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Warning |
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You should only contact us from a telephone outside of
the potentially compromised location! DO NOT call
from your office or home; use your cell telephone only
from a discreet location. |
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Sir Francis Walsingham 1532 - 1590
To most serious students of espionage and
counter-espionage, Sir Francis Walsingham, who was
knighted in 1577, is considered the father of modern
Intelligence and Counterintelligence. It was
Walsingham who as Secretary of State under Queen
Elizabeth I, established an elaborate intelligence
service that controlled agents in England and
abroad. His agents in Europe kept him informed of
the activities of King Philip of Spain. Thus
Britain obtained early warnings of the attack by the
Spanish Armada.
Phillip was recruiting sail makers and shipwrights
from Sweden to Italy to build his fleet. Mary
received pay from Walsingham in addition the their
Spanish wages. The shipwrights would drive
defective treenails holding the planks to the ribs.
The treenails were only shallow plugs; sawed halfway
through, others filled with sawdust and putty was
used to secure the ribs to the keel. In the first
storm the armada met off the Irish coast many of the
130 ships were turned into kindling, which resulted
in its disastrous defeat.
Mary, Queen of Scots was a factor that King Philip
was beginning to exploit. He became an active agent
in her cause. Hence, Elizabeth was very much thrown
under Walsingham protection. She became
increasingly dependent on the security and
counter-intelligence screen that her Secretary wore
about the throne. During the 1580s, Walsingham
became the most important of her ministers and they
developed a close relationship.
Walsingham’s security service was built up
progressively in the 1570s. It operated in the
ports, in the London taverns, in the French and
Spanish embassies and from 1575, in the household of
Queen Mary. For more than 10 years, Walsingham
worked hard to secure absolute proofs of Mary's
plotting with England’s enemies and the
assassination of Queen Elizabeth.
Sir Francis Walsingham’s secret service uncovered
the “Anthony Babington” plot that in 1586 planned
the murder of Queen Elizabeth and the rescue of Mary
Queen of Scots from house arrest. Through his spy
network he managed to intercept all the messages to
Queen Mary that were hidden in kegs of beer and when
invited to hunt deer on the estate where Mary was
confined, his men took advantage of the opportunity
to search through all of Mary’s papers, discovering
the evidence he needed to obtain her death sentence.
Walsingham died on April 6, 1590. For such a
faithful servant he was ill rewarded by his Queen.
He lived and died miserably poor. He had lavished
huge sums in his public service and was never
repaid. He was so far in debt that he was buried at
night so that his creditors would not steal his
coffin.
Walsingham’s motto was “Knowledge is never too
dear”. |
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