Jane Sissmore
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Kathleen Maria Margaret Sissmore, MBE (1898–1982), was known as Jane Sissmore and then Jane Archer after her marriage in 1939. In 1929 she became the first female officer in Britain's Security Service, MI5, and was still their only woman officer at the time of her dismissal for insubordination in 1940. She had been responsible for investigations into Soviet intelligence and subversion. She then joined the
Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (MI numbers, Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of Human i ...
(MI6), but when
Kim Philby Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963, he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring that had divulged British secr ...
, later to be exposed as a
double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...
, became her boss he reduced her investigative work because he feared she might uncover his treachery. In his memoirs, Philby wrote, "After Guy Liddell, Jane was perhaps the ablest professional intelligence officer ever employed by MI5". Following management changes in MI5, she returned there in 1945 or 1946.


Personal life

Jane Sissmore, the daughter of John Edmund Angelo Sissmore and Kathleen Maud Forbes-Smith was born in
Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...
on 11 March 1898 and moved to London in her early childhood with her parents and elder brother. Sissmore became head girl at Princess Helen's College,
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 recruited to MI5 in 1916 as an eighteen-year-old clerk. She has been described as "one of MI5's most remarkable wartime recruits". In her spare time she trained to be a
barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...
, becoming the fifth woman to be admitted to
Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...
, and, after obtaining first-class exam results, was
called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
in 1924. The day before
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
broke out Sissmore, still MI5's only female officer, married Wing Commander John Oliver "Joe" Archer,
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
, who became the liaison officer between MI5 and the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
. Jane Archer died in
Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
in September 1982.


John Oliver Archer (22 September 1887 – 15 September 1968) was born in
Walton-on-the-Naze Walton-on-the-Naze is a seaside town on the North Sea coast. It is part of the parish of Frinton and Walton, in the Tendring District, Tendring district in Essex, England. The town is located north of Clacton and south of the port of Harwich; ...
. In 1916 he married Esther Chilton and they had two children born in 1917 and 1922. Esther died in 1930. Their son, John Chilton Archer, became, like his father, a wing commander in the RAF but he was killed in action in 1943. In the
Great War 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 ...
Archer started serving in the ranks of the
Seaforth Highlanders The Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, the Duke of Albany's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, mainly associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The regiment existed from 1881 to 1961, and saw service ...
with whom he gained the
Mons Star The 1914 Star, colloquially known as the Mons Star, is a British First World War campaign medal for service in France or Belgium between 5 August and 22 November 1914. Institution The 1914 Star was authorised under Special Army Order no. 350 in ...
. In the
Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It was created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of the regiment, the ...
he gained his pilot's licence in 1915 and served in the Royal Air Force in South Russia. This continued after the war had ended and in 1919 he was awarded the
OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
, followed by the
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
in 1920. Upon taking command in India he was in 1926 promoted to
wing commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr or W/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Wing commander is immediately se ...
and he returned to Britain in 1931 to work in the Air Ministry. He retired from military duty in 1935 but continued in a civilian role. In 1940 he was re-commissioned as a
group captain Group captain (Gp Capt or G/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British influence. Group cap ...
to serve throughout the war in the Directorate of Intelligence as liaison officer with MI5.


