Lieutenant Colonel John Dymoke Scale DSO,

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 ...

(born 27 December 1882) was an

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 ...

(

SIS Sis or SIS may refer to: People *Michael Sis (born 1960), American Catholic bishop Places * Sis (ancient city), historical town in modern-day Turkey, served as the capital of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. * Kozan, Adana, the current name ...

) agent, originally from

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of K ...

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

. He was involved in a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

unit called the Anglo-Russian Commission in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, where his responsibilities included running

Mohammed Beck Hadjetlaché Mohammed Beck Hadjetlaché (20 May 1868, Istanbul - 4 November 1929, Stockholm) was a Circassians, Circassian journalist, writer, MI6 (Secret Intelligence Service, SIS) agent, and anti-communist white movement terrorist. Hadjetlaché used many as ...

. Scale served 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 ...

and was first sent to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in 1912. He qualified as a Russian translator in 1913 and rejoined the

87th Punjabis The 87th Punjabis were an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. They could trace their origins to 1798, when they were raised as the 1st Battalion, 14th Madras Native Infantry. The regiments first action was in the Battle of Mahidpur duri ...

in 1914. In 1916, Scale served with

Stephen Alley Captain Stephen Alley (14 February 1876 – 1969) was a British mechanical engineer and Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) agent in pre-revolutionary Russia who may have had an involvement in the murder of Rasputin in 1916 and in a plan to try to ...

and Oswald Rayner under Mansfield Cumming at the time of the murder of

Grigori Rasputin Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin ( – ) was a Russian Mysticism, mystic and faith healer. He is best known for having befriended the imperial family of Nicholas II of Russia, Nicholas II, the last Emperor of all the Russias, Emperor of Russia, th ...

. Whilst a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in St Petersburg, in the weeks leading up to the killing, Scale is recorded as having met with Oswald Rayner and

Felix Yusupov Knyaz Felix Felixovich Yusupov, Count Sumarokov-Elston (; – 27 September 1967) was a Russian aristocrat from the House of Yusupov who is best known for participating in the assassination of Grigori Rasputin and for marrying Princess Irina ...

in the diary of their chauffeur, William Compton. Several other books and documentaries have claimed Scale's involvement in Rasputin's death, or even alleged that Scale commanded Rayner to fatally shoot him. A letter from Alley to Scale provides the best evidence of British Intelligence involvement in the murder and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

that reads: In March 1918, Scale was an SIS bureau commander in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scale, John Dymoke 1882 births World War I spies for the United Kingdom Year of death missing Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire