Allan Rowley

Frederick Allan Rowley CMG OBE MC (27 July 1922 – 28 July 2014) was a British Army officer, Foreign Office diplomat, and Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) controller.

Early life

He was born on 27 July in 1922 Rajputana, British India, the son of RQMS Rowley, Worcestershire Regiment. He was educated at Haig School, Aldershot.[1]

Career

From 1941 to 1945, Rowley served with 5/10th Baluch Regiment of the British Indian Army in India and Burma.[2]

Rowley "developed notable leadership qualities", fighting in Burma and southeast Asia, and was "just the sort of man the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), or MI6, was looking for", according to his obituary in The Times.[1]

Rowley joined the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) in 1948.[3]

In 1963, Rowley completed a three-year secondment with the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), and became responsible for intelligence gathering in Rhodesia, under John Debenham Taylor.[3]

Rowley was an MI6 Controller, and the first head of the Northern Ireland Assessment Staff, a joint MI5/MI6 operation, based on the top floor of Stormont Castle, until he was succeeded in 1974 by MI5's Denis Payne.[4]

Honours

Rowley was awarded the Military Cross for his exploits in the Burmese jungle.[1]

In the 1959 Birthday Honours Rowley, then listed as "First Secretary, Foreign Office", was awarded an OBE.[5] In the 1978 New Year Honours, then listed as "Counsellor, Foreign & Commonwealth Office", he was awarded a CMG.[6]

Personal life

He met his future wife, the "vivacious" Anne Cresswell, an SIS secretary, at a roof party in Cairo in 1945.[1] They had four children: Charlotte, Sarah, Joanna and Nicholas. His daughter Sarah married the art dealer Johnny Van Haeften.[1]

References
  1. "Allan Rowley". The Times. 12 October 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  2. "Rowley, Frederick Allan (Oral history)". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  3. Nigel West (30 June 2016). At Her Majestys Secret Service: The Chiefs of Britains Intelligence Service, MI6. Pen & Sword Books. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-84832-895-2.
  4. Martin Pearce (1 September 2016). Spymaster: The Life of Britain's Most Decorated Cold War Spy and Head of MI6, Sir Maurice Oldfield. Transworld. pp. 263–. ISBN 978-1-4735-2535-1.
  5. "Page 3697 | Supplement 41727, 5 June 1959 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk.
  6. "Page 1 | Supplement 47418, 30 December 1977 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk.
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