MI5 – clerk and officer

Appointed to
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 ...
in 1916 as typist/clerk, by 1929 Sissmore had become Controller of the Registry and of women staff. At the time, and until 1940,
Vernon Kell Major General Sir Vernon George Waldegrave Kell, (21 November 1873 – 27 March 1942) was a British Army general and the founder and first Director of the British Security Service, otherwise known as MI5. Known as K, he was described in ' ...
was director of MI5. Sissmore was awarded the MBE in 1923 as an "Administrative Assistant, General Staff, War Office" and in 1929 moved to B Division (investigations and inquiries) where she was in charge of investigating Soviet intelligence and subversion activity. This made her MI5's first woman officer and she was to become what Christopher Andrew has described as a "formidable interrogator". In 1937
Roger Hollis Sir Roger Henry Hollis (2 December 1905 – 26 October 1973) was a British intelligence officer who served with MI5 from 1938 to 1965. He was Director General of MI5 from 1956 to 1965. Some commentators, including the journalist Chapman Pinc ...
applied to join MI5 and Kell asked Sissmore to make an informal assessment of him which she did at her tennis club, also involving the then still junior
Dick White Sir Dick Goldsmith White, (20 December 1906 – 21 February 1993) was a British intelligence officer. He was Director General (DG) of MI5 from 1953 to 1956, and Head of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1956 to 1968. Early life Whi ...
. The formal interview panel rejected Hollis but he was nevertheless employed on Kell's decision provided Sissmore took responsibility for him. Thus Hollis became Sissmore's assistant (and went on to become MI5 Director-General in 1956). Jane Archer's 1940 debriefing of
Walter Krivitsky Walter Germanovich Krivitsky (Ва́льтер Ге́рманович Криви́цкий; birth name ''Samuel Gershevich Ginsberg,'' Самуил Гершевич Гинзберг, June 28, 1899 – February 10, 1941) was a Soviet military i ...
was done using the name "Mrs Moore" and it has been described by Christopher Andrew as "the first really professional debriefing of a Soviet Intelligence officer on either side of the Atlantic". Krivitsky had been a Soviet agent in continental Europe who had defected to the West in 1937 and whose revelations in the United States in September 1939 had created a press sensation. In particular from a British point of view he revealed that two Soviet agents were currently working in Britain – the one whose surname he was able to give was quickly identified, tried and convicted of spying. His description of the other agent (
cryptonym A code name, codename, call sign, or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in ...
) was more elusive. Archer suggested Krivitsky should be invited to Britain to be interviewed and he agreed to this. The debriefing by Archer took four weeks and, to let Krivitsky feel he was highly valued, at the start she was accompanied by
Valentine Vivian Colonel Valentine Patrick Terrell Vivian CMG CBE (March 17, 1886–April 15, 1969) was the vice-chief of the SIS or MI6 and the first head of its counterespionage unit, Section V. Vivian, while he was attempting to introduce new blood into the ...
, head of counter-espionage at SIS, and Jasper Harker, head of B Division and Archer's boss. Then Archer took over the lead role and elicited a great deal of information. Archer's report (a "masterly analysis" according to
Nigel West Rupert William Simon Allason (born 8 November 1951) is a British former Conservative Party politician and author. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Torbay in Devon, from 1987 to 1997. He writes books and articles on the subject of esp ...
) was 85 pages long and much of it subsequently became incorporated in an MI5 overall review of Soviet intelligence activity. Krivitsky's disclosures might have made it possible to work out that both Donald Maclean and
Kim Philby Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963, he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring that had divulged British secr ...
were Soviet agents but this opportunity was missed. Andrew argues that the clues were too slight to have been usable.
Chapman Pincher Henry Chapman Pincher (29 March 1914 – 5 August 2014) was an English journalist, historian and novelist whose writing mainly focused on espionage and related matters, after some early books on scientific subjects. Early life Pincher was born ...
considers that Archer and Hollis were at fault but largely absolves Archer because she was almost immediately moved to completely different work. Hollis then filled her old post. Archer's debriefing completely transformed the understanding of the top echelons of MI5 about current Soviet espionage activity in Britain – they now realised it was extensive whereas only a year earlier it had wrongly been thought non-existent. In January 1941 one such Soviet agent
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 ...
, who was working within MI5, passed Archer's entire report to his Soviet controller. In October 1940, MI5 moved offices from unlikely temporary premises at
Wormwood Scrubs Prison HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs (nicknamed "The Scrubs") is a Category B men's local prison, located in the White City area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Ser ...
to the even less likely
Blenheim Palace Blenheim Palace ( ) is a country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough. Originally called Blenheim Castle, it has been known as Blenheim Palace since the 19th century. One of England's larg ...
. At a top-level meeting at that venue in November Archer criticised Brigadier Harker, recently appointed acting director of MI5, for incompetence. Harker, who had previously been her head of division, then dismissed her. Concerning this
Guy Liddell Guy Maynard Liddell, CB, CBE, MC (8 November 1892 – 3 December 1958) was a British intelligence officer. Biography Early life and career Liddell was born on 8 November 1892 at 64 Victoria Street, London, the son of Capt. Augustus Frederic ...
, director of counter-espionage, wrote of Harker "but for his incompetence, the situation would never have arisen" but he also thought that Archer had "unfortunately gone too far". Shortly afterwards
David Petrie Sir David Petrie (9 September 1879 – 7 August 1961) was Director General (DG) of MI5, the United Kingdom's internal security service, from 1941 to 1946.The Times, ''Obituary'', 8 August 1961 Biography Petrie worked in the Indian Imperial Pol ...
was appointed as the next director general and Harker was made his deputy – indeed Andrew's view is that Harker's dismissal of Archer probably contributed to Harker being put out to grass. For the rest of the war MI5 employed no other women as officers although several did work at this level of seniority.


