'Buster' Crabb

Ian Fleming's Favourite Spy, The Inspiration for James Bond

Don Hale

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780750993784, 9780750945745
• eBook ISBN: 9780752471860
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

Lionel 'Buster' Crabb was a drinker, a gambler, a womaniser and a lover of fast cars and gadgets. On top of all that, he was a spy, an acquaintance of Ian Fleming and the inspiration for James Bond.

A British naval frogman and bomb disposal expert, Crabb worked directly under Fleming during the Second World War at Naval Intelligence and went on to conduct covert operations for both SIS and MI5. Elements from Crabb's dangerous missions and eccentric lifestyle were later incorporated into Fleming's novels. His inventions sparked the role of Q; Miss Moneypenny was based on Crabb's aunt, Kitty Jarvis; and his underwater battle with enemy divers became a crucial scene in Thunderball. During a secret drive beneath a Russian warship in 1957, Crabb disappeared without a trace. One year later, a decapitated and handless body was found, sparking a major row between the government, the secret services and the Admiralty that still smoulders today.

CHAPTER ONE

MISSING IN ACTION

On a bitter cold day in March 1918, a chill wind seemed to whistle through nearly every crack and crevice of the small house in Streatham, south London. Beatrice Crabb was well wrapped against the elements. She wore an old cardigan draped around her shoulders, a pair of warm mittens on her hands and two pairs of woollen socks on her feet.

Whilst pulling at the curtains to lessen the draught, she suddenly stopped and dreamily watched as the cold winter sun slowly disappeared below the horizon, scattering a spectacular blood red and pale blue haze of colour across the tops of the fir trees by the park. She knelt down and put a few of her 9-year-old son Lionel’s toys away in an old tea chest. Just like many other housewives and mothers of that era, Beatrice was just trying to keep busy to take her mind off her husband’s absence during the First World War.

A few minutes earlier, she had begun preparations for supper. The table was set, with three sets of placemats, knives, forks and spoons. Several pans bubbled and hissed on the stove in the kitchen, and some plates were being warmed in the hearth. There was a strong, warm smell of vegetable broth and onions, with cups and saucers prepared for when the kettle boiled. Beatrice always kept her house spotlessly clean. She also maintained a demanding schedule.

She worked part-time at a local bakery while raising her very active young boy – mainly on her own – while her husband Hugh served his country somewhere on the Western Front. Unusually, she had not heard back from him for more than a fortnight. He normally wrote several times a week but she knew that with this freeze, the troops were probably sheltering whenever they could.

Beatrice always kept a place at the table for Hugh just in case he returned home on unexpected leave. Beatrice was tall, attractive and slightly old fashioned in her manner and appearance. She was, however, a very determined young woman with a positive outlook on life.

She stood for a moment at the corner of the room and smiled as she watched Lionel at play. He was well away in his own private world, completely oblivious to any other distraction. She listened as he began to bark out imaginary orders to a collection of brightly coloured lead soldiers. In one hand he held a wooden sailing ship, delicately hand-carved by his father during a brief spell of home leave just before this last ‘Big Push’. For Lionel this ship was something special. He thought it contained magical qualities and provided essential covering fire for a land-based assault by his toy soldiers. He carefully positioned them around the back of a table leg in support, waiting for the command to attack.

He called the red soldiers ‘infantrymen’ in recognition of his father. This latest battle may have been a fierce re-enactment of some major skirmish on the Turkish mainland as read out by Hugh from newspaper extracts, praising the bravery and heroics of his colleagues. Beatrice yawned and suddenly felt very tired.

She stroked her long dark hair back behind her ears and pulled it into a ponytail. She tied it back securely and stared back into the room. Then she pulled another cloth from her apron pocket and started to wipe the top of the mantelpiece, before dusting some ornaments, and folding her ironing. She walked back towards the kitchen, knowing the kettle would soon be ready. Lionel looked up just as she left the room but remained silent. His mind was still occupied with military and maritime adventures.

Lionel could hear his mother rattling pans and cleaning up in the kitchen when suddenly there was a very loud knock on the door. Beatrice shouted that it was probably for him, but said he couldn’t go out, as it was too late and too dark. Lionel looked down the hallway, and when she opened the door, he could see that it was a young telegram boy, who held out a small brown envelope, whilst trying to balance his bicycle. Lionel knew the boy. He was a member of the local Sunday school, and was also the eldest son of a friend of his mother’s. She had kept telling Lionel to join this particular lad at church, saying he always set a good example.

He could see his mother staring at the boy. For some reason, she didn’t want to accept the envelope. He couldn’t understand what was happening. His mother seemed shocked and surprised that he had come to her house. He heard her ask the boy if he had come to the right address. He couldn’t hear his reply. He saw the boy turn the envelope over to read out: ‘No. 4, Greyswood Street, Streatham. Mrs Beatrice Crabb?’ Everyone in the street knew his mother as ‘Daisy’. Lionel told his friends that she had always hated her real name.

