Hitler's Munich Man

by Martin Connolly

  This hearing was presented by Morris as an opportunity for Domvile to be given copies of about twelve letters and the intention was for the committee and Domvile to go through them chronologically.

  They covered much of the ground already discussed in previous Hearings, but the committee stopped at key points to invite Domvile to explain. On certain points, Domvile gave his explanation in terms of innocent and harmless comments on world events. His views were always related to the welfare of the Empire. However, the issues that were raised which troubled the committee did not get much help from Domvile.

  In the first letter he referred to his ‘ignorant countrymen’. In trying to understand what Domvile meant, he was being illusive, saying he could not quite remember its usage but that he probably meant that people in England were very ignorant of foreign affairs. When asked about a statement regarding pro-German groups written after the war started, that ‘we should rope them in’ and that ‘we should centralise them’, Domvile again gave a confused response, not being sure what he meant.

  When he had written that he was having ‘interesting negotiations with Oswald Mosley and Norman Hay’ he could not remember what these were or what he meant. The committee linked this to another phrase he had written in the next letter, ‘our plans are maturing well’. The committee wanted to know if the ‘negotiations’ were linked to ‘our plans’. Once more there was a brick wall, Domvile did not know what he meant and even asked the committee to help him know what he was doing at that time of writing.

  The committee then tried to dig deeper into his writing, ‘hard luck stories of lying Jews’. He repeated again that this was in relation to his visit to Dachau where he found everything was great and yet Jews were reporting crimes against them were happening at Dachau. He did not believe these stories and he imagined that was what he meant. Then there were two pieces of two different letters that the committee wanted to clear up. Why had he written, ‘I think soon things may move’ and ‘I am satisfied with the ways things are going’? The response was consistent; he could not remember what he was writing about. In a subsequent letter he had written about C.E. Carroll, ‘I think he is a patriotic and clear thinking man and has some good proposals.’ He could not help the committee to understand what these proposals were. Then, there was the ‘depths of degradation and depravity under our Jewish teachers’, since the last hearing had he any further explanation? This time he remembered writing it but dismissed it as him having ‘a bad day’.

  Morris returned to the Duffield letter and wanted to consider if the letter was linked to negotiations with Mosley or the plans referred to in previous letters. Was it connected to the allegation of ‘Fascist revolution’? There was no further help here for the committee. Duffield and the letter was still a mystery to Domvile. The committee then questioned him about being at a meeting with Oswald Mosley where ‘a fascist revolution’ was discussed. He only attended for tea and it was not discussed. When pressed, he acknowledged it may have been, but he did not hear it because he is deaf. The final letter was about his stating, ‘things I cannot put in writing’. When asked to explain these ‘things’ he was not sure what they were but perhaps they might be about the Duke of Bedford and peace plans. He told the committee that the Duke had told him of peace talks about Germany that he was involved with and Domvile felt he could not write about them in an open letter. Subsequent questioning would suggest this explanation was not totally accepted by the committee.

  This hearing does not seemed to have moved Domvile’s situation on and he was again returned to Brixton where he remained. This was despite the fact that the committee did report that they felt he was not a danger and would not act against the country’s interests. The Security Service however took a different view and extensive memos from them show that they believed nothing had changed with Domvile. Their argument was summed up in one letter as ‘ex pede Hurculem' meaning that they felt if there was even one part of the whole ‘evidence’ that suggested he should be detained, that was enough. Their considered opinion was that if he was ‘a danger in 1940 he is still a danger today’.

  Domvile gives his account of his time, following these hearings, in Brixton. The days are filled with the routines of prison life. Domvile would play cat and mouse with his jailers, having things that were banned and which he would refuse to yield and eventually those in charge would simply ignore them. Domvile made himself comfortable getting to know some of the many people who passed through Brixton, including debtors and cat burglars. Time was spent reflecting on those who had arranged for his stay in Brixton and his account makes clear that his belief was that Judmas was behind every woe that had happened to him.

