MI6 Christmas card sent to those ‘in the know’ about Bletchley Park
The arrival of MI6 staff and codebreakers at Bletchley Park in 1938 is legendary. This article examines the only known photograph of this event sent as a Christmas card to those ‘in the know'.
Looking for a last-minute Christmas present… Did you know it is possible to gift a paid subscription to one of your favourite people? Click below to give them a month or a whole year of spy history content they might not otherwise be able to fund.
(You can gift anonymously, and you can even schedule the email notification message from you to drop in their inbox on Christmas Day)
At the start of December 1938, the unpredictable vagaries of the English climate saw nothing especially wintry in the air. In London, it was warmer than usual, with residents and visitors subjected to showers of rain that were scarcely noticeable. Shopkeepers and their customers had no idea that by Christmas Eve, old-fashioned festive weather of snow and frost would see local prices of Turkey, vegetables, and cranberries soar. Such a problem did not deter those who had money, including the residents of 3 Carlisle Mansions, an elegant redbrick Victorian mansion block located on a quiet residential street in Westminster.
Lady Evelyn Sinclair busied herself writing ‘rather special’ Christmas cards in one of the large reception rooms. Written on thick blue personalised stationary, the 52-year-old spinster folded the paper in half and wrote in black ink, “Wishing you a very happy Christmas & New Year.” Below, she inserted a rather mundane-looking photograph, capturing ten faceless men and women chatting in front of a country house bathed in sunshine, with some appearing to enter. It is the least festive Christmas card I have ever seen, but it has the best story behind it.
Several copies were made of this extraordinary snapshot and sent to those sworn to secrecy. As the younger sister of the MI6 chief, Admiral Sir Hugh Sinclair, Evelyn had supported her brother in his secret intelligence work since the early 1920s. She may even have been one of the women in the photograph taken a few months earlier, in September 1938, to mark the arrival of what would become later known as ‘Captain Ridley’s shooting party’ (even though there were no guns and birds to shoot).