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Alexander Joseph Patrick "Alec" Wilson (24 October 18934 April 1963) was an English writer, spy,
MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
officer, and
polygamist Polygamy (from Late Greek , "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, it is called polygyny. When a woman is married to more tha ...
. He wrote under the names Alexander Wilson, Geoffrey Spencer, Gregory Wilson, and Michael Chesney. After his death, his family discovered that he had been a serial polygamist, who had lied to many people. As of 2018, documents that could shed light on his activities remain classified as "sensitive" by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, under section 3(4) of the
Public Records Act 1958 The Public Records Act 1958 ( 6 & 7 Eliz. 2. c. 51) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom forming the main legislation governing public records in the United Kingdom. It established a cohesive regulatory framework for public records ...
. The effect of his deceptions on his wives and descendants were dramatised in the 2018 BBC
miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...
''
Mrs Wilson ''Mrs Wilson'' (formerly known as ''The Wilsons'') is a 2018 British historical drama serial, executive-produced by and starring Ruth Wilson. The actress plays her real-life grandmother, a widow who uncovers a mysterious and secret life followin ...
'', in which his granddaughter, actress
Ruth Wilson Ruth Wilson (born 13 January 1982) is an English actress. She has played the eponymous protagonist in ''Jane Eyre'' (2006), Alice Morgan in the BBC psychological crime drama '' Luther'' (2010–2013, 2019), Alison Lockhart in the Showtime dram ...
, portrayed her grandmother Alison (Wilson's third wife).


Early life

Wilson was born in
Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...
, the eldest son and second of four children of Alexander Wilson (1864–1919), from
Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...
,
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
, and Annie Marie (née O'Toole; 1865–1936), from
Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...
,
County Carlow County Carlow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county located in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region of Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Carlow is the List of Irish counties by area, second smallest and t ...
,
Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...
, who were married in 1886. Wilson's paternal grandfather, Hugh Wilson (1839–1870), was born in
Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...
,
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
, where he married Elizabeth Bracken (b. 1842) in 1863. Hugh helped found the Army Hospital Corps and participated in the
Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War or ''Arrow'' War, was fought between the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the United States against the Qing dynasty of China between 1856 and 1860. It was the second major ...
(1860) in China, consequently receiving the China War Medal. Hugh died at the age of 30–31 in 1870, and was buried in the grounds of
Netley Hospital The Royal Victoria Hospital or Netley Hospital was a large British Military Hospital, military hospital in Netley, near Southampton, Hampshire, England. Construction started in 1856 at the suggestion of Queen Victoria but its design caused some ...
, Hampshire. The couple had only one child, Alexander Wilson, Alec's father. Wilson's father had a 40-year career in the British Army, progressing from a 15-year-old bugler to a Lieutenant Colonel
Quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land army, armies, a quartermaster is an officer who supervises military logistics, logistics and requisitions, manages stores or barracks, and distri ...
in the
Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...
by the time he died in 1919. The elder Wilson served throughout the
Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...
, consequently receiving the Queen's South Africa and King's South Africa medals. He was
mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...
for managing and supplying hospital ships and trains from the Western Front during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. In 1918 he was responsible for all medical supplies to the British Army in Europe. He was buried on the
Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the districts of England, local government district of Borough ...
,
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
. In his childhood Alec Wilson's family followed his father to
Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...
,
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
,
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
and
Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
. Alec was educated at
St. Joseph's College, Hong Kong St. Joseph's College, also referred to by its acronym SJC, is an EMI schools, English medium Catholic all-boys Band 1 elite secondary education institution run by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in the Central Mid-Level ...
, a prestigious public school, and
St Boniface's Catholic College St Boniface's Catholic College is a secondary school for boys, under the direction and trustees of the Roman Catholic Community in the Plymouth area in the South West of England. Founded in 1856 as an independent boarding and day school for "you ...
in
Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...
, where he played amateur football.


