The Official Secrets Act 1911 ( 1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 28) was an act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

. It replaced the

Official Secrets Act 1889 The Official Secrets Act 1889 ( 52 & 53 Vict. c. 52) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It created offences of disclosure of information (section 1) and breach of official trust (section 2). The whole act was replaced in the ...

( 52 & 53 Vict. c. 52). The act was introduced in response to public alarm at reports of wide-scale espionage, some of them fomented by popular novels and plays that dramatized the threat, supposedly from Germany, at a time of a rapid naval expansion. Its provisions were extensive, with heavy penalties for any reporting or sketching of military, naval or air defence installations, or the harbouring of people suspected of gathering such intelligence. It was amended several times; most importantly the "catch-all" provisions contained in section 2 of the act were repealed and replaced by the

Official Secrets Act 1989 The Official Secrets Act 1989 (c. 6) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repeals and replaces section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911, thereby removing the public interest defence created by that section. Lord Bingham ...

. The act applied in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

, the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

, and in overseas crown territories and colonies. It also applied to

British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...

s anywhere else in the world. The whole act was repealed and replaced in 2023 by the

National Security Act 2023 The National Security Act 2023 (c. 32) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which introduced new measures intended to strengthen United Kingdom national security against espionage, interference in the political system, sabotage, a ...

. In the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

, the whole act was repealed by section 3 of the Official Secrets Act 1963.

Background

The act was passed during a febrile period of "spy fever" in the years leading up to the First World War, with widespread

anti-German sentiment Anti-German sentiment (also known as anti-Germanism, Germanophobia or Teutophobia) is fear or dislike of Germany, its Germans, people, and its Culture of Germany, culture. Its opposite is Germanophile, Germanophilia. Anti-German sentiment main ...

in Britain provoked by the

Anglo-German naval arms race The arms race between Great Britain and Germany that occurred from the last decade of the nineteenth century until the advent of World War I in 1914 was one of the intertwined causes of that conflict. While based in a bilateral relationship tha ...

and events such as the

Kruger telegram The Kruger telegram was a message sent by Kaiser Wilhelm II to Paul Kruger, president of the South African Republic, on 3 January 1896. It congratulated Kruger on repelling the Jameson Raid, a botched raid against the Republic carried out by Briti ...

and the

Agadir Crisis The Agadir Crisis, Agadir Incident, or Second Moroccan Crisis, was a brief crisis sparked by the deployment of a substantial force of French troops in the interior of Morocco in July 1911 and the deployment of the German gunboat to Agadir, ...

. These fuelled numerous press and literary accounts of imaginary German undercover activities, such as

William Le Queux William Tufnell Le Queux ( , ; 2 July 1864 – 13 October 1927) was an Anglo-French journalist and writer. He was also a diplomat (honorary consul for San Marino), a traveller (in Europe, the Balkans and North Africa), a flying buff who officiat ...

's 1909 book, ''Spies for the Kaiser. Plotting the downfall of England''. By the end of 1908, newspapers were receiving hundreds of fanciful letters detailing the activities of suspected German spies. For example, a letter in the ''

Morning Post ''The Morning Post'' was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by ''The Daily Telegraph''. History The paper was founded by John Bell. According to historian Robert Darnton, ''The Morning ...

'' in May 1907 claimed that there were 90,000 German reservists and spies in Britain, with weapons caches for them in every major city, whilst an article in the 1909 edition of ''

The Annual Register ''The Annual Register'' (originally subtitled "A View of the History, Politicks and Literature of the Year ...") is a long-established reference work, written and published each year, which records and analyses the year's major events, developmen ...

'' alleged that 50,000 Mauser rifles stored in a cellar near

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

were intended for the 66,000 German reservists rumoured to be in London. Invasion fiction also became extremely popular, with novels such as Erskine Childers' 1903 ''

The Riddle of the Sands ''The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service'' is a 1903 novel by Erskine Childers. The book, which enjoyed immense popularity in the years before World War I, is an early example of the espionage novel and was extremely influentia ...

'', Le Queux's '' The Invasion of 1910'' serialised by the

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

in 1906, and

Saki Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), popularly known by his pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirise Edwardian society and ...

