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MI7 was a branch of the British
War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...
's Directorate of Military Intelligence with responsibilities for press liaison and
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 ...
. The branch was originally established in the
First World 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 ...
and disbanded after the signing of the Armistice. The branch was re-formed at the start of the
Second World War 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 ...
. The new MI7, while less significant than its predecessor, acted as a necessary liaison link between the War Office and the Ministry of Information and
Political Warfare Executive During World War II, the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) was a British clandestine body created to produce and disseminate both white and black propaganda, with the aim of damaging enemy morale and sustaining the morale of countries occupied ...
.


First World War

On the outbreak of the First World War, a subsection of the Directorate of Military Operations, MO5(h), was established with responsibility for press and cable censorship and the issuing of War Office communiques through the Press Bureau. Initially just two General Staff Officers (GSO2) were allocated to the subsection. It became immediately apparent that two men were insufficient for the task and within a fortnight the subsection was expanded to a senior General Staff Officer (GSO1) with eight assistant ‘censors’ working under him. In February 1915, the Directorate of Special Intelligence was formed and consequently MO5(h) was upgraded and designated as the MO7 section. It was nominally under the command of Colonel Coleridge, the Military Assistant Director of the Press Bureau. As part of the War Office, MO7 was concerned with press publicity. It gave the first war correspondents permission to visit the Western Front in May 1915. Its duty was to ensure that the military authorities maintained control over the Press and correspondents' work. In January 1916, as part of a reorganisation of the
Imperial General Staff Chief of the General Staff (CGS) has been the title of the professional head of the British Army since 1964. The CGS is a member of both the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Army Board; he is also the Chair of the Executive Committee of the ...
, a new Directorate of Military Intelligence was created and MO7 became Military Intelligence Section 7. MI7 was organised in a series of sub-sections distinguished by lower-case letters in brackets. The precise duties of these sub-sections varied with time, but may be roughly summarised as follows. *MI7 (a) - censorship. *MI7 (b) - foreign and domestic propaganda, including press releases concerning army matters. *MI7 (c) - translation and (from 1917) regulation of foreign visitors. *MI7 (d) - foreign press propaganda and review (part of subsection (b) until subsection (d) was formed in late 1916). A.A. Milne, the author of
Winnie the Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh (also known as Edward Bear, Pooh Bear or simply Pooh) is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by ...
, served in MI7(b) after recovering from wounds sustained at the
Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...
. The Anglo-Irish fantasy writer
Lord Dunsany Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany (; 24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957), commonly known as Lord Dunsany, was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. He published more than 90 books during his lifetime, and his output consist ...
served with Milne after being wounded in the Easter Rising; his books ''Tales of War'' and ''Unhappy Far-off Things'' collect some of the material he wrote during this time.


Location

From April 1916, when it was first established under the direction of Captain Peter Chalmers Mitchell, until early October 1917, most of MI7(b)'s staff worked from Adelphi Court, on the
Strand, London The Strand (commonly referred to with a leading "The", but formally without) is a major street in the City of Westminster, Central London. The street, which is part of London's West End Theatre, West End theatreland, runs just over from Tra ...
, whereupon the whole section moved into Adastral House on the
Victoria Embankment Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment (the other section is the Chelsea Embankment), a road and river-walk along the north bank of the River Thames in London, England. Built in the 1860s, it runs from the Palace of Westminster to ...
. Not to be confused with the later Air Ministry headquarters on Kingsway, the first Adastral House was the former
De Keyser's Royal Hotel De Keyser's Royal Hotel was a large hotel on the Victoria Embankment, at its junction with New Bridge Street (now the A201), Blackfriars, London. The location was formerly the site of Bridewell Palace. The Royal Hotel was founded before 18 ...
, located by
Blackfriars Bridge Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is in the City of London near the Inns of Court and Temple C ...
. The bankrupt hotel was requisitioned in May 1916 for use as Government offices and was utilised by both the
Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...
and MI7.