First marriage and World War I

Wilson enlisted in the
Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty (United Kingdom), Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British ...
in 1914, at the start of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, according to a reference in a War Office document which also indicated that he had crashed his aircraft. In 1915 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the
Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and do ...
, escorting motor transports and supplies to France. He sustained disabling injuries to his knee and shrapnel wounds to the left side of his body which led to his being invalided out of the Army in 1917, and for which he was awarded the Silver War Badge. In March 1916 Alec married his first wife, Gladys Ellen Kellaway (1896–1981), in Lyndhurst,
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
. He tried to reenlist in 1917, but due to his medical record was unsuccessful. He joined the merchant navy in 1919, serving as a
purser A purser is the person on a ship principally responsible for the handling of money on board. On modern merchant ships, the purser is the officer responsible for all administration (including the ship's cargo and passenger manifests) and supply. ...
– first on a Scottish shipping line, then on a requisitioned German liner, SS ''Prinzessin'', which sailed from London to
Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
via South Africa, China and Japan. While working on the ''Prinzessin'', he was arrested and prosecuted, apparently for theft, in
Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
in September 1919, a day after his father's death. He received a six-month sentence of hard labour at
Oakalla Prison The Oakalla Prison Farm (also known as the Lower Mainland Regional Correctional Centre or LMRCC) was a model prison farm on of land next to Deer Lake, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinc ...
near
Burnaby, British Columbia Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard ...
. From 1920 to 1925 Alec and Gladys managed a touring repertory theatre company and lived in
Thame Thame is a market town and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England, about east of the city of Oxford and southwest of Aylesbury. It derives its name from the River Thame which flows along the north side of the town and forms part of the ...
, eastern
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
. In his romantic comic novel ''The Magnificent Hobo'' (1935), a touring theatrical company moves from town to town.


Second marriage and academic appointment

In 1925 Wilson answered an advertisement in ''
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 ...
'' for a position as Professor of English Literature at Islamia College at the
University of Punjab The University of the Punjab (UoP) is a public research university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 1882, its international influence has made it one of the most prestigious universities in South Asia; being the oldest and largest publ ...
in
Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...
(now part of Pakistan). Wilson was interviewed and appointed by the college's principal,
Abdullah Yusuf Ali Abdullah Yusuf Ali (; 14 April 1872 – 10 December 1953) was an Indian-British barrister who wrote a number of books about Islam, including an exegesis of the Qur'an. A supporter of the British war effort during World War I, Ali received the C ...
, an author and educator who translated the
Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
. Biographer Tim Crook discovered that Wilson had fabricated the credentials which led to his appointment. Wilson provided a portrait of Abdullah in his second novel, ''The Devil's Cocktail'' (1928), as principal of the fictional Sheranwalla College in Lahore. Leaving behind Gladys and his children, Adrian Wilson (b. 1917), Dennis B. Wilson (b. 1921), and Daphne Wilson (b. 1922), Wilson left for
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
in October 1925. En route to British India, Wilson met actress Dorothy Phyllis Wick (1893–1965) on the SS ''City of Nagpur'', bound from
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
to
Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...
. Wick was on a tour in the place of Dame
Sybil Thorndike Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson (24 October 18829 June 1976) was an English actress whose stage career lasted from 1904 to 1969. Trained in her youth as a concert pianist, Thorndike turned to the stage when a medical problem with her h ...
. Wilson married Dorothy in
Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...
some time in 1928, while he was still married to Gladys, his first wife. Although a public wedding ceremony apparently took place at the Sacred Heart Cathedral, Lahore, no certificate has been found to confirm that a formal marriage occurred. For a while the Wilsons made their home at 11 Mason Road in Lahore. Wilson travelled around the North-West Frontier and learned
Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
and
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
. He set up and led Islamia College's University Training Corps and was appointed an honorary Major in the
British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...
Reserve. At the time the all-Muslim college's students were a minority in Lahore. Sons of
Waziristan Waziristan (Persian language, Persian, Pashto, Ormuri, , ) is a mountainous region of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Waziristan region administratively splits among three districts: North Waziristan, Lower South Waziristan Dis ...
Chiefs and farmers from the North West Frontier received training here for the British Indian Army. Wilson succeeded Yusuf Ali as ninth principal of Islamia College in November 1927 and resigned in March 1931. In his 1939 application to join the Emergency War Officers' Reserve, Wilson claimed that he had been the editor of a daily newspaper in Lahore between 1931 and 1934. He also stated that he'd spent time in Arabia,
Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
, and
Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
. Crook suggests that Wilson's role at Islamia College may have been a cover for work conducted on behalf of British intelligence agencies as a recruiter and informant. Crook maintains that Yusuf Ali had connections with intelligence work. The Soviet
Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...
was active in subversion and insurrection, and the British authorities were combating an increasing number of terrorist plots and assassinations between 1928 and 1932. Tensions were raised by hunger strikes and the Lahore Conspiracy Case, during which pro-independence activists died and others were sentenced to death.


