Jourdain, Francis William Seymour (Oral history)

British officer served with 6th Battalion, Connaught Rangers in Ireland and on Western Front, 1916-1917; served as staff officer with Headquarters, 47th Bde on Western Front, 1917; served with Headquarters, 16th Div on Western Front, 1918; served with North Russian Relief Force in Russia, 1919; served with Headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, 1920-1921; served with Headquarters of British Silesian Force in Upper Silesia, 1921-1922; served with various units of Royal Corps of Signals in India and GB, 1924-1937; civilian served with Signals Directorate, Air Ministry in GB, 1937-1939; served as signals officer with MI6 in GB, 1939.

REEL 1 Background in Clifton, 1898-1912. Recollections of period at Marlborough School, 1912-1915: prior preparatory education; living conditions; concentration on classics; importance of sport; question of OTC activities and reactions to outbreak of war, 4/8/1914; decision to apply to Sandhurst and passing examination. Period at Royal Military College, Sandhurst, 9/1915-1/1916: concentration on basic infantry training; background to commission into Connaught Rangers, 26/1/1916. Recollections of period with 3rd Bn Connaught Rangers at Kinsale Barracks, Ireland, 1/1916-7/1916: story illustrating inexperience as officer; Roman Catholic composition of unit and reception as English Protestant; signals training; story of failed raid to arrest suspected Irish insurgent following Easter Rising, 4/1916; relationship with other ranks, NCOs and officer's servant. REEL 2 Continues: attending signalling course; relationship with officers and lack of briefing from veterans on conditions on Western Front; nature of officers' mess; pay; reactions to posting to 6th Bn Connaught Rangers on Western Front after prior protest over posting to Salonika, 7/1916; question of kitting out. Reactions to bayonet course at Infantry Base Depot, Etaples, France, 7/1916. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine with 6th Bn Connaught Rangers in Loos sector, Bethune area, 7/1916-8/1916: ignorance of nature of shellfire on arrival at Noeux-les-Mines; opinion of Lieutenant Colonel Sir Lennox Cunningham and consequent regular nature of unit; first approach to front line; reactions to German shellfire and personal morale; opinion of company commander and his subsequent discovery wearing false decoration; relationship with NCOs; hospitalisation with trench fever; nature of dugouts. REEL 3 Continues: food rations and question of cigarette smoking; question of officers wearing other ranks' uniforms and webbing to avoid easy identification by Germans; role of officer's servant; latrines; fatigue and story of being caught having falling asleep on duty; question of night time activities in No Man's Land; relationship with other ranks including role in maintaining morale and question of officer shot in back by his platoon, 1917; German shellfire; sniping; question of mining activities; state of morale; question of lice problem; aspects of rest periods. Recollections of period in Somme area, 9/1916: effects of continuous shellfire; situation on rejoining unit on night following attack at Guillemont, 3/9/1916; opinion of Lieutenant Colonel Fielding; role as temporary signal officer during attack on Guinchy, 9/9/1916, including subsequent appointment as adjutant. REEL 4 Continues: role as temporary signal officer during attack on Guinchy, 9/9/1916, including signallers role in repairing telephone lines, subsequent appointment as adjutant and reactions to previous adjutant's return to GB with sudden attack of trench fever; role of adjutant; reactions to first view of tanks; relief by Guards unit; role as adjutant in supervising running orderly room and status as senior subaltern; difficulty in riding horse whilst moving out of line. Recollections of period in Messines sector, Ypres area, Belgium, 12/1916-6/1917: appointment as signaller officer following replacement as adjutant by former Guards NCO; question of saluting drill for officers; story of No 1 Field Punishment awarded to soldier, his claim to have shared in action for which Corporal Thomas Hughes won Victoria Cross and question of prestige of VC in his unit; story of acquittal of court martial of officer returning from leave drunk; question of lack of enthusiasm for front line service of returning regulars wounded in 1914-1915; situation; opinion of policy of trench raids and consequent casualties to identify opposing German units; account of role as brigade forward signal officer attack on Messines, 7/6/1917, role taking party of signallers through underground mine gallery into front line, effects of mine detonations, 03.10; move though gallery. REEL 5 Continues: account of role as brigade forward signal officer attack on Messines, 7/6/1917, including