Surviving source documents

As a branch of military intelligence, paperwork was routinely destroyed to maintain strict security. A further large-scale destruction of papers was organised when MI7 was closed down at the end of WWI. A few important files are scattered amongst War Office, Foreign Office and Ministry of Information records at the British
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 ...
. Also, some documents from MI7(b) have survived because they were retained by one of its operatives, Lieutenant James Price Lloyd. In 2012, relatives discovered after his death, when his property in
Builth Wells Builth Wells (; ) is a market town and community in the county of Powys and historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire), mid Wales, lying at the confluence of rivers Wye and Irfon, in the Welsh (or upper) part of the Wye Valley. In 20 ...
, Wales was being sorted and cleared, that he had kept up to 150 files from his time at MI7(b). The archive consisted of two broad categories of articles written between 1917 and 1918 - the "Tales of the VC". More than 90 stories of individual heroism by men from all over the Empire can be viewed on the
National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales (, ) in Aberystwyth is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the l ...
website and on the Europeana 1914-18 website. Samples of the remaining 60 articles can be found in archives such as "MI7b-the discovery of a lost propaganda archive from the Great War".


Second World War

In September 1939, MI7 was reformed at the outset of the
Second World War 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 ...
as the largely civilian Press and Propaganda section of the
War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...
Directorate of Military Intelligence. It was transferred to the Ministry of Information in around June 1940.


In fiction

The name MI7 has often been used in fiction as the title for an intelligence agency or organization similar to the actual
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 ...
or
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 ...
. In the Bond film '' Dr. No'' (1962) there are two explicit references to James Bond working for MI6; although, one of these (where the words are spoken by 'M') has been dubbed to "MI7", although the speaker's lips clearly say "MI6". In the ''Operation Susie'' episode of '' The Professionals'', central organization CI5 comes into conflict with elements of MI7 working to a different agenda.
Rowan Atkinson Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles in the sitcoms ''Blackadder'' (1983–1989) and '' Mr. Bean'' (1990–1995), and in the film series '' Johnny English'' (2003– ...
's character of Johnny English from the spy spoof films ''
Johnny English ''Johnny English'' is a 2003 spy action comedy film directed by Peter Howitt and written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and William Davies. It is a British-French venture produced by StudioCanal and Working Title Films, and distributed by Unive ...
'', ''
Johnny English Reborn ''Johnny English Reborn'' is a 2011 spy action comedy film directed by Oliver Parker and written by Hamish McColl from a story by William Davies. A sequel to '' Johnny English'' (2003) and the second instalment in the ''Johnny English'' ...
'' and ''
Johnny English Strikes Again ''Johnny English Strikes Again'' is a 2018 spy action comedy film directed by David Kerr. It is the sequel to '' Johnny English Reborn'' (2011) and is the third instalment of the ''Johnny English'' series. The film stars Rowan Atkinson in t ...
'' is an MI7 agent. The character was originally presented in a series of adverts for
Barclaycard Barclaycard (; stylised as barclaycard) is a brand for credit cards of Barclays PLC. It is considered as the United Kingdom's first and now biggest credit card provider with 5 million accounts. History Barclays launched Barclaycard on 29 June ...
as MI7 agent Richard Latham. In '' St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold'', former Head Girl Kelly Jones now works as an agent for MI7. In ''
Chucklevision ''ChuckleVision'' is a British children's comedy television series created by Martin Hughes and the Chuckle Brothers for the BBC. It starred Barry and Paul Elliott as the Chuckle Brothers and occasionally their older brothers, Jimmy, and Bria ...
'', Mr Carrington-Smythe (pronounced Smith) is head of MI7 and helps the brothers out in Series 14. In Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May Detective series, the Peculiar Crimes Unit is placed under the aegis of MI7.


Notes


References

* {{UK_Intelligence_Agencies Defunct United Kingdom intelligence agencies 1916 establishments in the United Kingdom Military communications of the United Kingdom War Office in World War II British intelligence services of World War II