Norman Baillie-Stewart

Baillie-Stewart's father was Lieutenant Colonel Cron Hope Baillie Wright (1875-1937) an officer in the British Indian Army who served in the 62nd Punjabis during the First World War.

His mother was from a family with a long tradition of military service.

His older brother, Eric Codrington Stewart Wright (1905-1987) also joined the army, and became a 2nd Lieutenant in the Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) in 1925.

Baillie-Stewart attended Bedford School and the Britannia Royal Naval College, before attending the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, under a cadet scholarship.

There, he served as an orderly to Prince Henry, a younger son of King George V.

Norman Baillie-Stewart (15 January 1909 – 7 June 1966) was a British army officer known as The Officer in the Tower when he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.

An active sympathiser of Nazi Germany, he took part in German-produced propaganda broadcasts and is known as one of the men associated with the nickname Lord Haw-Haw.

In January 1929, just before he graduated, he changed his surname from Wright to Baillie-Stewart, perhaps under the belief that he was looked down upon by more senior officers.

He graduated tenth in the order of merit and in February 1929 received a commission as a subaltern in the Seaforth Highlanders although he soon grew to dislike army life.

In 1929, Baillie-Stewart was posted to the Seaforth's Second Battalion in India.

In 1930, he saw active service on the North West Frontier, where he was reprimanded by his company commander for removing a native banner from an Afridi tribal graveyard, which aggravated tensions with local tribesmen.

He later replaced the banner on the orders of a senior officer.

A campaign medal was authorised for that campaign, but Baillie-Stewart did not receive it.

He returned to England in early 1931 after he had applied for transfer to the Royal Army Service Corps.

The court was told that Baillie-Stewart began to offend in 1931 when he met and fell in love with a German woman while he was holidaying in Germany.

He decided to become a German citizen and wrote a letter to the German Consul in London to offer his services.

Receiving no answer, he travelled to Berlin without permission to take leave, where he telephoned the German Foreign Ministry and demanded to talk to an English-speaker.

That resulted in him making contact with a Major Mueller under the Brandenburg Gate, where he agreed to spy for Germany.

Using the pretext of studying for Staff College examinations, he borrowed from the Aldershot Military Library specifications and photographs of an experimental tank, the Vickers A1E1 Independent, as well as a new automatic rifle and notes on the organisation of tank and armoured car units.

In August 1932, the British Security service, MI5, became aware that a man in Berlin, who claimed to be a British army officer, had attempted to gain an interview at the German War Office.

The British embassy in Berlin tentatively identified the man as Norman Baillie-Stuart.

An investigation was begun, in the hands of Major William Hinchley-Cooke of MI5.

Hinchley-Cook searched Baillie-Stuart's quarters and began intercepting his mail; this revealed his communications with a German contact.

During the Autumn of 1932, Baillie-Stuart made three weekend trips to the Netherlands, briefly meeting a German contact in Rotterdam each time, although MI-5 was initially unaware of this as they confined their investigation to intercepting his mail.

In November 1932, MI5 opened a letter to him containing £50 in £5 banknotes.

Baillie-Stuart replied with a letter to "Herr Obst" in Berlin.

A second letter to Baillie-Stuart in December contained £40 in £10 notes.

In January 1933, it was decided to confront Baillie-Stuart with the gathered evidence, and offer him the chance to quietly resign from the army in exchange for information about his contact in Germany.

He refused to do this and so was charged with offences against the Official Secrets Act.

He wrote a further letter to "Herr Obst" in Germany, describing he predicament, which he gave to his Adjutant to post.

However the adjutant instead gave it to Major Hinchley-Cooke.

On 20 March 1933, Baillie-Stuart was taken to the Tower of London, the authorities believed this was the least-open military establishment in London, and holding him there would help keep the matter out of the public eye.

He became was the last British subject to be held in the Tower as a proper prisoner, rather than as one awaiting transfer.

However this attempt at concealment backfired.

The story of Baillie-Stuart's arrest was revealed in the press by the well-known romance novelist Barbara Cartland (then working as a gossip columnist) who got the details from an acquaintance.

The story of an officer from a prestigious regiment, facing the unprecedented charges of espionage and held in the famous Tower of London quickly became a press sensation.

Baillie-Stewart's court-martial was held at Chelsea Barracks and began on 20 March.

There were ten charges under the Official Secrets Act for selling military secrets to a foreign power.

Baillie-West plead not-guilty to all charges.

Because Britain was not at war, he was not in danger of execution, but the ten charges against him carried a maximum sentence of 140 years in jail.