's ''

When William Came ''When William Came: A Story of London Under the Hohenzollerns'' is a novel written by the British author Saki (the pseudonym of Hector Hugh Munro) and published in November 1913. It is set several years in what was then the future, after a war b ...

'' of 1913. The 1911 Agadir Crisis, in which the UK threatened war with Germany, was the final trigger for the government. In an atmosphere of widespread hysteria, it introduced the act in the House of Lords on 25 July 1911. The act was then rushed through Parliament, with little debate or opposition, passing through all of its stages in a single day, 18 August 1911, and receiving

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...

four days later on 22 August. The act, with its extremely wide-ranging powers, replaced the earlier

that had provided criminal sanctions only for breaches which could be shown to be contrary to the public interest. Section 1 of the act contained tough provisions against espionage, which were extended by a 1962

Law Lords Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

ruling to cover other activities such as sabotage and physical interference. Section 2 dealt with unauthorised disclosure of information held by servants of the State, making it a criminal offence to disclose ''any'' official information without lawful authority. It was only after nearly 80 years that the

replaced this provision in the 1911 act.

Section 1 - Penalties for spying

This section is very broadly drafted.

Section 1(1)

This subsection reads as amended: The words in square brackets were inserted by section 10 of, and the first schedule to, the

Official Secrets Act 1920 The Official Secrets Act 1920 ( 10 & 11 Geo. 5. c. 75) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act was repealed by and replaced with the National Security Act 2023 (c. 32). In the Republic of Ireland, the act was repealed by ...

. The words at the end of this subsection were repealed by section 11(2) of, and the first paragraph of the second schedule to, the

. They are replaced by section 8(1) of that act. "For any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State" See ''Chandler v. DPP''

964 Year 964 ( CMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events Byzantine Empire * Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Nikephoros II continues the reconquest of south-eastern Anatolia (modern Turkey). He recaptures Cyp ...

AC 763,

962 Year 962 ( CMLXII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * December – Arab–Byzantine wars – Sack of Aleppo: A Byzantine expeditionary force under General Nike ...

3 All ER 142, HL "Prohibited place", s. 1(1)(a) This expression is defined by section 3 of the act. "Enemy", s. 1(1)(b) and (c) The expression "enemy" includes a potential enemy. "Felony" See

Criminal Law Act 1967 The Criminal Law Act 1967 (c. 58) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made some major changes to English criminal law, as part of wider liberal reforms by the Labour government elected in 1966. Most of it is still in force. ...

, the

Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967 The Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967 (c. 18 (N.I.)) is an act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland. It makes similar provision to the Criminal Law Act 1967 for Northern Ireland. Section 2 This section was repealed barticle 90(2)of, and ...

, and section 8(1) of the

Evidence and presumptions See section 1(2) of this act and section 2 of the

Mode of trial

This is an

indictable-only offence In many common law jurisdictions (e.g. England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore), an indictable offence is an offence which can only be tried on an indictment after a preliminary hearing ...

Sentence

A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years. Examples Hillaire Barnett described sentences for espionage as "swingeing".

George Blake George Blake ( Behar; 11 November 1922 – 26 December 2020) was a Espionage, spy with Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union. He became a communist and decided to work for the Minist ...

was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 42 years after pleading guilty to five counts of unlawfully disclosing information contrary to section 1(1)(c).

Geoffrey Prime Geoffrey Arthur Prime (born 21 February 1938) is a former British spy who worked for the Royal Air Force as well as the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). While working for these organizations, Prime disclosed information to the Sovie ...

was sentenced to imprisonment for a total of 35 years for disclosing material while employed at GCHQ. Michael Bettany was sentenced to imprisonment for a total of 23 years. Michael Smith was sentenced to imprisonment for 20 years (reduced from 25 on appeal). History From 1911 to 1920, an offence under this section was punishable with

penal servitude Penal labour is a term for various kinds of forced labour that prisoners are required to perform, typically manual labour. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Forms of sentence involving penal labour have included inv ...

for any term not less than three years and not exceeding seven years.

Inchoate offences

See section 7 of the

Related offences

See section 6 of the

and section 5(6) of the

Section 1(2)

This subsection applies to prosecutions under section 1 of the

as it applies to prosecutions under section 1 of this act. It now reads: The words in square brackets were inserted by the Official Secrets Act 1920.

