Judy Middleton 2020
 |
| copyright
© D. Sharp 6 Walsingham Road, the former nursing home where Sir Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart lived in 1970. |
Although there was no actual planning for the Lockhart Plot at Hove, it is a fascinating footnote to a turbulent time in history that Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart, who was involved in the plot, his only son Robin Bruce Lockhart and Ivy Litvinov all later lived at Hove; as a further twist, Leon Trotsky was denied entry to Britain by Joseph Robert Clynes, Home Secretary (1929-1931) in the second Labour Government, who once lived in Western Esplanade (Millionaire’s Row). In addition, another future Hove resident, Bernard Falk, was sent to Russia as a reporter in 1918.
 |
| copyright
© National Portrait Gallery, London Sir Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart by Walter Stoneham, February 1943 NPGx87158 |
He was born in Anstruther, Fife,
and liked to boast that he did not posses a drop of English blood. He
was certainly not a tall Scotsman, being 5-ft 7-in tall, and his ears
stuck out, but he had no difficulty in attracting the ladies. After
leaving the University of Cambridge, he went to Berlin to learn
German. He had a great facility in learning languages, claiming
knowledge of six, including Malay and Russian, which he spoke without
an accent. He was also fond of fishing, played football in Moscow for
the famous Motozovski team, and enjoyed art, the theatre, poetry and
literature; before becoming a career diplomat, he was a rubber
planter in Malaya.
In January 1918 in a Lyons Corner House in London four men met for lunch, two Russians and two British. It was there that Maxim Litvinov wrote a letter in graceful Cyrillic characters addressed to Citizen Trotsky introducing Lockhart, suggesting that he might be useful to their cause. Lockhart was still only aged 31 but he had already gained some experience of Russia when he was sent there in 1911 as a Vice-Council. This time his role was undefined because the Russian Revolution had severed ties between the two countries.
At the outset Lockhart was sympathetic to the Bolshevik cause, and he thought that links between the new regime and Britain would be beneficial. But Whitehall thought otherwise because the First World War was by no means over, and although the Russians had signed a treaty and stopped fighting, the British wanted to encourage the establishment of an Eastern Front to ease pressure on the Western Front. This would involve a liaison with White Russians and counter revolutionaries in order to topple the government. It is sometimes forgotten how tenuous the Bolshevik’s hold on power was at that early stage. However, although thousands of roubles were poured into the project, there was never going to be a large enough military presence from Britain to make it a success. Then Lockhart changed tack completely and worked with the counter-revolutionaries. The question as to why Lockhart should have changed his stance has not been answered. Perhaps he retained residual sympathy for the Bolsheviks. In retrospect, his first instincts would have been more productive in the long run because Russia never forgave her erstwhile World War allies their intervention in Russia’s internal affairs.
Into this cauldron of various factions, stepped the infamous Ace of Spies, Sidney Reilly, not to mention Arthur Ransome whose name conjures up a cuddly image of the author of Swallows and Amazons. When Lockhart first met Reilly he wrote in his diary that he was either mad or a crook. Lockhart already knew Ransome from his previous time in Russia. The whole story of the Lockhart Plot is far more complicated than any spy thriller, with trusted agents turning out to be counter spies. Within this atmosphere Lockhart was also conducting a passionate affair with the beautiful Moura von Benckendorff, although both were married. For her, Bruce was the love of her life, and she miscarried his baby while in prison, but she still dreamed of a life together afterwards. Lockhart was equally smitten while he was still in Russia, but after he left, he cooled, and it was not the first time he had abandoned a lover. They did meet afterwards in England, but of course it was on a different footing. Her love for Lockhart is not in doubt but who she actually worked for is still a mystery because so much material has been destroyed, redacted or lost.
As for the Lockhart Plot, things were going well, and an uprising was anticipated within one week. But on 30 August 1918, fate intervened in the shape of Fanya Kaplan who sent three bullets hurtling towards Lenin; one bullet went through his coat and hit a nearby woman, but the other bullets struck home, one passed through his neck and lung, and the other stayed in his shoulder. Lenin was not killed, but it caused panic in the Bolshevik camp, and the Red Terror ensued. Reilly managed to escape, but the eight women working for him were not so fortunate; some claimed to be his wife but four were shot. Lockhart was arrested. Whitehall was anxious about what information the Bolsheviks might drag out of Lockhart – there had been no communication because the cypher had been broken, and nobody had any idea of what was going on. But quickly the British arrested Maxim Litvinov and his Russian assistants who were all in London, plus 25 Russian people who had been about to leave for Russia. A deal was arranged – the Russian prisoners would be released at the same time as Lockhart and other British officials were released.
