the British Intelligence Mission there, which was then being run by Major C.J.M. Thornhill, and secondly to assess the effectiveness of the Russian blockade on trade with Germany. After undertaking the usual intelligence course, Hoare left London for Russia in March 1916 and eagerly set about his task. Although his verdict on Thornhill’s stewardship of the Mission was hardly a flattering one, it seems clear that he was completely unprepared for the inevitable consequences that would follow C’s receipt of his report. Not only did C decide to dismiss Thornhill as Head of the Mission, he chose Hoare to succeed him, granting him the rank of temporary lieutenant-colonel in recognition of his new posting.

Hoare’s appointment clearly created friction within the Intelligence Mission. It would seem that many of the officers under his command not only resented the appointment of a man who was seen as being responsible for the removal of the universally popular Thornhill, but more to the point was perceived as a politician with neither the military nor the intelligence expertise for the job in hand.

Alley, Thornhill’s second in command, was in many ways the obvious person to step into his shoes, but he was overlooked on this occasion, although he was to remain as deputy to Hoare. Perhaps he was considered rather a loose cannon. He had certainly offended the Ambassador, as a terse note dated 15 March 1915 indicates. It is an explanation, point by point, to a third party of an internal row. (It may well be, in view of the style, that the third party was C in England; it reads like a telegram.) He and a Captain Simpson had been hauled over the coals by Sir George Buchanan one Friday afternoon. ‘We were both rather hurt unsympathetic attitude which however caused us show extra deference. Ambassador requested me bring copy my instructions certain hour Saturday afternoon.’ He goes on:

d) Saturday I was several hours Russian War Office renewing acquaintance various officers expecting finish in time appointment; but Chief of General Staff suddenly fixed unexpected hour receive myself Major Ferguson clashing Embassy hour. Telephones temporarily out of order sent deferential letter fully explaining asking Ambassador if he would postpone appointment until later hour but leaving barely time ensure punctuality.

e)Interview Chief of General Staff closely followed by General Leontieff unavoidably kept us until few minutes past our appointment. This was less than 15 minutes appointment. Meanwhile greatest possible speed I fetched my instructions drove to Embassy.

f) Near Embassy caught sight Ambassador excitedly hailing from pavement. Sprang out and ran towards him. Without waiting to hear any expression of regret, loudly assailed me with great violence action and with imprecation. Starting apologise he cut me short exclaiming he did not care damn what I had to say. Asking what I should do with paper in my hand I obtained no comprehensible reply. Then with further strong language he upbraided me for chucking appointment with Ambassador for Chief of Staff. Then he turned his back on me and walked away.

If Alley was in any way put out by Hoare’s appointment, he never showed it. In fact, in another sense, the newcomer’s appointment was tantamount to giving him a free rein, because Hoare was not worldly enough to perceive the subtleties of which some of his staff were capable.

Major Stephen J. Alley MC, as he later became, gets just one mention in Hoare’s account of his year in Petrograd. Sir Samuel and Lady Hoare had a female cook who went berserk in their flat and held up Sir Samuel’s soldier-servant at knifepoint. Hoare was bedridden, at the time, with a fever. (Never a well man, he would live to be seventy-nine.) The Hoares gave the cook notice, but she refused to leave, as under wartime regulations she was entitled to do. They must get rid of her, but could only shudder and discuss legal action until Stephen Alley introduced a visitor: the local Police Commandant. The policeman, who in the nature of his work had grasped the principle of direct action, unceremoniously booted her out of the back door in return for a twenty-rouble note. Local understanding had its uses.