Writing career

While in Lahore, Wilson began writing spy novels and received his first contract for ''The Mystery of Tunnel 51'' from Longmans, Green & Co. in 1927. ''Tunnel 51'' and eight subsequent novels featured the struggle of Sir Leonard Wallace, his intelligence officers and his agents against terrorism and subversion in the British Empire, the influence of the Soviet Union, the tentacles of global organised crime, and Nazi Germany. The Wallace character appears to be closely based on the first " C" (chief, or director) of MI6,
Mansfield Smith-Cumming Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Sir Mansfield George Smith-Cumming (1 April 1859 – 14 June 1923) was a British naval officer who served as the first Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). Orig ...
. There is no documentary evidence that Wilson had any connections at this time with
MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
(the Secret Intelligence Service),
MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...
(the Security Service), IPI (the Indian Political Intelligence in London), or the Indian Intelligence Bureau in Delhi. But his Wallace shared with Smith-Cumming a wooden limb, grey eyes, and "a wife whose forename began with 'M' ". In addition, Wilson published two crime thrillers, ''Murder Mansion'' (1929) and ''The Death of Dr. Whitelaw'' (1930). From 1933 Wilson's publisher was Herbert Jenkins, and his novels included titles in the Sir Leonard Wallace series and others in the crime, romance, comedy and thriller genres. Apart from books that he wrote under his own name, he also published under three pseudonyms. In 1933 ''Confessions of a Scoundrel'' was published under the pseudonym "Geoffrey Spencer" — the surname used by Smith-Cumming when he rented MI6's headquarters at 2 Whitehall Court. As "Gregory Wilson" Alec wrote ''The Factory Mystery'' and ''The Boxing Mystery'' for The Modern Publishing Company in 1938. Between 1938 and 1939, as "Michael Chesney", he wrote a trilogy of spy novels of imperial adventure that featured Colonel Geoffrey Callaghan, Chief of Military Intelligence as central character: ''Callaghan of Intelligence'', ''"Steel" Callaghan'', and ''Callaghan Meets His Fate''. What appear to be his last two novels, ''Chronicles of the Secret Service'' and ''Double Masquerade'', were published by Herbert Jenkins in 1940. Wilson wrote "forceful, exciting, thrilling, vibrant, vivid, intriguing, daring" stories, according to reviewers in ''
The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...
'', ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'', ''
The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...
'' and ''
The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
''. In January 1940 ''The Observer'''s reviewer, Maurice Richardson, said ''Wallace Intervenes'' "is another spy story featuring Hitler in person, if not name. This time he is kidnapped, put in a trunk, and successfully impersonated by Sir Leonard Wallace, Chief of the Intelligence Service. This comes at the end of an exciting love-duel in which one of our younger agents has to seduce a beautiful Austrian Baroness, who fortunately turns out to be on our side all the time". In 2015–16
Allison & Busby Allison & Busby (A & B) is a publishing house based in London established by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher. Background Launching as a publishing company in Ma ...
re-published nine of Wilson's ''Wallace of the Secret Service'' novels. In total, Wilson wrote and published 24 novels and edited three academic books, aside from four unpublished manuscripts.


