Restoration of Cumming's Grave
Captain Sir Mansfield Cumming RN was buried in Hampshire where he had lived. In the absence of known close relatives SIS obtained permission from the local church authorities to clean up the grave and hold a ceremony there. The aged stone cross was taken to a mason for cleaning, which revealed a gleaming white marble cross. The ground around the grave was cleared, fresh turf was laid, overhanging foliage was cut back and white chippings were laid on a skim of concrete. Three wreaths were laid; one on behalf of C and the Service, one on behalf of pensioners, and the third on behalf of the Royal Navy. C gave an address celebrating Cumming's life and highlighting the immense contribution Cumming made to the creation and survival of SIS.
'C' was born Mansfield George Smith on 1 April 1859 in south London to an upper middle-class family. He chose to adopt the additional surname, Cumming, on his marriage to his second wife, May Cumming, and he later tended to be known merely as Cumming.
A son of the Empire, Cumming embarked upon a career in the Royal Navy. He went to Dartmouth in 1872 and by 1881 had reached the rank of Lieutenant. He did not have an especially glittering naval career and retired in December 1885 on 'active half pay'. Cumming decided to rejoin the Royal Navy in 1898 on the 'active retired list', and was suitably deployed on the south coast experimenting in techniques of harbour boom defence.
Cumming's unremarkable mainstream naval career made him an unlikely choice to be head of the Foreign Section of the Secret Service Bureau formed in the autumn of 1909 to respond to the growing threat from Imperial Germany. We are still not sure why Admiral Bethell, the Director of Naval Intelligence, nominated him. However, there is no question that subsequent events were to show that Cumming was most definitely the man for the job. His keen enthusiasm for technology reveals that this man, born at the height of the Victorian age, was fully attuned to the 20th Century. He became a lover of motor car and motor boat racing and acquired a pilot's licence in 1913 (aged 54). He was a man of lively character and modern outlook.
We are fortunate to have Cumming's diaries - the most important set of historical documents in the Service's possession from this period. From this personal journal we can trace his day to day activities, see his extraordinary capacity for work, his myriad connections at home and abroad and his professional focus on the collection of secret intelligence. We share his frustrations and moments of elation.
Cumming emerged from the First World War honoured by his country. He did not - could not - rest on his laurels for the end of the hostilities and financial limitations raised questions over the need for a foreign intelligence service. Although the Service, known as MI1c but increasingly referred to as SIS, was greatly reduced from its wartime strength, Cumming managed to retain its independence and laid the foundations for its future. This was at a price. His health suffered as a result of the heavy workload he imposed upon himself and the few personal letters available to his biographer reveal his final years as a semi-invalid anticipating (if perhaps not entirely looking forward to) his retirement. In March 1923 he wrote that he was unable to 'leave London 'til the end of August as the man who is taking over my place (Admiral Hugh Sinclair) can't be spared until then'. Cumming was not to be spared either. He died of a heart attack at the Service headquarters at 1 Melbury Road, Holland Park, on 14 June 1923. It was an appropriate point of departure for a man so totally committed to the Service.
Cumming was not merely the founding father of SIS. He set the benchmark for his successors as Chief. His qualities of professionalism, tenacity, loyalty, patriotism and sense of duty have made him a hard act to follow. But he has provided an inspiration for the subsequent 'C's who have sought to continue what he began a hundred years ago in 1909.