Lockhart was devoted to the Czech people, and he was a personal friend of Jan Masaryk about whom he wrote a memoir. For a period of seventeen years Lockhart broadcast a weekly talk (in Czech) on the BBC World Service. In 1941 Lockhart was made Under-Secretary of State in the Foreign Office, and he was put in charge of the Political Warfare Executive. Lockhart also became a prolific author, and perhaps his best-remembered work was Memoirs of a British Agent published in 1932; it became a best seller and a classic of its kind. Other works include the following:
Retreat from Glory (1934) about Czechoslovakia
Return to Malaya (1936)
Guns or Butter (1938)
Comes the Reckoning (1948)
The Marines were There (1950)
My Europe (1952)
Giants Cast Long Shadows (1960)
In 1937 Lockhart and his wife Jean were divorced – they had been separated for many years. In 1942 he married Frances Mary Beck, his secretary; whether she liked it or not, Lockhart continued to see Moura when the occasion arose.
From March 1947 to December 1949 Lockhart lived at St Aubyns, Hove. Later on he moved to Ditchling to live with his son Robin. But in 1970 he moved into a nursing home at 6 Walsingham Road, Hove, where he died aged 82 on 27 February 1970. It is ironic that after so many dangerous episodes in his life, Lockhard managed to die peacefully of old age at Hove.
Robin Bruce Lockhart (1920-2008)
He was born after his father’s return from his dangerous exploits in Russia, and returned to his wife. Although they tried to patch up the relationship, it was not a success, and they parted. Like his father, Lockhart became involved in intelligence work and was also a journalist and author. During his time in Naval intelligence Lockhart happened to meet Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond books. Lockhart said of him, ‘I didn’t particularly like him. He was sharp and on the ball but a bit cynical.’ Strangely enough, after the Second World War, Lockhart became foreign manager of the Financial Times, while Fleming was foreign manager of the Sunday Times.
In the 1960s Lockhart wrote Reilly: Ace of Spies, about super agent Sidney Reilly who of course had worked with his father. A TV series based of Lockhart’s book ran from September 1983, and it cost £4.5 million to make. In December 1992 the book was re-issued to include new details that had become available.
Robin Lockhart took a great interest in jazz. It is fascinating to note that during the Second World War, and needing relaxation, he enjoyed playing the piano at a nightclub, which did not go down at all well with the mandarins at the Admiralty. Lockhart laid claim to discovering both George Melly and Ronnie Scott in the talent contest organised by the Express newspaper. In 1962 he left the world of newsprint and became a stock-broker instead.
In 1978 Lockhart moved to a flat in Adelaide Crescent, and he adorned the walls with some of his own surrealist paintings. He was married to the artist Ginette Bruce but the couple divorced in 1977; in fact he was married three times. In 1979 he shared his flat with a twelve-year old greyhound called Casey – greyhound racing being another of his interests. In fact he was a former chairman of Hove Greyhound Owners’ Association.
Lockhart became a Roman Catholic, and in 1985 he published Halfway to Heaven, the history and life of the Carthusians whom he visited at Parkminster, Sussex.
On 14 September 1992 at the age of 72 Lockhart was in the Patriotic Hall in Prague to receive on behalf of his father Czechoslovakia’s highest, and most prestigious medal. In 1948 his father had been due to receive an honorary doctorate from Prague University as well as the Freedom of the City, but there was a communist coup, and the event was cancelled. Lockhart died at Brighton on 8 February 2008.
 |
| copyright © NLA Northern Star (NSW) 27 October 1938 |
She was of Hungarian-Jewish descent but her mother was the daughter of a colonel in the Indian Army. Her maiden name was Ivy Low, and she was educated at Maida Vale High School. In 1915 at the age of 26 she met in Hampstead, Maxin Litvinov, aged nearly 40, a Russian political refugee. The couple married in 1916 with Michael being born in 1917, and Tanya following in 1918. Also in 1918 Litvinov was arrested as a prominent Bolshevik, along with other Russians, and used in exchange for Robert Bruce Lockhart, imprisoned in Russia.
Litvinov then became Deputy Commissar for Foreign Affairs, and on Stalin’s behalf, he went on a series of missions all over Europe. However, Litvinov was very fortunate to survive the purges, particularly since he was a Jew, while one of his deputies was shot. When Stalin dispensed with his services in 1939, he was allowed to continue living in much the same way as usual. This pleasant situation continued until 1944 when the Litvinovs found themselves right out of favour with the establishment. Even so, Maxin died of natural causes in 1951.
