Major Cecil Aylmer Cameron, CBE DSO

Major Cecil Aylmer Cameron, CBE, DSO (17 September 1883–19 August 1924) was a British Army officer and spymaster and also a central figure of a notable fraud trial of 1911.

The son of Colonel Aylmer Cameron VC, he was educated at Eastman's Royal Naval Academy, Bath College, and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery in 1901.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Aylmer_Cameron

http://www.cairogang.com/other-people/british/castle-intelligence/c... Major Cecil Aylmer Cameron CBE, DSO]

• 1911 May. Jailed for fraud for 3 years - his wife received the same sentence
• Following his release, a petition for a pardon was signed by, among others, five dukes, twenty privy councillors, and 126 generals. During her imprisonment, his wife had confessed that she alone was the guilty party and Cameron had only been protecting her. He received a full pardon and was restored to his rank of Lieutenant.
• Served in WW1 becoming a Major and ran a spy network in German occupied France.
• Served in British Intelligence in Russia. Chief Intelligence Officer with the British Military Mission to Siberia during the Russian Civil War,
• In the UK ran a spy school training operatives for Ireland
  
• Committed suicide, shooting himself at Hillsborough Barracks in Sheffield in 1924. The coroner returned a verdict of suicide while temporarily insane.
  

British Army, Royal Artillery officer deaths 1850-2011

findmypast Transcription

• Rank Major
• First name(s) C A
• Last name Cameron
• Post nominals CBE DSO
• Birth year 1884
• Age 40
• Death year 1924
• Death date 19 Aug 1924
• Place Sheffield
• Record set British Army, Royal Artillery officer deaths 1850-2011
• Category Military, armed forces & conflict
  

  ---

England & Wales marriages 1837-2008

• First name(s) CECIL AYLMER
• Last name CAMERON
• Marriage quarter 2
• Marriage year 1909
• CECIL AYLMER CAMERON married * LILY BARBARA WARREN
• District ST. GEORGE HANOVER SQUARE
• District number -
• County London
• Country England
• Volume 1A
• Page 892
  

  ---

Medal Index Cards

findmypast Transcription

• First name(s) Cecil A
• Last name Cameron
• Year 1914-20
• Service number -
• Rank Captain,Major
• Second rank Major
• Regiment Royal Artillery, GSOS
• Second corps GSOS
• Service record Rank: Captain, Corps: Royal Artillery
• Second service record Rank: Major, Corps: GSOS
• Image link http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D6563945
• Country Great Britain
• Medal type British Army medal index cards, 1914-1920
• Archive reference WO372/3
• Archive reference description Women's Services, Distinguished Conduct Medals and Military Medals
• Record set Britain, Campaign, Gallantry & Long Service Medals & Awards
• Category Military, armed forces & conflict
  

  ---

  
  

LOTFWW

Further Reading

• http://www.spystory.net/The-Pearl-Necklace-Mystery.php
• Janet Morgan's book 'The Secrets of Rue St Roch'.
• Dover and Folkestone during the Great War
• The Cameron trial and his aftermath as an intelligence operative is covered in some detail in the chapter titled "The Cameron Case" (pages 184-221) in Winter's Tale: An Autobiography by Sir Ormonde Winter