This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Vernon Kell is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
Major-General Sir Vernon George Waldegrave Kell, KBE (21 November 1873 – 27 March 1942) was the founder and first Director General (DG) of the British Security Service, otherwise known as MI5.
Kell was the son of Major Waldegrave Kell of the 38th Foot and his wife, Georgiana Augusta Konarska. She was daughter of a Polish émigré, Aleksander Konarski, a surgeon with the 1st Podhalian Rifle Regiment who had fought in the November Uprising and had been awarded the V.M. (Gold, 4th class) and his English wife.
After graduating from Sandhurst, Kell was commissioned into the South Staffordshire Regiment and fought in the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. As he could speak German, Italian, French and Polish with equal facility, he served and studied in China and Russia and subsequently learned to speak their respective languages.
While he served as an intelligence staff in Tientsin, he was also the foreign correspondent of the Daily Telegraph.
From 1902 to 1906 Kell was head of the German section of the War Office, eventually rising to the rank of staff captain. During World War I, Kell headed the MI5's section dealing with the Indian seditionist movement in Europe, called MI5(g). Among Nathan's officers worked ex-ICS officers Robert Nathan and HL Stephenson. 1 His worked at the time close to the Special Branch of the Scotland Yard headed by Basil Thomson, and was successful in tracing the works of Indian revolutionaries who worked along with the Germans during the war.2
He was removed from office by Winston Churchill during World War II, Kell was knighted for his services (KBE) shortly before his death.
While Director General of the British Security Service he was known as 'K'. 3
References
- ^ Popplewell 1995, p. 218
- ^ Popplewell 1995, p. 220
- ^ "MI5 FAQ's". MI5. Retrieved on 2008-10-28.
- Intelligence and Imperial Defence: British Intelligence and the Defence of the British Empire. Richard James Popplewell.1995
See also
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William Melville |
Director-General of MI5 1909–1940 |
Succeeded by Brigadier 'Jasper' Harker |
 |
This biographical article related to the British Army is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 28 October 2008, at 19:09.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Vernon Kell".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.