Eileen, the suburban spy who grilled Nazis ... and kept a machine gun under her bed
TO many of her neighbours in her suburban street Eileen Burgoyne was simply a shy and retiring old lady.
The only hint that there was more to her than met the eye was her occasional mention of having ‘something to do’ with the Second World War. She even hinted at times that she had been a spy.
But the full extent of her involvement in the security services emerged when a Sten gun and a cache of weapons and ammunition were found in her house.
The terraced property in leafy Twickenham, West London, had been sold in February following the spinster’s death and was being done up by builders.
The discovery of weapons caused police to evacuate and cordon off the quiet street.
That led to the uncovering of her secret past in an intelligence unit in the ruins of Nazi Germany – probably helping to interrogate high-ranking prisoners.
Her work as a lieutenant in the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre (CSDIC) emerged after her only traceable relative – a cousin, Georgina Wood – was sent some of her belongings.
Among them were letters and telegrams from the War Office, photos of Hamburg devastated by Allied bombs and, intriguingly, an invitation to a German hotel in 1945.
What is left of Miss Burgoyne’s personal file reveals she had two periods of service, 194547 and 1950-53, and that she was a talented linguist, having studied French and Spanish at college in Manchester.
The Metropolitan Police spokesman who accessed her file said detail about what
‘It is amazing what she got up to’
she was doing for the CSDIC was missing and there was even reference to files having been destroyed, probably for security reasons.
Among the effects sent to Mrs Wood, 67, was the invitation to the Kaiserhof hotel in Bad Pyrmont, just an hour’s drive from the CSDIC centre at Bad Nenndorf. The centre was opened in June 1945 for the interrogation of German prisoners.
The unit’s remit was later expanded to include interviews of those suspected of spying for the Soviet Union. It was shut down in 1947 amid accusations of the maltreatment of detainees.
Ian Cobain, who investigated the subject for his book Cruel Britannia, said Miss Burgoyne may have worked as a typist or translator during the interrogation of prisoners.
He said: ‘Interrogations would have been seen as a man’s job but they sometimes had women in the room typing up what was said. There was a lot of admin that would have needed to be done but if she was a linguist then she may well have been a translator.’
Last night Mrs Wood, of Stockport, said she had had no idea of her distant relative’s fascinating life. ‘If you piece together the big world events and conflicts, she is always there,’ she said last night. ‘It is amazing what she’s been up to. She was in Germany in 1945. Not many people, especially women would be going over to Germany.’
The Sten gun was seized by the police and is thought to have been destroyed. One of Miss Burgoyne’s former neighbours, richard Mar- kell, speculated that she may have kept the weapons at her home as a form of protection during her retirement, or as career souvenirs.
He added: ‘She told my wife she was in MI5. I think it was quite well known that she was a spy. I imagine the guns would be connected with her, although she had a lodger who was there for a few years.
‘My feeling is that she might have felt under some sort of threat because of her job.’
Miss Burgoyne lived in the road for 20 years before her death, aged 97, in April 2013.