Third marriage and World War II intelligence work

A pregnant Dorothy Wilson returned to England in 1933, where her son, Michael Chesney, was born in
Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...
. The birth certificate listed the father as Alexander Douglas Chesney Wilson, a
Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...
with the
Middlesex Regiment The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), in 1881 as part of the Childers Re ...
. Crook's research in the Middlesex Regiment's archives did not find a Major by that name. And the only photograph that Michael had of Alec Wilson showed him wearing the uniform of an
Officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...
in one of the
Punjab Regiment Punjab Regiment may refer to the following existing units: *Punjab Regiment (India) *Punjab Regiment (Pakistan) From 1922 to 1947, the British Indian Army included 6 numbered Punjab Regiments: *1st Punjab Regiment * 2nd Punjab Regiment *8th Punj ...
s of the
British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...
. Alec arrived in London in 1934, but left Dorothy and their baby son and returned to Gladys, his first and still-legitimate wife and his family, who now lived in
Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
. He stayed with Gladys for only 18 months. After a falling out over finances with Gladys' Aunt Ruth, Alec moved back to London in 1935 to live with Dorothy and Michael. He told Gladys that he would find a place for them all to live. Instead, he and Dorothy lived in
Little Venice Little Venice is an affluent residential district in North West London, England, around the junction of the Paddington Arm, Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, the Regent's Canal, and the entrance to Paddington Basin. The junction, also k ...
. Michael later suspected that his father had been involved in intelligence activities as an agent in the 1920s and 1930s. He remembered seeing his father meet
Joachim von Ribbentrop Ulrich Friedrich-Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German Nazi politician and diplomat who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. ...
at the German Embassy in
Carlton House Terrace Carlton House Terrace is a street in the St James's district of the City of Westminster in London. Its principal architectural feature is a pair of terraces, the Western and Eastern terraces, of white stucco-faced houses on the south side of ...
in London in the spring of 1938, and recalled other meetings with men with whom his father spoke fluent German. A letter written by Dorothy in 1936 mentions that Alec intended to travel to Spain during that country's civil war. Bankruptcy forced Alec to move with Dorothy and Michael to Yorkshire in 1940. In 1941 Alec finally left Dorothy, departing in uniform on a train after kissing his son Michael goodbye for the last time. By 1940 Wilson was working as a translator for Secret Intelligence Service (then MI6) in Section X, which conducted communications surveillance of embassies. There he met Alison Mary McKelvie (1920–2005), a secretary for the Service. When her apartment became uninhabitable during a German bombing raid on London, she moved in with him. In 1941 Wilson married Alison, who became his third wife. Although he had shown her a divorce certificate, it was later found to have been falsified. Wilson was almost 30 years older than Alison. They had two sons: Gordon Wilson (b. 1942) and Nigel Wilson (b. 1944). In 1942 a maternal uncle told Dorothy's son, Michael, aged nine, that Alec had been killed in the
Battle of El Alamein There were two Battles of El Alamein in World War II, both fought in 1942. The battles occurred during the North African campaign in Egypt, in and around an area named after a railway stop called El Alamein. * First Battle of El Alamein: 1–27 ...
. But Wilson was living with Alison in London at the time. While a Lieutenant Colonel Wilson, who had served with the Punjab Regiment, is listed as killed at El Alamein by artillery fire, his photograph and personal history is not that of Alec Wilson. Foreign Office files released to
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 ...
at
Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is ...