  In December 1942, Domvile decided to write a letter to MPs on the subject of 18B and the detention of people like himself. He had tried to send a copy to The Times but this was intercepted and did not reach them. He wrote of those who ‘prate of freedom’ and who ‘practice simultaneously the worst form of tyranny in our history’. He argued that MPs were misled by those Crown lawyers who had drafted the regulations. The ‘victims were not protected’ but he went on ‘they were at the mercy of one man – the Home Secretary’. He decried ‘the veiled secrecy so carefully drawn over the Advisory Committee’. He criticised the use of the war being used to prevent the public knowing ‘the truth’. He then listed all the things he saw wrong with the committee. These included the vagueness of the allegations, no charges being made, no legal representation, no record of the meeting given to the prisoner and the MPs who enquire on a case are shown material which they then cannot divulge to anyone. He gave an example of a hearing illustrating his points before setting out his remedy for each defect as he saw them.

  One MP, John McGovern, on receiving the letter took the matter up with Herbert Morrison. To Domvile’s joy the decision was made to release him on 30 July 1943.

  Domvile expresses his thanks to McGovern in his book From Admiral To Cabin Boy and adds that he [McGovern] was ‘a thorn in the side of Judmas’. The book, published when the war ended, rails against politicians and urging them not to be trusted. He ended the book with an interesting statement:

  ‘The present war was brought about by Hitler’s challenge to Judmas; he

  was the first man since Napoleon, with the courage to tackle it openly.’

  Does this help explain the evasive answers given by Domvile at his hearings? Was he part of a plot to challenge Judmas in Britain?

  Chapter 14

  Admiral Domvile after His Release

  Domvile’s release was not met with any great enthusiasm by the British press. His previous pro-German activity and his visits to Germany to meet Himmler and being ‘a guest of Hitler’ were revived in papers such as the Daily Mirror on 31 July 1943. The Security Service were still keeping a watch on him, through agents and mail interception. His release was welcomed by the far Right and an intercepted letter from Captain Ramsay commented that ‘the Jew-grip must be being weakened’. Domvile remained in touch with Carroll and Gordon-Canning. He also continued to stay in contact with Mosley and often met him after his own release. The MI5 files have notes on the various occasions they met.

  The Security Service’s notes show that they had concluded that whilst Domvile may have started out as an innocent, in the process he did come to know what he was doing and with whom he was consorting. In late 1943, Domvile joined the Constitutional Research Association (CRA). His decision to join this group gives insight into his beliefs. The CRA was formed by members of the National Socialist Party that had been founded to support the idea of Nazism. Its leaders, Lord Haw-Haw, John Beckett et al. were former members of the Fascist BUF who were expelled for criticising Mosley.

  Major Harry Edmonds, a former intelligence officer, was one of the leading founders of the CRA. It questioned the truth of genocide by Germany and opposed the Nuremberg trials. It led anti-Semitic opposition to the Bretton Woods agreement and opposed American power, particularly in Europe. The Bretton Woods Agreeme
nt was a major shift in the system for monetary and exchange rate management established in 1944. It was presented at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, from July 1 to July 22, 1944. Under the agreement, currencies were linked to the price of gold, and the U.S. dollar was seen as a reserve currency linked to the price of gold.

  Edmonds was being watched by Special Branch and they recorded a meeting he had on 12 August 1943 in a Fleet Street pub with a leading Fascist A.K. Chesterton who was a politician and journalist. He helped the establishment of right-wing organisations in Britain and opposed any break-up of the British Empire, He further argued against any further immigration to Britain. Other members of the far right were present. The meeting discussed the setting up of an organisation to ‘preserve British culture against the Jewish menace’. CRA grew out of this idea.