‘Mrs Beatrice Crabb?’ asked the boy again. He saw his mother hang her head. He thought she looked pale even in the reflection of the streetlight. She held out her hand again, and watched as the messenger turned away. She began to read the message. Lionel could see that she was struggling. Her hands were shaking. She automatically stepped back inside the house, and into the brighter light of the oil lamp in the hallway. She turned, smiled and patted Lionel on his head. He could see tears in her eyes. He asked her something but she didn’t hear him and just muttered: ‘No. It’s not for you.’

Daisy read the short message again in case there had been some terrible mistake. The messenger boy asked if there was any reply. ‘No, no reply.’ She then gripped the boy’s arm and asked him to let his mother know. She closed the door and stepped back into the kitchen. She sat down heavily on a wooden stool and sighed. Lionel instinctively ran into the kitchen and stood next to her. He could see the top of the note. It gave an address at the War Office. It also gave her address as ‘next of kin’ and stated: ‘To Mrs Beatrice Crabb, we beg to inform you that No. 25894, Lance Corporal Hugh Alexander Crabb, of the 8th Battalion East Surrey Regiment, has been reported missing in action at Pozières.’

Beatrice couldn’t read any more and screwed up the telegram in her clenched fist. Lionel didn’t know what to do or say. He was upset because his mother was upset, but didn’t really know why. His mother grabbed and hugged him tight. She held him so hard that he could hardly breathe. Neither said a word and tears streamed down their cheeks. After a few minutes she just pushed him away, wiped his face, and calmly said: ‘Your father’s missing!’

***

More than thirty years later, when Lionel was sitting in a bar swathed in cigarette smoke, he would tell colleagues the story of how he learned of his father’s death. He said it had been the worst moment of his life. His eyes filled each time he told the story and he said he could still feel the same sense of breathlessness each time he faced a difficult dive. Once, he claimed he had even seen the ghostly face of his father, Hugh Crabb, rising from the ocean depths.

Lionel said his mother never really gave up hope. She spoke about him constantly. As the youngster began to make his way in the world he recalled how his father talked of witnessing many acts of courage on the battlefield, and of how he had tried to cope with the loss of friends and comrades while serving his ‘King and Country’. He said his father had written many letters home on behalf of fallen comrades, and mentioned his familiar phrase, the need for a ‘stiff upper lip’. Just how much this really affected the early life of Lionel Crabb, one can only guess. Hugh’s body was never found.

Some said it was a token final surge, which gained a few hundred yards in yet another blood-soaked, shell-holed battlefield. Others claimed it was a successful counter-attack. Crabb’s father and numerous others never even enjoyed the dignity of a proper family funeral. Instead, the Commonwealth Graves Commission at Pozières engraved his name among 14,644 others on the grand Memorial to the Fallen Heroes. Hugh’s date of death is shown as 22 March 1918. He was just 40 years old.

For Daisy Crabb, it took a few more days for the full implication of the news to sink in. At 37, she was a war widow and a single parent. She worked part time as a baker and later obtained additional temporary work as a cook to a large family, working at times in the early morning and late evening. Occasionally, both jobs overlapped and Lionel was left with friends, neighbours or relatives.

Daisy had little money but refused to accept charity, or sympathy. However, she knew she would eventually require some financial support for Lionel’s education. Her own parents and grandparents had long since died. Daisy remained thankful for the generous support of close relatives, in particular the Jarvis family, headed by her wealthy cousin Frank Jarvis and his wife Florence, who was better known as ‘Kitty’. Other support came from Frank’s sister, Kate, also from Bessie and Ada, all fondly referred to as ‘Aunts’. Daisy was related to the Jarvis clan via her grandfather Joseph Adshead, who married Harriett Ross, an aunt to Frank’s father Edward. The powerful influence of the wealthy Jarvis family featured strongly in Lionel Crabb’s early upbringing – and remained throughout much of his life.

CHAPTER TWO

FAMILY TIES

The predicament of the Crabb family at the end of the First World War was no different from countless others of that time. As Lionel later told colleagues, by the end of hostilities in November 1918, half his classmates had lost the main ‘breadwinner’. The cruelty of losing a husband so close to the end of the war was not lost on Daisy, who contacted her cousin Kate, also bereaved of her partner. For a while they comforted each other and shared the care of their children but for society as a whole the loss of almost a whole generation of young men was incalculable. Daisy admitted to a few long periods of depression, and the odd drinking spree, which she always tried to hide from Lionel.

How different life might have been if Hugh and Daisy’s elder brother John had escaped from the doom and gloom of Edwardian London just a few years earlier. In 1913, the men had set off for Australia in search of a new life, having read about fantastic opportunities in the New World. They intended to find accommodation and employment ‘Down Under’ before sending for Daisy and young Lionel. However, their exploratory trip was interrupted by developments in the Balkans, with expressive posters of Lord Kitchener summoning young men to war with ‘Your country needs YOU!’ It was believed the conflict would all be over by Christmas.

At 35, Hugh thought he was too old to fight. Yet, he was reluctant to be seen as a coward and saw just how many others were eager to take the ‘King’s shilling’. This included John, who was four years younger. John was very keen to sign up, so they decided to enlist together, and they were placed into an innovative new unit called the ‘London Pals’.