in May 2013 confirmed that a translator of Hindustani, Persian and Arabic had joined the SIS in October 1939 and had been forced to resign in October 1942. Although the translator's name is redacted, it is likely to be Alexander Wilson, since the details disclosed match those included in the first part of a memoir, written by Alison Wilson for her two sons, and quoted in Crook's 2010 biography of Wilson. The Foreign Office documents included a 1943 file marked "The Case of the Egyptian Ambassador", an MI5 investigation into alleged espionage by ambassador Hassan Nachat Pasha and his staff in London from the beginning of the war. The documents reveal that the SIS/MI6 translator, presumably Wilson, was accused of embellishing translations of intercepted telephone calls to and from the Embassy. The agent investigating Wilson's translations, Alex Kellar, was later found to have been working for the
KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole" * Golden mole, southern African mammals * Marsupial mole Marsupial moles, the Notoryctidae family, are two species of highly specialized marsupial mammals that are found i ...
at MI5,
Anthony Blunt Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), (formerly styled Sir Anthony Blunt from 1956 until November 1979), was a leading British art historian and a Soviet spy. Blunt was a professor of art history at the University ...
. A report noted that the translator had faked a burglary at his flat and had been in serious trouble with the police. In one of the 1943 documents, MI5's Director General, Brigadier Sir David Petrie, states that the fact Wilson was no longer in the service was "...perhaps some small compensation for the amount of trouble to which his inventive mind has put us all. A fabricator, such as this man was, is a great public danger". Then-Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, Sir
Stewart Menzies Major General Sir Stewart Graham Menzies, (; 30 January 1890 – 29 May 1968) was Chief of MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), from 1939 to 1952, during and after the Second World War. Early life, family Stewart Graham Menzies ...
, wrote: "I do not think it at all likely that we shall again have the bad luck to strike a man who combines a blameless record, first-rate linguistic abilities, remarkable gifts as a writer of fiction, and no sense of responsibility in using them!" Crook believes that Wilson could have been the victim of an attempt by Blunt to discredit MI6. Wilson may have faked the burglary to hide from Alison that he'd sold her jewellery to buy antibiotics to treat her post-natal infections. Alison Wilson reported in her memoirs that the police had not investigated the alleged burglary, nor did she recall that Wilson had been in trouble with the police as a result. Crook proposes that the British government took steps to prevent Wilson from "obtaining any kind of official or responsible employment" ever again, ending his publishing career and plunging him and his families into poverty. In 1942 Wilson told Alison that MI6 had decided he should go into the field as an agent. He said his subsequent misadventures, including being declared bankrupt, though never discharged, and being jailed for petty theft, were part of the cover he had to adopt for operational reasons. In January 1944 ''The Times of London'' carried a notice declaring Alex Wilson bankrupt. At this time, he lived in
Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...
. After his dismissal, Wilson worked in cinema management until 1948, when he was prosecuted at Marylebone Police Court and received a three-month jail sentence for embezzling funds from a
Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...
cinema. It was his second appearance before the court, having been prosecuted and fined in 1944 for allegedly posing as an Indian Army colonel and "wearing false decorations". Wilson said that the Hampstead sentence was to enable him to monitor
fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
groups in
Brixton prison HM Prison Brixton is a Category C training establishment men's prison, located in Brixton area of the London Borough of Lambeth, in inner- South London. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Before 2012, it was used as a loca ...
.


