1. Hugh Sinclair was Director of British Naval Intelligence between 1919 and 1921, and he subsequently helped to set up the Secret Intelligence Service and GCHQ.
11 Facts About Hugh Sinclair
1. 2.
Hugh Sinclair was promoted to lieutenant on 31 December 1894.
3.
Hugh Sinclair entered the Naval Intelligence Division at the beginning of the First World War.
4.
Hugh Sinclair became Director of Naval Intelligence in February 1919 and Chief of the Submarine Service in 1921.
5.
Hugh Sinclair became the second director of SIS in 1923.
6.
Hugh Sinclair was promoted vice-admiral on 3 March 1926 and full admiral on 15 May 1930.
7.
In 1938, with a second war looming, Hugh Sinclair set up Section D, dedicated to sabotage.
8.
Hugh Sinclair was asked in December 1938 to prepare a dossier on Adolf Hitler, for the attention of Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, and Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister.
9.
Hugh Sinclair became seriously ill with cancer, causing Alexander Cadogan to note on 19 October 1939, that he was "going downhill".
10.
On 29 October, Hugh Sinclair underwent an operation for his cancer and died on 4 November 1939, aged 66, five days before the Venlo incident.
11.
Hugh Sinclair married, in 1907, Gertrude Attenborough and had two sons.