Exhibit to look at life of Kerry’s master spy
Kerry-born William Melville forged a stellarcareer in London as a detective and when he “retired” in 1903 from the Metropolitan Police at the height of his fame, he went on toestablish the forerunner of MI5.
“Melville was referred to by the War Office as M or the Spy-master from almost the beginning,” Andrew Cook, the author of M: MI5’s First Spy-master, said.
Melville may have reached the top of his profession and often moved in a murky and dangerous world, but he was born in relatively modest circumstances in 1850.
He was the son of a baker cum publican at Direenaclaurig cross, near the village of Sneem, on the Ring of Kerry, and helped in the family business until he got the urge to see bigger things.
The exhibition at the Kerry County Museum in Tralee traces his life story and shows that, while he spent his life defending royalty and the British establishment, he was also a supporter of Home Rule and a follower of Gaelic games.
Mr Cook’s book inspired the exhibition. For the book, he was given access to secret MI5 files that will never be released.
Museum curator Helen O’Carroll said although Melville was a Kerry man born and bred, he had been a forgotten figure and there was an opportunity today to illuminate a fascinating history.
“One of the striking issues in the Melville story is the irony that here is an Irish Catholic who was proud of his Irish identity, defending Britain from terrorist threats that included Irish terrorism,’ she said.
The Sneem Melville was born into the years immediately after the Great Famine was a poor place. In his teens, one of his tasks was to go by pony and cart to Killarney railway station, 30 miles away, each week for supplies for the family business. The story goes, however, that he just left one day, abandoning the pony and trap.
By 1872, he was a London police officer and, by 1883, had been invited to join the Special Irish Branch, which targetedFenian and later anarchist bomb plots in Britain.
It was an era of random terrorist attacks and Melville’s reputation became established quickly. His most famous exploit was his foiling of the Jubilee Plot of 1887 — an assassination attempt on Queen Victoria by Irish republicans. It has since been claimed that the attempt was a “dirty war” operation orchestrated by the government.
Melville also got to know some of the crowned heads of Europe, providing security for them whenever they visited England.
He also arrested the man many reputed to be Jack the Ripper.
Francis Tumblety, a doctor from New York, had skipped bail on sex charges and Melville caught him at Le Havre while on port watch for Special Branch.
Melville was incensed when the French authorities allowed Tumblety to go free because of the lack of official paperwork and the doctor made it back to the US. Ripper-style murders were committed in a number of cities where he lived.
When he retired in 1903 from the Metropolitan Police at the height of his fame, he went on to establish the forerunner of MI5, providing the inspiration for James Bond’s boss in Ian Fleming’s books.
In 1903, Melville announced his retirement.
However, he moved instead into offices in Victoria Street, adjacent to Scotland Yard, where under the nameplate William Morgan, General Agent, created a cover that allowed him to gather intelligence for the War Office.
Also in 1903, the War Office set up a Directorate of Military Operations and Melville was head-hunted for the role of field operative to act as a controller for agents abroad, as well as to undertake missions himself.
In subsequent years, the Secret Service Bureau was set up to co-ordinate intelligence work under two sections, home and foreign, which became, respectively, MI5 and MI6.
Melville died of kidney failure in 1918, leaving a legacy that included a school for training spies.
Up to now, Melville hasn’t figured on lists of the greatest Kerry people of all time. But, in a changed political climate, will there be space for him in the pantheon of the Kingdom’s most distinguished?
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