reactions on arriving at scene of direct shell hit on headquarters of 7th Bn Leinster Regt, limited effects of shells detonation on dry ground and story of destroying rum jar found by signallers, story of award of Military Medal to officer's servant for preparing lunch, reactions to temporary shell shock symptoms and view of German POWs. Recollections of period as staff officer with Headquarters, 47th Bde on Western Front, 6/1918: background to appointment as brigade signal officer; nature of Ypres offensive; opinion of Brigadier Perera; role of brigade major, staff captain, signal officer, 'staff learner' and intelligence officer; opinion of strategy of Third Battle of Ypres, 1917; increasing identification with brigade staff and specialists; methodical nature of German shellfire on Menin Road; comparison of ground conditions and situation in Ypres and Somme areas. Period as staff officer with 16th Div on Western Front, 1918: signs of imminent German offensive; application for GB leave, 3/1918. Period with 6th Bn Connaught Rangers on Western Front, 1918: role training US troops; award of temporary rank of captain opinion of US troops. REEL 6 Continues: disbandment of unit. Period with 5th Bn Connaught Rangers on Western Front, 1918: difficult relationship with adjutant; success in securing return to HQ, 16th Div. Recollections of period as staff officer with HQ, 16th Div on Western Front, 1918: role as divisional intelligence officer (GSO3) and role of GSO1 and GSO2; billets; signals system; updated maps; visiting units; story of unexpected visit of corps commander and question of his function; officers' mess; relationship between staff and regimental officers; opinion of various generals including Plumer and Haig; story of ordering division to advance in absence of senior staff and error in ration arrangements; contrasting attitude of French and Belgian civilians on liberation; question of future career as regular staff officer and reaction to requirement for private income; story of divisional commander being locked in lavatory; awareness of inner workings of division. Period on GB leave, 10/1918-12/1918: attack of influenza, 10/1918; reactions to Armistice, 11/11/1918; extension of leave. REEL 7 Continues: question of rejoining unit. Attending intelligence course at Harrow School on detachment from 3rd Bn Connaught Rangers at Dover, 1918-1919. Period as adjutant with 1st Bn Connaught Rangers, at Dover, 1919: checking mess silver; state of unit; imminent posting to India; opinion of Major Payne; relative preponderance of majors and relationship with subalterns; opinion of various officers; question of problems amongst other ranks families caused by imminent posting to India against background of problems in Ireland and possible role in subsequent mutiny of 1st Bn Connaught Rangers in India, 1920, opinion of various officers at time of mutiny of 1st Bn Connaught Rangers in India, 1920, including Leslie Badham, Michael Leary VC, Godfrey Massey, Gerald Allen, Francis Foott, Henry Nolan-Ferrell and Edmund Truell; question of usual battalion complement of majors and role of second in command; opinion of various officers at time of mutiny of 1st Connaught Rangers in India, 1920, including Owen Lloyd, Robert Payne, William Alexander, Henry Deacon, William O'Brien, Albert Mulligan, Standish O'Coffey, Charles Bagot, Vincent Merrogh, Henry Kirkwood. REEL 8 Continues: opinion of various officers at time of mutiny of 1st Bn Connaught Rangers in India, 1920, including Thomas Jennings, Desmond McWeeney, Patrick Sarsfield and Henry Hoseason. Recollections of period as intelligence officer with North Russia Relief Force in Russia, 8/1919-10/1919: background to posting; lack of briefing; acting as ship's adjutant during voyage out aboard Kursk to Murmansk; story illustrating remote nature of fighting; reporting to Lieutenant Colonel Blennerhassett commanding Intelligence Section of Murmansk Force at Medveja Gora; role checking papers of train passengers aboard trains; story of rejecting bribe offer whilst guarding train full of alleged Bolsheveiks; composition of intelligence section; opinion of Blennerhassett; role checking papers of train passengers aboard trains; story of rejecting bribe offer whilst guarding train full of alleged Bolsheveiks; question of execution of Bolsheviks by British staff officer; story of attending execution of party of suspected Bolsheviks; Russian POW servant; evacuation by rail, 10/1919; lack of effective role as non-Russian speaker; attitude to Bolsheviks. REEL 9 Continues: background to evacuation of NRRF, 10/1919; reactions to evacuation and subsequent fate of White Russians; return to GB, 10/1919; rejection of offered civic reception for North Russian Relief Force at Newcastle upon Tyne. Posting to 2nd Bn Connaught Rangers at Dover, 