Her Secret Service : The Forgotten Women of British Intelligence – 9781399603454

Beautiful written and elegiac . . .

a masterpiece’ Damien Lewis, author of multiple Sunday Times Bestsellers’Riveting, original and scrupulously researched’ Richard J Aldrich, author of GCHQ’Phenomenal . . .

genuinely pioneering, undoubtedly necessary and a great read’ Rory Cormac, author of How to Stage a CoupSince the inception of the Secret Service Bureau back in 1909, women have worked at the very heart of British secret intelligence – yet their contributions have been all but written out of history. Now, drawing on private and previously-classified documents, leading historian Claire Hubbard-Hall brings their gripping true stories to life. From encoding orders and decrypting enemy messages to penning propaganda and infiltrating organisations, the women of British intelligence played a pivotal role in both the First and Second World Wars.

Prepare to meet the true custodians of Britain’s military secrets, from Kathleen Pettigrew, personal assistant to the Chief of MI6 Stewart Menzies, who late in life declared ‘I was Miss Moneypenny, but with more power’, to Jane Archer, the very first female MI5 officer who raised suspicions about the Soviet spy Kim Philby long before he was officially unmasked and Winifred Spink, the first female officer ever sent to Russia in 1916. In Her Secret Service, Hubbard-Hall rescues these silenced voices and those of many other fascinating women from obscurity to provide a definitive account of women’s contributions to the history of the intelligence services.