Thirteen days after the confirmation of his commission as a second lieutenant in the RFC, Reilly’s name appears on a Canadian roster, dated 3 December 1917,20 of officers who would shortly be posted overseas. In Reilly’s case this meant England, where he arrived on a chilly New Year’s Day and booked into suite 32 at the Savoy Hotel,21 with lieutenants H.A. Kelly and M. Marks. After a week Kelly was posted to France and Marks to 39 Squadron in Shropshire. Reilly, though, ventured but a short distance to lodgings at 22 Ryder Street, St James.
On 13 January he met Maj. Scale, who had arrived in London from Petrograd on 9 January.22 Scale briefed him on the formalities that must be dispensed with before his application could be taken further. These formalities clearly included the submission of testimonials and supporting documentation, for on 19 January he wrote to Col. Byron at the War Office, as directed by Scale:
Sir,
I have the honour to present:
1. A letter from Mr Owens-Thurston, a director of Vickers Ltd.
2. The original and translation of a certificate issued to me by the General Quarter Master of the Russian Army.
3. I have seen Gen. Germonius, chief of the Russian Mission and he will be pleased to reply to any enquiry made about me.
4. May I also refer you to Maj. J.F.G. Strubell RFC (Room 240, Air Board Offices, Hotel Cecil. Tel. Regent 8000, ext. 1240), who is the officer who recruited me for the RFC in Canada, and who could give full information about my circumstances and standing in New York.
Trusting that the above may be sufficient for the purpose you have in view.
Attached, on Vickers headed notepaper, was the following testimoniaclass="underline"
To Whom it May Concern:
I have pleasure in stating that I have known Mr Sidney G. Reilly for thirteen years, and during that time I have had many opportunities of ascertaining his great abilities as a linguist. He was to my knowledge in Petrograd engaged in a great deal of Russian government business, and his knowledge of Russia always appeared to me to be extensive and accurate, and Russians of high official standing have testified to me as to the good work he did and his extensive knowledge of Russian affairs. I can only testify to his ability as a diplomatic businessman, whether the matter in hand is great or small, and during the thirteen years I have known Mr Reilly I have never heard anything disparaging to his character.
If Owens-Thurston had really never heard anything disparaging about Reilly he must have been one of the few who had not. On the other hand, the letter does dispel the view ventured by Richard Deacon that Reilly was the great adversary of Vickers. Whilst very much batting for Blohm & Voss, Reilly was careful to cultivate contacts and acquaintances wherever he could, particularly in rival firms such as Vickers.
The Russian military certificate Reilly enclosed was dated 8 August 1914 and issued by Maj.-Gen. Erdeli:
By order of the Chief of Staff of the Army, I request that the bearers of the present: the British subject Sidney George Reilly and the Russian subject I.T. Giratovsky be given assistance for the purpose of expeditious and unhindered passage over the frontier.
The above mentioned persons are commissioned by the Chief of the Artillery Department to acquire material and articles of armament for the needs of our Army.25
On 30 January SIS sent a standard enquiry form to MI5, with Reilly’s the only name listed:
Have you any objection to the following being employed by the Intelligence Department?
Sidney G. Reilly, RFC Club, Bruton Street and 22 Ryder Street, St James.26
On 2 February MI5 likewise responded to SIS on their standard form of clearance:
We have nothing recorded against the above. Nothing is known to the prejudice of any of the above by the police.27
There was one MI5 officer, however, who knew more than most about Reilly and would have been able to give chapter and verse about his mysterious background and clandestine activities – if only he had been able. Whether William Melville’s insight would have prejudiced Reilly’s application in any way was, by 2 February, of little or no consequence. Discharged from duty the previous September with kidney disease, Melville died in Bolingbroke Hospital, Battersea, on 1 February 1918,28 the day before the MI5 memo giving Reilly the all-clear was sent to SIS.
By March 1918, MI5’s investigation into Reilly’s background was making little headway.
As a result, an appointment was made for Reilly to attend an interview with C on 15 March at SIS headquarters. While MI5 found nothing detrimental on Reilly, C clearly felt that he needed to know more about the mysterious Mr Reilly. On 28 February he sent a telegram to the SIS station in New York,29 informing them of the task he had in mind for Reilly and asking for full particulars on his reputation and background. None of these enquiries would, of course, have been necessary if Reilly had been a known quantity.
At 10.00 a.m. on 4 March a cable was received at SIS Headquarters from Norman G. Thwaites (NG) in New York, replying to C’s enquiry:
With reference to your telegram No. 206 of the 28th; SYDNEY REILLY is a British subject married to a RUSSIAN JEWESS who has made money since the beginning of the war through influence with corrupted members of the Russian purchasing commissions. He is believed to have been in PORT ARTHUR in 1903 as a spy for Japan. We kept him under observation in 1916. We consider him untrustworthy and unsuitable to work suggested.
Not to be deterred by this damning reply, C sent another telegram to New York the following day seeking further clarification. In the meantime, MI5 were also asked to keep a tab on Reilly pending the progress of his application. On 9 March they reported that despite placing him under surveillance for three days, ‘nothing was discovered about his movements, owing to the fact that he usually moved about in taxis and it was nearly always impossible to get another cab’.31 Conjuring up visions of a Keystone Cops chase, the ‘tailers’ were reduced to catching buses to the destinations Reilly was thought to be heading for – usually the Savoy Hotel. On one occasion they did actually manage to hail down a cab, only to be told by the driver that Reilly’s cab had a more powerful engine and was not worth his while following!
MI5 received a wealth of reports on Reilly’s unsavoury past.