  In a meeting at the Charing Cross Hotel on 28 January 1944, an agent of MI5 was present and made a report on the whole proceedings. Those attending were Harry Edmonds, Barry Domvile, General Fuller, Captain Russell Grenfell (Ex-Navy and a Daily Telegraph reporter, he was a strong opponent of the Nuremberg trials and blamed Nazi atrocities on the Allies and anti-Nazi resistance), and Rex Tremlett (editor of the fascist paper ‘The Blackshirt’) among others. They were all connected with BUF and fascism. Throughout Domvile’s diaries we find that Horace Rex Tremlett was an early Fascist contact of his. He continually notes seeking him out to consider events and possible action. The agent’s report outlines the conversation was anti-American, anti-Jewish and all believed the British Empire was finished and therefore a united Europe including Germany was the answer. Tremlett commented that if MI5 knew of their activities ‘they would all be arrested’. The agent noted that Domvile, because of his deafness, spoke little but did lament that international finance had hindered the establishment of the ‘New Order’ and that Jewish-backed America had bombed Europe in order to be able to lend finance for rebuilding. All present agreed with his analysis. It is likely that Domvile’s association with these Fascists, who had deserted Mosley, began to cause Mosley to grow cold on Domvile politically. It is also possible at this stage that Domvile had hopes of secretly resurrecting the Link. An intercepted letter from a Mary Foss in December 1944, sees her write to thank Domvile for a calendar and being ‘very proud to be welcomed as the first post war member of the Link’. She goes on to write that she hopes ‘it will not be long before I can publicly [she underlines the word] claim this honour’. Foss was detained under 18b and sent to Holloway because of her pro-German views. She was honorary general secretary of Prisoners of War Assistance Society (POWAS) which was seen by the Special Branch as a cover for fascists and it only helped those who were in sympathy with their views. The records on POWAS are held at the National Archives, in London.

  In 1945, the secret files of MI5 show a record of an intercepted telephone call to a newspaper, in which Mosley is asked to confirm that he is associated with Domvile in the Independent Nationalists’ Party. Mosley makes it very clear that he is not associated with the group and has ‘no intentions of being so’. The record reports a meeting in May 1945 between Domvile, Captain Ramsay and Norman Hay at which each ‘solemnly undertook to continue the fight for National Socialism whatever the outcome of the war’. Domvile stated he admired Nazi Germany and regretted that ‘the Jewish power was too strong on this occasion’. Captain Ramsay applauded the ‘rise of anti-Communists in the country’ and believed a ‘post-war campaign against the Jewish Bolsheviks stood every chance of success’. The group also discussed the idea of Mosley as the leader of a post-war group but decided he was a ‘money grabber’ and an ‘opportunist’.

  The Security Service’s files also show they were still very concerned about Domvile’s activities with such groups. A note in their files for January 1946 makes this clear:

  ‘DOMVILE though aging, remains a prominent fascist personality and is determined to devote his remaining years to a revival of National Socialism. He is in touch with many of the extreme pro-Nazis as we have learned from his H.O.W. [the order to intercept Domvile’s mail and telephone calls]. We should be handicapped without it.’

  These intercepted letters showed Domvile’s continued support of various fascists, including Mosley, who were being attacked in the press or being investigated by the police.

  Domvile was also a regular contributor to the Patriot over this period. The Patriot was a far right weekly journal that was a vehicle for fascist propaganda. As was noted earlier, Domvile used the pseudonym ‘Canute’ as he used in Action and through his son’s letter and Domvile’s intercepted correspondence MI5 were able to confirm that Domvile was in fact Canute. Around this time he was also actively supporting the British People’s Party which was on the far right, speaking at their meetings in support of candidates. MI5 files have a secret report of one such meeting in Domvile’s file that describes the anti-Jewish nature of the speech. There is also the castigation of British policy against Germany and the neglect of the Empire. The speech argues that the war was really Jewish-inspired on behalf of the world’s financial system and because Jews were put into concentration camps in 1933.

  The MI5 files as late as 1946 show that Mosley’s mail was being read by them. Between 14 and 18 June 1946 they took note of a series of letters between Mosley and Domvile. Nothing of great import was found.

  In 1948 Mosley was noted by MI5 as personally fond of the ‘elderly naval officer’ but regarded him as a ‘grave political liability’. In referring to Domvile’s detention during his appeals committee hearing, Mosley said, ‘A distinguished Admiral was imprisoned with us, together with his wife, but neither of them had anything to do with this group or with our party.’