1919-1920. Posting as signals cypher officer to GHQ, Dublin, 1920-1921: story illustrating responsible role as night duty officer; overnight telegrams requesting clemency for victims of death penalty; billets and necessity for security precautions; role as night duty and cypher officer; story of threat from Sinn Fein insurgents during tram journey; story of carrying small pistol; question of internal security situation including risk of attack by Sinn Fein insurgents, role of British auxiliaries and question of sympathy for Republican movement; nature of cypher codes used and story of subsequent coding problem caused by continental '7'. Recollections of period as cypher officer with Headquarters of British Silesian Force based at Oppeln and Gross Strehlitz in Upper Silesia, 5/1921-7/1922: journey to Berlin carrying code-books and story of leaving code-books in left luggage office; story of subsequently being given precedence in hotels whilst on leave in Berlin; situation and General William Heneker's policy of enforcing staged retreat of German and Polish forces from disputed area; attachment to Heneker's separate headquarters staff at Gross Strehlitz; delay in deciding frontier line between Germany and Poland; opinion of Heneker. REEL 10 Continues: billets at Turawa Schloss; question of operation of non-fraternisation rule with German civilians; riding horses; story of meeting veteran of Franco-Prussian War, 1870; headquarters guard; story of British soldier assaulting former German NCO; role as cypher officer, nature of codes used, story of coding problem caused by continental '7' and lack of espionage role; story of visit to HQ of Polish irregular forces over question of atrocities committed by Polish and Germans in conflict; question of British attitude to German and Polish forces; story of photographing group of Polish irregulars; question of relationship with French and Italian forces and role of High Commission; delay in deciding frontier line between Germany and Poland; question of compensation for damage to billets at Turawa Schloss; story of retrieving Lady Heneker's dress and attempt to prevent attack German civilians attacking female collaborator on evacuation of Allied forces from Oppeln, 7/1922. Reactions to disbandment of Connaught Rangers and background to decision to join Royal Corps of Signals, 1922. REEL 11 Continues: Reactions to disbandment of Connaught Rangers and brief posting to Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry prior to posting as captain to newly formed Royal Corps of Signals, 1922. Period training with Royal Corps of Signals in GB, 1922-1923: signals training; disparate origins of officers; leave. Recollections of period with Royal Corps of Signals in India, 1924: initial problems over missing unit stores and money on taking over command of 'F' Divisional Signals at Jubulpore; reserve nature and composition of unit; preparations for posting to North-West India; replacement in command of unit; relationship with Indian personnel including requirement to learn Hindustani, status of Indian officers and competence as signallers; social life based on club and drinking habits; posting as signals instructor to Royal Corps of Signals Depot at Jubulpore, 1925-1928; question of progress of career; marriage; return to GB, 1928. Various postings in GB and Latvia, 1928-1932: view of soldiers going into Aldershot; opinion of precedence given to sport in regular army; qualification as interpreter after period learning Russian language with former Russian aristocrat in Latvia. REEL 12 Continues: qualification as interpreter after period learning Russian language with former Russian aristocrat in Latvia. Recollections of period in India, 1932-1937: reactions to India posting; relationship with superior officers on initial posting to with 1st Indian Divisional Signals at Rawalpindi,; status of Indian signal officers; posting to Waziristan District Signals at Dera Ismail Khan on North West Frontier; story of taking disguised wife on unofficial trip around outposts; nature of operations on North-West Frontier; relationship with Indian servants. Background to retirement from army following War Office decision to block promotion to lieutenant-colonel, 1937: role of prior involvement in controversial divorce case, subsequent access to personal papers during service with MI6; circumstances of divorce case. Work as Signals Directorate, Air Ministry, 1937-1938: army refusal to allow Jourdain's transfer to RAF; duties; question of differences in approach to rank in RAF. Work as signals officer with MI6, 1939: recruitment procedure; initial offices at 54 Broadway, London and move to Warrren Hall, Bletchley; organisation of signals office; duplicated signals communications system and role visiting British embassies in Europe; illustration of codes employed.