Edinkillie War Memorial, Morayshire, Scotland

Edinkillie War Memorial, Morayshire, Scotland

Extract from the Edinkillie War Memorial Webpage:- Lieutenant Alastair M. S. Cumming from Logie, Lieutenant, 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders. Alastair was born on 14th December 1889 in Kensington, London, the only son of Commander Sir Mansfield Smith Cumming RN KCMG CB and Lady Cumming. They lived at 2 Whitehall Court, London and at Logie. He was baptised on 5th February 1890 at Paddington, St Stephen. In 1901 he was at school in Horsell, near Chobham and later he was educated in Woolwich. He joined the 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders in 1909 and was serving at Chaubattia, India in 1911. He was home on leave from Agra when war broke out and was offered a staff position in the BEF.Alastair was Mentioned in Despatches in September 1914 for gallant and distinguished service in the field. Mansfield and his son Alastair were both fond of speed and were very fast drivers. On 1st October 1914, Mansfield had picked his son up from GHQ for ten days leave in Paris. Alastair was driving his father’s Rolls Royce Silver Ghost at 60 mph when they hit an unlit farm cart and then a tree. They lay in the wreckage for nine hours. They were both taken to hospital in Meaux. Alastair died there of his injuries on 2nd October 1914. He was 29 years old. Alastair is buried in Meaux New Communal Cemetery Grave 424. In 1909 his Father, Sir Mansfield Smith Cumming became Director of the new Foreign Section of the Secret Intelligence Bureau (SIB), later MI6. He became known as “C” after his habit of signing his name as “C” in green ink. He was involved in the arrest of twenty two German spies at the outbreak of war and also in the arrest and trial of Sir Roger Casement, found guilty of treason in 1916. At its peak, he employed 400 agents in his network known as “La Dame Blanche”, who were reporting on German troop movements in Northern France and Belgium. His first wife died in 1885. On 13th March 1889 Mansfield married Lesley Marian (May) Valiant Cumming. She had inherited Logie in 1880 on the death of her mother, Mrs Lockhart Muir Valiant Cumming, who had in turn inherited Logie from her father, Alexander Cumming. Lesley was the Granddaughter of Lesley Cumming (nee Baillie) regaled in Burns Poem “Bonnie Lesley”. As part of the marriage settlement Mansfield changed his name from Smith to Smith Cumming. He lost the lower part of his right leg in the accident that killed his son, but was back at work at his desk in London within six weeks. In July 1919 he was awarded a KCMG in recognition of his wartime service. To the end of his life Cumming retained an infectious, if sometimes eccentric, enthusiasm for the tradecraft and mystification of espionage,experimenting personally with disguises, mechanical gadgets, and secret inks in his own laboratory. He died shortly before he was due to retire in 1923. May Cumming died on 3rd March 1938.

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  • Profile picture for Alastair Mansfield Smith-Cumming

    Born 1889

    Died 1914

    British Army Lieutenant Seaforth Highlanders 1st Battalion

    British Army Lieutenant Intelligence Corps