Fourth marriage and post-World War II work

By the mid-1950s Wilson was working as a hospital porter in a casualty unit in West London, when he met and, in 1955, married a nurse, Elizabeth Hill (1921–2010), with whom he had a son, Douglas Wilson, that same year. In later years Wilson continued to pretend to work at the Foreign Office while actually working as a clerk at a wallpaper factory. After Elizabeth moved to Scotland with Douglas in 1957, Wilson again lived with Alison. On 4 April 1963, aged 69, Wilson died of a heart attack in
Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...
, and was buried in Milton Cemetery,
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
. His tombstone notes that he was "also known as Alexander Douglas Gordon Chesney Wilson", describes him as an "author and patriot", and quotes Shakespeare's ''
Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...
'': "He loved not wisely but too well". The monument is feet away from the grave of fellow MI6 agent Commander
Lionel Crabb Lieutenant commander (Royal Navy), Lieutenant-Commander Lionel Kenneth Phillip Crabb, (28 January 1909 – presumed dead 19 April 1956), known as Buster Crabb, was a Royal Navy frogman and diver who Missing person, vanished during a reconnaiss ...
.


Uncovering Wilson's parallel lives

Wilson never divorced any of his wives, "instead keeping the women ignorant of each other's existence as he juggled his many separate lives and parallel families." One way he avoided detection was "by changing his middle name on marriage certificates". Her husband's multiple marriages came to Alison Wilson's notice only after Alec's death in 1963, when she discovered from his papers that his first wife was Gladys. Alison telephoned Gladys to inform her of Alec's death and of his other family. Dennis Wilson said that they thought the call had come from Alec's landlady. Alison asked Gladys to pretend to be Alec's relative at his funeral, so as not to upset Alison's sons, Gordon and Nigel. As a result, neither Gordon, Nigel, nor Daphne knew about one another or about their father's bigamy. Alison never found out that her husband was also married to Dorothy and Elizabeth. Alison Wilson wrote a two-part memoir in an attempt to make sense of her husband's deceptions, lamenting that "he had not only died, he had evaporated into nothing." Her grandchildren were allowed to read her memoir only shortly before her death. All of Alec's wives kept his secrets, maintaining the image of him as a heroic figure for the sake of his children. In 2005, Wilson and Dorothy's son, Michael (then aged 73), asked his son's friend, journalist and academic Tim Crook, to investigate his father's life. An actor and poet, Michael had changed his name by
deed poll A deed poll (plural: deeds poll) is a legal document binding on a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an intention or create an obligation. It is a deed, and not a contract, because it binds only one party. Etymology Th ...
to Mike Shannon. Crook spent six years on the project, publishing the results in a 2010 book entitled ''The Secret Lives of a Secret Agent: the Mysterious Life and Times of Alexander Wilson''. Crook uncovered Wilson's marriage to Gladys, whose son Dennis told him about the funeral arrangements, and so revealed the marriage to Alison. Alison's sons told him that they had been contacted by Elizabeth's son, Douglas Ansdell, and so had discovered Alec's fourth wife. Crook concludes that Wilson's spy novels reveal details of intelligence work so precise as to indicate first-hand experience. Wilson may have been encouraged to write them by the intelligence services to portray themselves as all-powerful, Crook says. And the lack of evidence about Wilson's life may be due to an intelligence operation meant to expunge all traces of him from public records, Crook told a reporter. All of Alec Wilson's surviving offspring with their families, 28 persons in all, met for the first time in December 2007 in Hampshire. Each of Alec's children wore a badge indicating who their parents were. Since that first meeting the extended family has tried to meet regularly. Actress
Ruth Wilson Ruth Wilson (born 13 January 1982) is an English actress. She has played the eponymous protagonist in ''Jane Eyre'' (2006), Alice Morgan in the BBC psychological crime drama '' Luther'' (2010–2013, 2019), Alison Lockhart in the Showtime dram ...
, daughter of Nigel, is one of Alec's grandchildren, and discovered that the children of Mike Shannon were also professionals working in playwriting, filmmaking and drama education. Ruth's brother, Sam Wilson, a senior BBC journalist, wrote an article in ''
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 ...
'' in 2010 that explored the impact of Alexander Wilson's complicated private life on his various families.