Secret Intelligence Service

Archer straight away took up a post in the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and was placed in charge of Irish section, within Section V, involved in analysing intelligence about suspect Irish political organisations.
Espionage was not involved but an information service was provided to
Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...
of "events of political or public interest in Eire" – SIS had become involved because MI5 had refused to take this on. Later during the war, in 1944, Archer transferred to Section IX which was concerned with Soviet and communist counter-intelligence with
Kim Philby Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963, he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring that had divulged British secr ...
as head of section. It was unfortunate for both Archer and SIS that Philby, later to be unmasked as a Soviet "
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 ...
", recognised her considerable abilities. In his memoirs ''My Silent War'' Philby wrote: Philby (who had himself been "the young English journalist") made efforts to guard against the threat of her uncovering his background and his current role as a Soviet agent. He later wrote "Jane would have made a very bad enemy". He therefore sidelined her and gave her the task of analysing intercepted radio traffic from Eastern Europe. Archer's step-daughter Jean Collard has said that after Archer had started expressing suspicions about Philby she was "eased out of the intelligence services". So in 1944 things were not going well for Archer. Liddell wrote in his diary


Return to MI5

Archer was encouraged to move back to MI5 and she was located in C Division which was concerned with
security clearance A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information (state or organizational secrets) or to restricted areas, after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is ...
.Archer had certainly returned to MI5 by November 1946 and her move back was probably earlier in the same year. Andrew in his authorised history of MI5 does not mention Archer returning nor her involvement in any subsequent activities. Other sources are not clear about when she returned. Petrie and Harker retired during 1946 to be replaced by
Percy Sillitoe Sir Percy Joseph Sillitoe KBE DL (22 May 1888 – 5 April 1962) was a chief constable of several police forces. He changed the role of radios, civilian staff, and women police officers within the police. He was later Director General of MI5, ...
as director general and Liddell as his deputy.
Igor Gouzenko Igor Sergeyevich Gouzenko (; ; January 26, 1919 – June 25, 1982) was a cipher clerk for the Soviet embassy to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, and a lieutenant of the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU). He defected on September 5, 1945, th ...
, a cipher clerk in Soviet embassy in
Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
, defected in 1945 with a mass of documents, one of which led to the arrest of
Alan Nunn May Alan Nunn May (sometimes Allan) (2 May 1911 – 12 January 2003) was a British physicist and a confessed and convicted Soviet spy who supplied secrets of British and American atomic research to the Soviet Union during World War II. Early li ...
for spying. Philby recommended that Hollis rather than Archer should be sent to Canada to interview Gouzenko although he knew Archer would be better able to do the job. Agreeing this, MI5 sent Hollis and yet it was Philby at SIS who was apprised of progress and who altered, delayed and omitted messages before passing them on to MI5. By these means, Philby stopped Archer from having any involvement in the case. In 1947
Klaus Fuchs Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs (29 December 1911 – 28 January 1988) was a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy who supplied information from the American, British, and Canadian Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union during and shortly a ...
was vetted by MI5 for work at Harwell on the British post-war atomic project. MI5 had only been informed that Fuchs was to do "Atomic Energy work of extreme importance", not that Britain was starting an independent atomic bomb development programme. C Division considered he should be removed from such work but B Division (counter-espionage) supported giving security clearance because of weak evidence against him and strong scientific references. Archer wrote a memo advising that the Atomic Energy Directorate should be warned that "Fuchs is a possible Russian agent ... ho... should be divorced from all contact with atomic energy". However, B Division's view prevailed. In 1949, in the aftermath of the test explosion of the Soviet Union's first atomic bomb, new United States
