Anthony Frederick Blunt ( born Anthony Frederick Blunt , September 26, 1907 , Bournemouth , UK - March 26, 1983 , London ) - British art historian and art historian, agent (source) of Soviet intelligence (1937-51) (refers to the Cambridge Five "), During the war years, an employee of counterintelligence MI5 (1939-45). The public became aware of his work for Soviet intelligence in 1979, when Margaret Thatcher announced this; counterintelligence learned about this earlier, but it remained a secret and he received immunity in exchange for cooperation. The keeper of the Queen's art gallery (1945-1973).
| Anthony Blunt | ||||
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| English Anthony blunt | ||||
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| Place of Birth | Bournemouth , Dorset , UK | |||
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| Occupation | , , , | |||
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A specialist in the work of Nicolas Poussin , to whom his main work is devoted, a monograph of 1967. Professor at the University of London , member of the British Academy (1950) [5] .
Content
- 1 Biography
- 2 Awards
- 3 See also
- 4 notes
Biography
Born in the family of a vicar priest. His mother, Hilda Violet Master (Blunt) was a cousin of Count Strathmore, father of Elizabeth Bose-Lyon , mother of Elizabeth II [6] [7] , Blunt himself, thus, until 1952 was a second cousin of the Queen Consort , and at the time The revelations came from the second cousin of the ruling monarch.
He spent a significant part of his childhood with his family in France, where his father served [8] .
In 1926, he entered with a scholarship in mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge University, but in 1929, due to the death of his father, he stopped studying. He returned to her in the 1930s [9] . In 1935 he visited the USSR with a student group [10] [11] .
He was recruited in 1937 by the agent of the Soviet intelligence Arnold Deutsch [12] through the mediation of G. Burgess . In his memoirs, Blunt calls the decision to work for Soviet intelligence one of the main mistakes in his life [13] [14] [9] , he even wanted to commit suicide because of this [9] . Belongs to the " Cambridge Five ". The operational alias is Johnson [9] . He was never a member of the Communist Party [15] .
Before the outbreak of the war, Blunt recruited an American Michael Straight (later the owner and publisher of the American liberal weekly New Republic and chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and Literature) [10] .
In 1939 [16] he entered the service of the British counterintelligence MI-5 . In the rank of captain participated in the landing in France . For the courage shown during the retreat of the English expeditionary force, he received the Order of the Legion of Honor . In the autumn of 1940, Blunt became an assistant to one of the leaders of the British intelligence brigade leader Allen, who was involved in the security problems of the army and the military industry. At this time, British intelligence managed to recruit an important agent in the apparatus of A.I. Mikoyan , who supplied valuable information to the English resident in Moscow. Blunt helped Soviet intelligence identify this agent.
In 1945 he became an adviser to King George VI and carried out delicate tasks related to the interests of the English crown and related dynasties, for which he received the Royal Victorian Order in 1947, and in 1948 the Dutch Order of Prince Nassau of Orange. It is believed that Blunt did not transmit documents to the Soviet intelligence that compromised the royal family. However, he used his excellent connections in the British government to obtain political information transmitted by the USSR. After exposing Macklin and Burgess , Blunt also came under suspicion of MI-5, but despite this, in 1956 he became commander of the Victorian Order and received the nobility (with the right to be titled “ Sir Anthony”).
In 1951, the Soviet resident in London, Yuri Modin, suggested Blunt to flee to the USSR, which he categorically refused: “I know very well how your people live, and for me such a life is unbearable and unthinkable” [15] . After that, Soviet intelligence ceased relations with him [15] .
In 1964, in a letter to MI-5, Blunt, of his own free will, confessed to his cooperation with Soviet intelligence [17] [18] . In exchange for guarantees of immunity, he pleaded guilty and testified, but his espionage activities remained secret until November 1979, when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher disclosed this information at a meeting of the House of Commons . At that time, Blunt was stripped of his knighthood. The immunity agreement continued, Blunt was not harassed and continued to pursue science.
Interestingly, after the exposure, he received more than two hundred letters of support and only half a dozen negative than he was shocked at [9] .
The Assembly of the University of London, at the suggestion of Isaiah Berlin, did not deprive Blunt of his professorship in order to avoid resemblance to Soviet practice of canceling academic degrees [10] .
In the years 1939-1974. Lecturer, professor of art history , University of London [5] . Since 1945, deputy [10] , in 1947-1974. Curto Institute of Art Director (part of the University of London) [5] .
Died of a heart attack [15] . According to the will, the ashes of his ashes were scattered over the fields of Marlborough, where Blunt attended school [7] .
He was awarded the Soviet military order [19] .
From 1979 to the end of his life, he worked on his memoirs. They were then deposited in the British Library in a sealed container. A quarter of a century was banned from publishing the manuscript until 2009, when they came out as a book of memoirs [9] .
In 2001 - 2012 Miranda Carter’s biography of Anthony Blunt: His Lives, published by Miranda Carter, was released. She’s been working on it since 1994.
Rewards
In 1947, he was promoted to the rank of commander of the Royal Victorian Order [20] , and in 1956 - the knight-commander [21] . In 1979, deprived of the title by decree of the Queen [22] .
In 1948 he became commander of the Order of the Legion of Honor , in 1958 - commander of the Order of the Orange-Nassau [23] .
See also
- Cambridge five
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 BNF identifier : Open Data Platform 2011.
- ↑ 1 2 Encyclopædia Britannica
- ↑ RKDartists
- ↑ SNAC - 2010.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Deceased Fellows - British Academy Archived March 19, 2016 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ George Smith
- ↑ 1 2 A relative of the king of Great Britain worked for Soviet intelligence - Russian newspaper
- ↑ Maneuvers. Maneuvers. Anthony Blunt: member of the magnificent five. Organs Russian military gay guys led by the Author
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 NEWSru.com News :: The memoirs of the Soviet spy Blant were released, stored in a sealed container for 25 years
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Zhanna Dolgopolova: Masks of Anthony Blunt (The Seagull. Number 18 (34) of September 16, 2002) | The Seagull Magazine
- ↑ Soviet Through the Looking Glass. Foreign tourism in the USSR in the 1930-1980s . M. FORUM, 2007, ISBN 9785911341497 . S. 81
- ↑ SVR website (inaccessible link) . Date of treatment August 3, 2010. Archived August 10, 2010.
- ↑ BBC video: The biggest mistake of the Soviet spy
- ↑ BBC Russian - News Feed - Soviet spy Blunt regrets his activities in memoirs
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Journal Hall | Miranda Carter. Anthony Blunt: His Lives. (Miranda Carter. Anthony Blunt: His Lives)
- ↑ Rafail KASHLINSKY: ENGLISH ARISTOCATES AT THE KGB SERVICE [WIN]
- ↑ Cambridge Five: British Intelligence Documents - BBC Russian Service
- ↑ Objects of espionage | Publications | Around the world
- ↑ Anatoly Gorsky at the forefront of foreign intelligence / Special Services / Independent newspaper
- ↑ Supplement 37977, page2577 . The London Gazette (June 6, 1947). Date of treatment July 21, 2017.
- ↑ Supplement 40787, page 3103 . The London Gazette (May 25, 1956). Date of treatment July 21, 2017.
- ↑ Supplement 48005, page 14427 . The London Gazette (November 15, 1979). Date of treatment July 21, 2017.
- ↑ Geoffrey Handley-Taylor. Authors of Wales today . - Eddison Press Ltd, 1972.- S. 17 .-- 76 p.