MI6 spymaster Sir Mansfield Cumming loved dressing in disguise, racing his Rolls-Royce at hair-raising speeds through London, and writing his correspondence in green ink - in fact, he also had somewhat eccentric ideas about how WWI soldiers could create their own invisible ink.
The former Naval officer’s traditions carry on at MI6 even a century after his death in 1923, with Secret Intelligence Service chief Richard Moore telling the BBC that he adopted C’s green ink and trademark initial. "This is a tradition that dates back to the first 'C', not standing for Chief, by the way… It stands for Cumming, as in Mansfield Cumming.”
Bond, as in James Bond, would likely approve. It is believed that British 007 author Ian Fleming - a Naval officer himself - was sufficiently inspired by Cumming to create Bond’s boss 'M', brilliantly played over the years in the 007 franchise by Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, and John Huston.
In honor of C’s death a century ago on June 14, 1923, SPYSCAPE dug up five secrets about Britain’s favorite spymaster.
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MI6 spymaster Sir Mansfield Cumming loved dressing in disguise, racing his Rolls-Royce at hair-raising speeds through London, and writing his correspondence in green ink - in fact, he also had somewhat eccentric ideas about how WWI soldiers could create their own invisible ink.
The former Naval officer’s traditions carry on at MI6 even a century after his death in 1923, with Secret Intelligence Service chief Richard Moore telling the BBC that he adopted C’s green ink and trademark initial. "This is a tradition that dates back to the first 'C', not standing for Chief, by the way… It stands for Cumming, as in Mansfield Cumming.”
Bond, as in James Bond, would likely approve. It is believed that British 007 author Ian Fleming - a Naval officer himself - was sufficiently inspired by Cumming to create Bond’s boss 'M', brilliantly played over the years in the 007 franchise by Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, and John Huston.
In honor of C’s death a century ago on June 14, 1923, SPYSCAPE dug up five secrets about Britain’s favorite spymaster.
Cumming joined the Royal Navy at age 12 and rose to the rank of Flag Lieutenant
1. Cumming was a lovable eccentric
Cumming is remembered for his gold-rimmed monocle and eye for the ladies. He also loved gadgets, codes, practical jokes and was brimming with stories. Apparently, he like to take children for rides in his personal tank. He had a serious side, however, When his Rolls-Royce crashed in France in 1914, he reportedly had to amputate his own leg to help his son. Afterward, Cumming tested potential recruits by stabbing his wooden leg through his trousers with a paper-knife. If the applicant winced, C said: "Well, I'm afraid you won't do."
2. Cumming kept a pied à terre at MI6 HQ in London
Cumming was very much at home in MI6, where the HQ housed a flat for the spymaster and the walls held their share of secrets. The building appears in Daniel Craig’s No Time to Die and SPYSCAPE took a sneak peek inside when the founding home of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service was put on the market for £5.5m ($6.7m) in 2020. Cumming’s luxury digs were even bombproof. Building work during WWI was so vital to national security that parts of the building were reinforced with steel-encased timber beams and hardened flooring to protect it from Zeppelin raids - features that remain today.
3. Cumming’s master spies
Mansfield Cumming and Sidney Reilly, one of his first master spies, apparently enjoyed disguising themselves with items procured from London’s theater shops. Reilly, brilliantly portrayed by Sam Neill in Ace of Spies and the focus of a True Spies podcast, was a man of many names. Scotland Yard knew him as Sidney but in his native Ukraine, Reilly went by ‘Sigmund Rosenblum’. In Moscow, he was Comrade Relinsky, a Communist Party member and agent for the Cheka’s criminal investigation division, hiding among the enemy in plain sight.
4. He had very particular ideas about how intelligence officers should behave
According to Cumming, MI6 spies needed to act ethically: “He should be a gentleman, and a capable one, absolutely honest with considerable tact and at the same time force of character… experience shows that any amount of brilliance or low cunning will not make up for lack of scrupulous personal honesty. In the long run, it is only the honest man who can defeat the ruffian.”
5. Cumming suggested semen be used as invisible ink in WWI
According to his biographers, Cumming was so pleased to discover that semen made a good invisible ink that his officers adopted the motto: "Every man his own stylo." Fact-checking agencySnopes confirmed that the MI6 chief really was behind the rather unusual spy tradecraft.
Sir Mansfield George Smith-Cumming died in 1923, five years after WWI ended. His memory lives on.
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