Venona The Venona project was a United States counterintelligence program initiated during World War II by the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service and later absorbed by the National Security Agency (NSA), that ran from February 1, 1943, u ...
decrypts led the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
to conclude that Fuchs had been a spy on the
Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the ...
and, although subsequent MI5 surveillance produced little evidence of his still being a spy, Fuchs confessed to espionage in both countries and he was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment. Archer also recommended that
Rudolf Peierls Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls, (; ; 5 June 1907 – 19 September 1995) was a German-born British physicist who played a major role in Tube Alloys, Britain's nuclear weapon programme, as well as the subsequent Manhattan Project, the combined Allied ...
should not be allowed to continue as a consultant to Harwell but he went on to have a highly distinguished scientific career. Archer was involved in following up further leads from the Venona decryption being carried out in the US at
Arlington Hall Arlington Hall (also called Arlington Hall Station) is a historic building in Arlington, Virginia. Originally it was a girls' school and later the headquarters of the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) cryptography operations ...
. Early in 1951 MI5 were told that Krivitsky's was actually Donald Maclean and they investigated him to try to find evidence that could be used in court.Maclean worked in the
Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...
.
On account of his position in SIS Philby was kept apprised and so, as well as warning Moscow, he invented a pretext for requiring
Guy Burgess Guy Francis de Moncy Burgess (16 April 1911 – 30 August 1963) was a British diplomat and Soviet double agent, and a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring that operated from the mid-1930s to the early years of the Cold War era. His defection ...
, who was with Philby at the embassy in Washington, to be recalled to London so he could warn Maclean.Burgess had worked in the
Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...
and was posted at the British embassy in Washington, D.C. when Philby arranged for his recall.
A few days before Maclean was due to be arrested he and Burgess absconded to Russia. Burgess had not been under serious suspicion but the idea that the men had been warned led MI5 to suspect Philby for the first time. Archer and Arthur Martin were asked to compile a résumé of Philby's past – the coincidence with the "young English journalist" was noticed and Archer uncovered a slim MI5 file on him dating back to 1939. Presented with MI5's evidence and under pressure from Washington, the head of SIS still did not doubt Philby's loyalty but asked him to retire with a golden handshake.Philby eventually fled to Russia in 1963. In 1952, while examining the papers left in Burgess's flat, Archer found documents describing secret meetings that were then discovered to have been written by
John Cairncross John Cairncross (25 July 1913 – 8 October 1995) was a British civil servant who became an intelligence officer and spy during the Second World War. As a Soviet double agent, he passed to the Soviet Union the raw Tunny decryptions that may h ...
.Cairncross had worked at
Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and Bletchley Park estate, estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), that became the principal centre of Allies of World War II, Allied World War II cryptography, code-breaking during the S ...
.
Cairncross was tailed going to a meeting with his controller, Yuri Modin, but the actual meeting did not take place when the controller spotted the surveillance. Although Cairncross would not fully admit he was a spy, he was forced to resign and he moved to the United States. In the 1960s Peter Wright and Arthur Martin conducted their own private enquiry into whether Hollis, director of MI5 or Graham Mitchell, deputy director, were traitors.This was quite separate from an official investigation () going on at the same time about MI5 penetration. In ''Spycatcher'', Wright says that Martin interviewed Archer and that later when Wright spoke to her she said she considered both men unreliable but suggested Hollis was more likely to be a spy. However, Christopher Andrew comments on an anecdote about
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 ...


Notes


References


Citations


Works cited

* * * * * * * *


Further reading


History of MI5 on its own website
at 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 ...
.
Security Service records at the National Archives
*
Krivitsky debriefing records
at the National Archives
Secret Intelligence Service records
at National Archives

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sissmore, Jane MI5 personnel MI6 personnel Members of the Order of the British Empire 1898 births 1982 deaths