Conrad Fulke Thomond O'Brien-ffrench, 2nd Marquis de Castelthomond (19 November 1893 – 23 October 1986) was a distinguished British Secret Intelligence officer, captain in the Tipperary Rangers of the Royal Irish Regiment and 16th The Queen's Lancers in World War I, and Mountie for the Royal North-West Mounted Police. He was an accomplished artist, linguist, mountaineer, skier and author.
Early life and education
Conrad Fulke Thomond O'Brien-ffrench was born in London, England, the second son of Henry Albert De Vreque O'Brien-ffrench, 1st Marquis de Castelthomond, and his wife Winifred née Thursby, heiress and daughter of Major James Legh Thursby, of Ormerod House Lancashire.
He and his elder brother Rollo (Rollo Adrien Vladimir Thursby Marie Altieri O'Brien-ffrench) spent their early childhood in Italy at Villa Torlonia (Frascati) in the Alban Hills, east of Rome, and then at Piazza dell'Indipendenza in Florence, where they received private tutoring in English, French and Italian. Returning to England, Conrad joined Rollo at the Wick, a preparatory school at Hove in Sussex. After Rollo left the Wick, Conrad completed his preparatory schooling at St. Aubyns School in Rottingdean, and then attended Bradley Court Agricultural College in the Forest of Dean, where he developed his lifelong interest in horsemanship, fox hunting and other country pursuits, and became a junior member of the Ledbury Hunt. During these years his other siblings, Yvonne (Yvonne Castelthomond O'Brien-ffrench) and Alexis (Alexis Evelyn Henry O'Brien-ffrench), were born.
Royal North-West Mounted Police
When he was 16, Conrad's life took an abrupt turn when Rollo died in an accident playing football. Conrad left school at this time to study farming in the Evesham Valley, and while there he met a Justice of the Peace from Buffalo Lake Ranch in Saskatchewan, who told him of life on the wild frontier and of the Royal North-West Mounted Police. In April 1910, at age 17, he sailed on the Empress of Britain for Quebec and continued west to join the Royal North-West Mounted Police in Saskatchewan.
After basic training O'Brien-ffrench was posted to Cypress Hills, a remote and untamed area. He was later posted to Willow Creek and then Battle Creek, but mid-1912 received word that his mother was dying from cancer. He purchased his release and returned to Esher in Surrey to be by her side. She died the following summer.
During this time O'Brien-ffrench and friends took weekend trips to the Brooklands race track, where he was introduced to motor racing. Subsequently he purchased a 1909 Mercedes Simplex and developed a taste for fast cars.
Military service
Battle of Mons
Following his mother's death, O'Brien-ffrench travelled to his ancestral homeland in Ireland and joined The Tipperary Militia, a special reserve unit of the Royal Irish Regiment. In August 1914 he was promoted to captain and engaged in the Battle of Mons with his regiment as part of the British Expeditionary Force. On the first day of battle he was severely wounded, captured and taken prisoner. He was held first at Torgau, a Bismarckian fortress, and then at Burg de Magdeburg POW camp.
After numerous failed escape attempts, O'Brien-ffrench was transferred to what was considered an escape-proof camp at Augustabad. Here he began an exchange of letters with his friend Cathleen Mann and, through the use of invisible ink, transmitted details of troop movements and other strategic information gathered from incoming prisoners. One communication included information about a prototype German Bomber that he obtained from a captured British pilot. Mann's job as secretary to Stewart Menzies of British counterintelligence allowed a speedy relay of information through Menzies to Field Marshal Douglas Haig. Attempts were made to extract O'Brien-ffrench and the pilot to London, but these failed and O'Brien-ffrench remained in Augustabad.
MI6
Following World War I, O'Brien-ffrench was summoned to Whitehall in December 1918 to meet then Colonel Stewart Menzies, who recruited him into MI6. At the time, Menzies reported to Captain Mansfield Smith-Cumming, the first head of the British Secret Service, who was called "C", a designation that remains to the present day. He was posted to the British Legation in Stockholm as assistant military attaché under the command of Major Dymoke Scale. While a POW, O'Brien-ffrench had learned fluent Russian, and was now tasked with gathering information from Russian refugees fleeing the aftermath of the 1917 revolution.