Grace's Guide
British Industrial History
Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 132,942 pages of information and 210,195 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.
Edward Russell Clarke
From Graces Guide
Edward Russell Clarke (generally referred to as E. Russell Clarke) was a barrister, automotive pioneer and wireless amateur.
At the outbreak of World War One, Russell Clarke was practising as a barrister in Aberavenny and operating as a wireless amateur using the callsign THX. Together with his friend and fellow wireless amateur Baynton Hippisley based in London, he began isolating wireless signals being sent from overseas espite the official call to confiscate all privately-owned wireless receivers. The two had isolated and reported a number of regular signals they believed to be from German naval wireless stations at Neumunster and Norddeich.
Their report was passed onto the Admiralty's Intelligence Division and so, along with many other such amateurs, they were sent to work for Naval Intelligence as 'voluntary interceptors' (VIs) and reported their signals intelligence back to Room 40.
Together with Baynton Hippisley, Russell Clarke was sent to Hunstanton, Norfolk to establish a listening station there. The two amateurs were given permission to set up a listening post at Hunstanton, the highest point nearest the German coast which eventually became the basis for 14 listening posts[1]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Times, Apr 16, 1956
- West, Nigel. GCHQ: The Secret Wireless War, 1900-86. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1986, 33.