Section 2 - Wrongful communication, &c. of information

This section was repealed for the

on 1 March 1990. It has been replaced for the

by the

. Cases under this section *See Edgar Lansbury *The

Isis magazine Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

case. *''R v. Aitken, Cairns and another'' (1971) Unreported, Crown Ct. *''R v. Aubrey, Berry and Campbell'' (the

ABC trial ''R v Aubrey, Berry and Campbell'', better known as the ABC Trial, was a trial conducted in the United Kingdom in the 1970s, of three men for offences under the Official Secrets Act 1911. The men were two libertarian journalists of a similar ...

). *''R v. Tisdall'' (1984)

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

, 26 March 1984 (see

Sarah Tisdall Sarah Caroline Tisdall (born 1960 in Plymouth) is a former Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) clerical officer who was jailed for leaking British government documents to a newspaper in 1983. In 1983, the UK government agreed to base nuclear ...

). *''R v. Ponting''

985 Year 985 ( CMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Henry II (the Wrangler) is restored as duke of Bavaria by Empress Theophanu and her mother-in-law Adelaide at an ...

Crim LR 318, Crown Ct (see

Clive Ponting Clive Sheridan Ponting (13 April 1946 – 28 July 2020)Richard Norton-Taylor, "The Ponting Affair", Cecil Woolf, London, 1985, p. 14. was a senior British civil servant and historian. In 1984, he leaked classified documents about the sinkin ...

). Command papers on this section *Departmental Committee on Section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 (Cmnd. 5104) (1972) - the Franks Committee. *Reform of Section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 (Cmnd. 7285) (1978) *Reform of Section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 (Cm. 408) (June 1988)

Section 3 - Definition of prohibited place

The words in square brackets were inserted or substituted by the

. "ship" References in this Act, whatever their terms, to ships, vessels or boats or activities or places connected therewith are to be construed as including references to hovercraft and activities and places connected with hovercraft. "any place belonging to or used for the purposes of His Majesty", s.3(c)" For the purposes of section 3(c), a place belonging to or used for the purposes of the Civil Aviation Authority is deemed to be a place belonging to Her Majesty. For the purposes of section 3(c), any place belonging to or used for the purposes of the

United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). T ...

is deemed to be a place belonging to or used for the purposes of Her Majesty. For the purposes of section 3(c), every "site to which a permit applies" (within the meaning of paragraph 1 o
Schedule 1
to the Nuclear Installations Act 1965) is deemed to be a place belonging to or used for the purposes of Her Majesty. Places declared to be prohibited places under section 3(c) Each of the following places, being a site belonging to or used for the purposes of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, has, on the ground that information with respect thereto, or damage thereto, would be useful to an enemy, been declared to be a prohibited place for the purpose of this section: *The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority site at Harwell, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 0RA. *The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority site at Windscale, Seascale, Cumbria, CA20 1PF. Each of the following places, being a site to which a permit applies within the meaning of paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the Nuclear Installations Act 1965, has, on the ground that information with respect thereto, or damage thereto, would be useful to an enemy, been declared to be a prohibited place for the purpose of this section: *The British Nuclear Fuels plc site at Sellafield, Seascale, Cumbria, CA20 1PG. *The British Nuclear Fuels plc site at Capenhurst, near Chester, Cheshire, CH1 6ER. *The Urenco (Capenhurst) Limited site at Capenhurst, near Chester, Cheshire, CH1 6ER. Orders made under section 3(c)
The Official Secrets (Prohibited Place) Order 1955
(SI 1955/1497 (S. 136)) *The Official Secrets (Prohibited Places) Order 1975 (SI 1975/182)
The Official Secrets (Prohibited Places) (Amendment) Order 1993
(SI 1993/863)
The Official Secrets (Prohibited Places) Order 1994
(SI 1994/968) Electronic communications stations and offices Any electronic communications station or office belonging to, or occupied by, the provider of a public electronic communications service is a prohibited place for the purposes of this act.

History

From 1984 to 2003, any telecommunications station or office belonging to, or occupied by, a public telecommunications operator was a prohibited place for the purposes of this act.