Hugh was a courageous, lively, happy-go-lucky type, who quickly gained his first stripes. He was promoted to Lance Corporal with the East Surrey’s, and when he came home on leave, or wrote to Lionel and Daisy between battles, he always tried to play down the full horrors of life at the Front.

Lionel was just 5 years old when the First World War began, yet throughout his life, he was able to recall sitting on his father’s knee and listening intently to his tales of heroism. For Lionel, the trappings of war were far more exciting than mere toys, and he remained fascinated by Hugh’s campaign medals, his polished lapel and cap badges, uniform, helmet and rifle. For Daisy, however, the war marked the beginning of a long struggle to survive.

In addition to a new life in Australia, Hugh, Daisy and Lionel might also have enjoyed the security of a generous inheritance had not William James Crabb, Lionel’s paternal grandfather, suddenly died at the age of 45. William had become a wealthy corn merchant, adding generously to his own status and wealth when he married the beautiful Lavinia, the daughter of a prominent London merchant.

It seems that until William’s sudden death, the family lived in relative splendour, employing at least two servants. They resided at a number of exclusive addresses including a very fashionable detached town house, known as St Mary’s Lodge, on Lordship Road, Stoke Newington. Records describe this property as one of a number of ‘grand homes for gentlemen’.

William Crabb’s house was designed by one of the country’s leading architects of the time, John Young, and included rare arched windows and terracotta brickwork accents. In 1871, according to the deeds, 33-year-old William James Crabb moved into the property with his young wife Lavinia, their young daughter Lavinia Maud, aged three, and infant son Alfred Philips, who also became a well known architect. Hugh, Lionel Crabb’s father, was born six years later.

William’s unexpected death, twelve years after purchasing the property, affected the family business and it quickly fell into decline. His wife Lavinia died just five years later, leaving Hugh and his brother Alfred to the care of their 16-year-old sister, Lavinia Maud. Remarkably, she performed this task admirably well, and in 1901 she married Edward Henry Lovell, enjoying a well-to-do lifestyle, even employing two servants of her own.

Upon his sister’s marriage, Hugh Alexander Crabb was left to fend for himself. Having lost both parents by the time he was 12, and with money hard to find, he had to forfeit any hopes of further education by finding work. He was always interested in art and photography, and managed to obtain a job as a travelling salesman for a firm of photographic materials merchants. It is likely he met Daisy through her father, Jonas Taylor Goodall, who was also a salesman. Hugh’s occupation is listed as ‘commercial traveller’ in the 1901 census and the same title also appeared on his death certificate.

***

When Hugh Crabb was lost in the Great War, the boy’s ‘uncle’, Frank Jarvis, willingly and voluntarily took on a vital role to help with the young boy’s education and development. At 36, Frank was about four years younger than Hugh, and about the same age as Daisy. The pair had shared much of their childhood and were good friends. Frank had made his mark in the world of commerce some thirteen years earlier, in 1905, as a budding entrepreneur, when he and his business partner, Howard Garner, rented some temporary premises at 13 Paternoster Row, close to St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

They began by importing unmarked American pens and introducing them to the British market. The Crabb family explained this was the beginning of a successful international production and marketing company, which eventually provided employment for several family members. For some unexplained reason, the partners called the firm Conway Stewart after two well-known musical entertainers of that period.

About a year later, they started to sell revolutionary self-filling and self-cleaning fountain pens, known as ‘American bulb fillers’. That same year, Frank’s brother Stanley joined the board as a director. This allowed the founders’ to concentrate on marketing and producing a unique low-cost and reliable pen for the mass markets. The business expanded rapidly, achieving worldwide acclaim. Some of their first pens were made from vulcanite rubber, and were produced from new premises at Upper Thames Street.

***

Frank’s wife, Catherine Florence (née Bishop), known as ‘Kitty’, was also a childhood friend of Lionel’s mother Daisy. The Bishop family were regular visitors to the Jarvis household and Daisy, Kitty and Frank all played together as children.

It is perhaps not too surprising, therefore, that in later years, and at about the same as Frank began his pen business, he and Kitty formed a romantic liaison. They married in 1907. Kitty was the daughter of Charles William Bishop and Catherine Sarah North. Her father was a chief telegraphonist, initially with the Post Office, and then within the Civil Serv...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Prologue
• Introduction
• 1 Missing in Action
• 2 Family Ties
• 3 Life at Sea and a Scandal
• 4 Jack of All Trades
• 5 Going East
• 6 Anthony Blunt and Friends
• 7 Bomb and Mine Disposal
• 8 Gibraltar
• 9 Operation Torch
• 10 James Bond and General Sikorski
• 11 The Italian Job
• 12 The Restoration of Venice
• 13 Friends in High Places
• 14 International Operations
• 15 Salvaging a Career
• 16 The Truculent Disaster
• 17 Admiralty Business and the Affray
• 18 Scotland Again and the Sverdlov
• 19 The Final Dive
• 20 Classified Information
• 21 Body of Evidence
• 22 Cold War Warriors
• 23 Secrets and Lies
• Epilogue
• Note on Sources
• Further Reading