  This was blatantly not true. Lady Domvile had admitted she was an active member of the party and was totally in awe of Mosley. Domvile himself was heavily involved with them in different ways. His diaries show he was a regular attender at their headquarters, a regular contributor to their paper and was present at many significant secret meeting with Mosley. Furthermore, Domvile was asked to work with Captain Pitt-Rivers ‘to cleanse’ the BUF -hardly a job for someone not having ‘anything to do with this group or with our party’. This was simply one of many attempts by Mosley to re-write history in his memoirs.

  By 1949, MI5 had recorded that ‘Sir B Domvile is a personal friend of Mosley, but is politically very much against him’. This was proven to be so in Domvile’s growing relationship with Arnold Leese. He tried to evade internment under 18B but eventually he was caught and detained. Released in 1944 due to failing health, he once more returned to his extreme activities which included helping German SS prisoners escape from British custody. He returned to jail on being convicted of this offence.

  Domvile’s intercepted letters show his support for Leese. In 1950 he writes to Leese agreeing to act as surety. ‘Yes, certainly I will act as surety, provided they do not value you so highly as to make it ridiculous. I am awfully sorry they have caught you again.’

  A few weeks later he writes again. ‘I was sorry to see that your forecast was correct. As they have chosen to put you to this inconvenience, I hope you will lose no opportunity to make things unpleasant.’ In this letter Domvile blames the Jews for Leese’s arrest, suggesting the informant, a Gentile, ‘must have changed his name’ [From a Jewish name].

  Domvile also wrote articles for Free Briton. This was a journal of the Britons, another extreme anti-Semitic organisation. It also advocated a strong anti-immigration policy and was founded by the same man who influenced Arnold Leese, Henry Hamilton Beamish. The Britons published pamphlets and a great deal of anti-Semitic propaganda. It used the imprint names, Judic Publishing Company and Britons Publishing Society. They were determined fascists and clearly hoped for a Fascist government for Britain. Domvile’s articles followed their sympathies. In February 1950, an agent from MI5 reported on a gathering, ‘Nationalist Reunion and Social’, organised by the Britons Publishing Socie
ty, which Domvile attended. MI5 noted ‘70 persons, including 14 women attended’.

  In 1954, Arthur K Chesterton, a fascist who was part of Mosley’s BUF along with Domvile, formed the League of Empire Loyalists. Domvile had a great liking for Chesterton, whom he describes in his diary as ‘a stalwart’. Chesterton believed that the American capitalists and the Russian Bolsheviks had formed an alliance under a Jewish conspiracy. He therefore felt it necessary to create a group who would expose and oppose it. Domvile had been growing quiet politically but was persuaded to join this enterprise. The group was a great irritant to the official Conservative Party and carried out a number of activities to embarrass and harass them along with other groups with whom they disagreed. Domvile never took part in any of these. As with most Fascist groups, personality clashes and money issues caused the demise of the group and in 1967, they joined other anti-Semitic and Fascist groups to form the National Front. Domvile was appointed onto its inaugural National Council.

  Chapter 15

  What Domvile’s Diaries Reveal

  Domvile kept a diary for most of his life, the exception being during his stay in Brixton. These diaries were given to the National Maritime Museum following his death. Reading them immedi-ately shows that there was a great deal of self-editing in their writing. It becomes clear that a number of meetings and events that Domvile was known to have attended are excluded. There is also a lack of the ‘real man’ in these records as he rarely reveals his true feelings about events. However, now and again, he appears unable to help himself and the odd entry gives clues as to his true views. They also confirm his association with many of the key characters that MI5 believed he was involved with, in their reasons for wanting him detained. For the purpose of this current work, the diaries for the period 1935 to 1950 have been covered as they span the time that Domvile was politically active. His roles after 1950 were more in acting as a name and figurehead for far right and fascist groups, including the group that led to the formation of the extreme British Nationalist Party. Along with the comments already made in the text above, we do get insight into Domvile’s involvement in German affairs and friendships with leading fascist and anti-Semitic figures.