Section 7 - Penalty for harbouring spies

Section 7 of the act provided: The words in square brackets were substituted for the words "wilfully refuses" by section 10 of, and the First Schedule to, the

. The words at the end of this subsection were repealed by section 11(2) of, and the first paragraph of the Second Schedule to, the

. They are replaced by section 8(1) of that Act. "Misdemeanour" See the

, the

and section 8(2) of the

. Sentence A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to a fine not exceeding the

prescribed sum The prescribed sum is the maximum fine that may be imposed on summary conviction of certain offences in the United Kingdom. In England and Wales and Northern Ireland, it is now equivalent to level 5 on the standard scale, which it predates. In Scotl ...

, or to both. History From 1911 to 1920, a person guilty of an offence under this section was liable to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding one year, or to a fine, or to both imprisonment and a fine.

Section 8 - Restriction on prosecution

Section 8 of the act provided that a prosecution for an offence under this act may only be instituted by, or with the consent of, the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

Section 9 - Search warrants

Section 9 of the act provided: The words "named therein" in square brackets in section 9(1) were repealed for England and Wales by section 119(2) of, and Part I of Schedule 7 to, the

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (c. 60) (PACE) is an act of Parliament which instituted a legislative framework for the powers of police officers in England and Wales to combat crime, and provided codes of practice for the exercise of t ...

. Section 9(1) was extended by section 11(3) of the

. "Oath", s.9(1) This expression includes affirmation and declaration.

Section 11- Saving for laws of British possessions

This section now provides: The words omitted were repealed by section 1(1) of, and Part XII of Schedule 1 to, the

Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1986 The Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1986 (c. 12) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This act was partly in force in Great Britain at the end of 2010. It implemented recommendations contained in the twelfth report on statute law rev ...

. The power conferred by this section has been exercised by the following Orders:
Official Secrets (Commonwealth of Australia) Order in Council 1915
( SR&O 1915/1199) (following passage of the

Crimes Act 1914 The ''Crimes Act 1914'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia which addresses the most serious federal offences — that is, crimes against the Commonwealth. It was the first major federal criminal law since the Federation of Austral ...

)
Official Secrets (Jersey) Order in Council 1952
(SI 1952/1034) (following passage of the Official Secrets (Jersey) Law 1952)

Section 13 - Short title and repeal

Section 13(2) repealed the

. It was repealed by the

Statute Law Revision Act 1927 The Statute Law Revision Act 1927 ( 17 & 18 Geo. 5. c. 42) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The enactments which were repealed (whether for the whole or any part of the United Kingdom) by the act were repealed so far as the ...

because it was spent by virtue of the

Interpretation Act 1889 The Interpretation Act 1889 ( 52 & 53 Vict. c. 63) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated enactments relating to statutory construction and provided definitions to shorten the language used in acts of Parliament. ...

(effect of repeal).

European Communities Act 1972

Section 11(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 must be construed and the Official Secrets Acts 1911 to 1939 have effect, as if that section were contained in this act but so that sections 10 and 11, except section 10(4), do not apply.The European Communities Act 1972, section 11(2), final paragraph.

Notes

References

Halsbury's Statutes ''Halsbury's Statutes of England and Wales'' (commonly referred to as ''Halsbury's Statutes'') provides updated texts of every Public General Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Measure of the Welsh Assembly, or Church of England Me ...

External links

The Official Secrets Act 1911
as amended, from the

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

.
The Official Secrets Act 1911
as originally enacted, from the

Parliamentary debates

{{Authority control United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1911 Repealed United Kingdom Acts of Parliament Classified information in the United Kingdom

Background

Section 1 - Penalties for spying

Section 1(1)

Mode of trial

Sentence

Inchoate offences

Related offences

Section 1(2)

Section 2 - Wrongful communication, &c. of information

Section 3 - Definition of prohibited place

History

Section 7 - Penalty for harbouring spies

Section 8 - Restriction on prosecution

Section 9 - Search warrants

Section 11- Saving for laws of British possessions

Section 13 - Short title and repeal

European Communities Act 1972

See also

Notes

References

External links

Parliamentary debates