In 1943 Evan Morgan, Lord Tredegar of Tredegar House, Newport, South Wales was a Captain ( acting Major ) in the Royal Signals Corps, attached to MI 14, a branch of the Intelligence Services based at Wing House, Piccadilly, in London’s West End. This section of the army dealt with the use of carrier pigeons by the military. Pigeons were used in past wars to carry important, coded messages.
In World War 2 they were requisitioned for use in a number of ways by the British Army, the RAF and also the Resistance in Holland and the Low countries. The messages were carried in special coloured containers on the legs of the birds or pouches on their backs. Evan’s lowly job was largely a desk bound one, but it included liaison with the pigeon fanciers/ breeders in Southern England.
This task involved some travel to meet the men who had given up their precious birds, moreover Evan was expected to keep the breeders’ morale up, since the mortality of the average bird was high. Evan was a man who enjoyed being at the centre of attention and revelled in sounding off about his own importance. In the course of ‘acting big’ he was careless about giving secret information about the work of MI14 to several people who were not entitled to have it, this included a group of pigeon breeders in Ipswich ( when Evan was visiting there for a meeting). He was also negligent in what details he passed on to a fellow officer who was a member of the Royal Medical Corps. There were additional disclosures made by Evan to two girl guides – who were on a PR visit to Wing House – this information was about the meaning of some positions flagged up on an operations map hanging up in one of the rooms. Evan was overheard making the various careless remarks about his work, he was reported and charged with three offences under the Official Secrets Act. He was tried and sentenced and found guilty on two of the three charges and ‘severely reprimanded’.
The full story is told in the book “ ASPECTS OF EVAN : THE LAST VISCOUNT TREDEGAR. ISBN 9781905914159. This book contains a complete transcript of the Court Martial and the sentence passed. This disgrace led to Evan eventually leaving the army giving a leg injury as the reason. In all Evan served in the army in the Second World War for a few months, he was appointed to MI 14 in November 1942 and was Court martialled in April 1943. Despite the official records – and published sources based on the War Office files in National Archives and these files being completely accessible and available in the public domain there are still LIES and NONSENSE told about Evan in this period albeit a humiliating episode in Evan’s army career. Enough is enough! The lies told are reprehensible and unacceptable. They have been fuelled from time to time by newspaper articles such as in the news archives of Wales On Line and books about the second world war.
This doctoring of history – and leaving damaged history uncorrected is a bad reflection on the integrity of a Welsh publication produced by a major news organisation that wishes to be taken seriously about recording true facts and ensuring accuracy on its telling of Welsh and British history. Despite having pointed matters out regarding the inaccuracies ( that have now been published at least twice in the last two years ) the Editor of Wales on Line, has not had the good grace ( to date) to acknowledge a letter sent over a week ago. This is shameful, especially since they know they are culpable. Beware the surrogates of the history fraudsters who bathe Evan in a sort of romantic, heroic glory under the banner of what they call news and history and a good copy for what is deemed a better story than the truth. That cannot be right or acceptable history. Evan’s history warrants the unvarnished truth, readers of books, newspapers articles that feature Evan and visitors to Tredegar House should tell the truth too. Those who find the lies just a better story to tell in print or to relay to visitors at Tredegar House are equally shameless and dishonest. The National Trust -who are the present caretakers of Tredegar House should monitor for any rot and expunge any false stories and lies about Evan and the war. Any queries about this article please contact the Author William Cross, by e-mail. williecross@aol.com williecross@virginmedia.com
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