In 1972 Ivy Litvinov left Moscow and settled in Hove. Ivy was also an author, and she and her daughter Tanya worked on translating Russian works into English. Ivy died in April 1977. In The Times obituary (30 April 1977) it stated that ‘Madame Ivy Litvinov, the widow of Maxim Litvinov, the Russian statesman and diplomat, (was) the only Englishwoman in the whole history of the Soviet Union to have been closely (if often uncomfortably) associated with the top-ranking personnel of the Soviet regime.’
Sidney Reilly (1874-1925)
In 1998 when former secret government papers were released, it was evident that Reilly’s life really had been as incredible as he claimed. Reilly was born in Odessa on 24 March 1874. He believed he was Georgian and that his father was a colonel in the Russian Army, but his uncle later revealed that he was in fact the son of a Jewish doctor called Mark Rosenblum.
 |
| copyright © NLA The Sun (Sydney NSW) 4 October 1931 |
Reilly could speak more languages than Bruce Lockhart because his tally was ten. In addition he was not just a double agent, he was a quadruple agent. He spied for British intelligence providing them with valuable information, but at the same time he was also dispensing details to the Russians and the Japanese. In 1917 he joined the Canadian Royal Flying Corps, and was parachuted behind enemy lines. In 1918 he was involved in the Lockhart Plot. His private life was equally tangled because he entered into four marriages, three of them bigamous, while boasting he had enjoyed some 90 mistresses.
It was always thought that Reilly died under questioning in Moscow’s Lubianka prison, but it is now known that he was killed on 28 September 1925 near the village of Allekul, Russia, by OGPU troops, the military wing of the Communist Party. However, the latest book on the Lockhart Plot, describes Reilly’s time in the Lubianka and the relentless questioning until he finally offers to tell them all about British intelligence in exchange for his life. This offer was ignored, and according to Schneer he was shot on 5 November 1925 – there is no mention of the village.
Bernard Falk (1882-1961)
He was born in Manchester on 11 August, and later won a scholarship to Manchester Grammar School. He started his career in journalism at the age of sixteen but soon moved to London. The year 1918 provided him with the ‘most interesting and thrilling experience’ of his journalistic career. He was sent to the Far East as the special correspondent of the Daily Mail. Lord Northcliffe fully expected that the Eastern Front would soon be in existence once more, and that a large Japanese army would be in action shortly.
Falk had more adventures before returning to London. In Tokyo he tripped over a rickshaw and dislocated his arm; in Peking he was impressed by the figure of a tall, khakki-clad solitary Sikh on guard duty outside the British Legation; in Vladivostok he was introduced to William Gerhardie, then attached to the British Military Mission there, and also in Vladivostok he was pinned against a railway carriage while his pockets were rifled.
 |
| copyright
© D. Sharp Bernard Falk lived at 57, The Drive in 1937. |
Falk returned home with a jade Ming cup for his boss in his baggage. Falk found that he had been recalled in order to become the editor of the Sunday Dispatch, a post he held until 1931. He succeeded the celebrated Hannen Swaffer (the paper then being called the Weekly Dispatch) and in Falk’s opinion he was the wittiest of the editors. When a query arose over some ‘copy’ and it was suggested that the reporter concerned should be woken up, Swaffer remarked ‘Let lying dogs sleep’.
On one occasion Winston Churchill wrote an article for the Dispatch that Falk considered too long-winded and told him so. At first Churchill was annoyed, but later agreed that Falk had done him a service.
Falk also became an author, and his two volumes of autobiography were a great success. Other titles are as follows:
The Naked Lady (1934) about Adah Menken
Old Q’s Daughter (1937) about Maria Fagnani, wife of the 3rd Marquess of Hertford
The Berkeleys of Berkeley Square (1944)
Thomas Rowlandson (1947)
In later years Falk lived at 79 Hove Park Road. He had a great interest in books dating back to his old days in Manchester, and was a frequent visitor to Combridges, Church Road. When he died he left his collection of miniatures to the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Sources
Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
Falk,
B. He
Laughed in Fleet Street (1933,
revised 1937)
National Library of Australia
National Portrait Gallery, London
Schneer, J. The Lockhart Plot (2020) OUP
Copyright
© J.Middleton 2020
page
layout by D.Sharp