''Mrs Wilson''

Crook's book on Wilson and his numerous articles inspired the production of the BBC's 2018 three-part drama ''
Mrs Wilson ''Mrs Wilson'' (formerly known as ''The Wilsons'') is a 2018 British historical drama serial, executive-produced by and starring Ruth Wilson. The actress plays her real-life grandmother, a widow who uncovers a mysterious and secret life followin ...
'', starring
Iain Glen Iain Alan Sutherland Glen (born 24 June 1961) is a Scottish actor. He has appeared as Dr. Alexander Isaacs/Tyrant in three films of the Resident Evil (film series), ''Resident Evil'' film series (2004–2016) and as Ser Jorah Mormont, Jorah Morm ...
as Alec Wilson.
Ruth Wilson Ruth Wilson (born 13 January 1982) is an English actress. She has played the eponymous protagonist in ''Jane Eyre'' (2006), Alice Morgan in the BBC psychological crime drama '' Luther'' (2010–2013, 2019), Alison Lockhart in the Showtime dram ...
, daughter of Nigel Wilson, portrayed her own grandmother, Alison Wilson, and was also an executive producer. ''Mrs Wilson'' was nominated in three categories (mini-series, leading actress, supporting actress) for the 2019
Bafta The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
TV awards.


Descendants

Wilson had seven children with his four wives in sequence as in the table below:


Books by Alexander Wilson

Wilson wrote and published 24 novels: * 1928
''The Mystery of Tunnel 51''
London:
Longmans Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publishing company founded in 1724 in London, England, which is owned by Pearson PLC. Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman brand is ...
, Green and Co. * 1928
''The Devil's Cocktail''
Longmans, Green and Co. * 1929: ''Murder Mansion''. Longmans, Green and Co. * 1930: ''The Death of Dr. Whitelaw''. Longmans, Green and Co. * 1933: ''The Confessions of a Scoundrel'' (as "Geoffrey Spencer".) T. Werner Laurie. * 1933: ''The Crimson Dacoit''. Herbert Jenkins. * 1933
''Wallace of the Secret Service''
Herbert Jenkins. * 1934
''Get Wallace!''
Herbert Jenkins. * 1934: ''The Sentimental Crook''. Herbert Jenkins. * 1935: ''The Magnificent Hobo''. Herbert Jenkins. * 1936
''His Excellency, Governor Wallace''
Herbert Jenkins. * 1937
''Microbes of Power''
Herbert Jenkins. * 1937: ''Mr Justice''. Herbert Jenkins. * 1937: ''Double Events''. Herbert Jenkins. * 1938
''Wallace At Bay''
Herbert Jenkins. * 1938: ''The Factory Mystery'' (as "Gregory Wilson".) Modern Publishing Company. * 1938: ''The Boxing Mystery'' (as "Gregory Wilson".) Modern Publishing Company. * 1938: ''Callaghan of Intelligence'' (as "Michael Chesney"). Herbert Jenkins. * 1939
''Wallace Intervenes''
Herbert Jenkins. * 1939: ''Scapegoats for Murder''. Herbert Jenkins. * 1939: ''"Steel" Callaghan'' (as "Michael Chesney".) Herbert Jenkins. * 1939: ''Callaghan Meets His Fate'' (as "Michael Chesney".) Herbert Jenkins. * 1940
''Chronicles of the Secret Service''
Herbert Jenkins. * 1940: ''Double Masquerade''. Herbert Jenkins. Wilson also edited three academic books: * 1926: ''Selected English Prose Stories for Indian Students'' (co-edited with Mohammad Din). Shamsher Singh & Co. * 1928: ''Four Periods of Essays''. Rai Sahib M Gulab Singh & Sons. * 1930: ''Selected English Essays.'' Uttar Chand Kapur & Sons. A further four of his manuscripts remain unpublished: * ''Murder in Duplicate'' (as AJP Wilson). * ''The Englishman from Texas''. * ''Out of the Land of Egypt'' (ca. 1958, as Col. Alan C. Wilson). * ''Combined Operations'' (ca. 1961, title assigned by Dennis Wilson).


References


Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Alexander 1893 births 1963 deaths Military personnel from Dover, Kent English spies World War II spies for the United Kingdom MI6 personnel English spy fiction writers Impostors Academic staff of the University of the Punjab English academics of English literature English people of Irish descent English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English male writers Royal Naval Air Service personnel of World War I British Army personnel of World War I Royal Army Service Corps officers British Merchant Navy personnel