Group    From 22/7/1940  To 15/1/1946

Special Operations Executive (SOE)

Categories: Armed Forces, Espionage

Countries: France, Germany

Spies, basically (but see below), working for the UK in WW2. Formed by Churchill and variously known as "Churchill's Secret Army", "The Baker Street Irregulars", the Pythonesque "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" or the deliberately dull-sounding "Joint Technical Board" or "Inter-Service Research Bureau". 117 SOE agents did not survive their missions to France. There is a plaque outside St Paul’s Church in Knightsbridge which gives the names of the women SOE agents who died in WW2. Culture 24 gives some detail of the SOE activities around Baker Street.

Parachuted into France the women operatives had a life expectancy of only 6 weeks, due, according to current thinking, to the incompetence of the SOE.

The organisation was officially dissolved on 15 January 1946.

2019: Francis Suttill (who interestingly shares a name with a member of the SOE, 1910 – 1945) contacted us via Facebook to question our use of the word 'spy' to describe members of the SOE rather than 'special agent'. From what he writes he knows much more about this subject than we do so we accept his correction.

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Special Operations Executive (SOE)

Commemorated ati

Christine Granville

Christine Granville, born Krystyna Skarbek, 1908 - 1952, SOE agent, lived her...

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Free French plaque

Alamy have a photo of the unveiling.

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Leopold Marks

Jewish cryptographer, Leopold (Leo) Samuel Marks, MBE, lived in flat 410 Park...

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Noor Inayat Khan bust

The Guardian reports: "the first stand-alone memorial to an Asian woman in th...

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Noor Inayat Khan - Taviton Street

Noor Inayat Khan, GC, 1914 - 1944, SOE agent, codename 'Madeleine', stayed he...

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Show all 10

Other Subjects

Flight Lieutenant Wayne Aloes Becker

Flight Lieutenant Wayne Aloes Becker

Wayne Aloes Becker was born on 15 November 1911 in Springfield, Clark County, Ohio, USA, a son of Aloes Seymour Becker (1886-1960) and Etta V. Becker née Rutan (1896-1919). He graduated from Sprin...

Person, Armed Forces, USA

War served, WW2
1 memorial
A. J. Lee

A. J. Lee

Co-partner or employee of the South Suburban Gas Company. Served but did not die in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War served, WW1
1 memorial
National Maritime Museum

National Maritime Museum

One of a trio of Greenwich museums, the others being the Royal Observatory and the Queen's House.

Group, Armed Forces, History, Museums / Libraries, Transport

3 memorials
W. Austin

W. Austin

J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. staff member who died in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Robert Baden-Powell

Robert Baden-Powell

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Person, Armed Forces, Children, Community / Clubs, Seriously Famous, Afghanistan, India, Kenya, South Africa

4 memorials

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Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale

Nurse, statistician, author. Born in Italy (go on, guess which city) while her parents were on the grand tour. Her sister was born one year earlier in Naples, and named Frances Parthenope, the Gree...

Person, Medicine, Seriously Famous, Crimea, Italy, Turkey

6 memorials
Captain John Smith

Captain John Smith

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Person, Exploring, Race Issues, USA

2 memorials
Rahere

Rahere

Founded St Bartholomew's Hospital and Priory in 1123, including the church of St Bartholomew the Great, following a vow made while sick on a pilgrimage to Rome. Prior to that he had been a courtier...

Person, Medicine, Politics & Administration

2 memorials
Heritage Foundation

Heritage Foundation

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Group, Cinema, History, Humour, Music / songs, Sport / Games, Theatre, TV & Radio

64 memorials