36 Facts About Norman Baillie-Stewart

Norman Baillie-Stewart was a British army officer who was arrested in 1933 for espionage, and subsequently convicted and imprisoned.

Norman Baillie-Stewart was an active sympathiser of Nazi Germany, and moved there after his release from prison in 1937; he became a naturalised German citizen in 1940.

Norman Baillie-Stewart was released in 1949 and spent the remainder of his life in Ireland.

Norman Baillie-Stewart's father was Lieutenant Colonel Cron Hope Baillie Wright an officer in the British Indian Army who served in the 62nd Punjabis during the First World War.

Norman Baillie-Stewart's mother was from a family with a long tradition of military service.

Norman Baillie-Stewart graduated tenth in the order of merit and, in February 1929, received a commission as a subaltern in the Seaforth Highlanders, although he soon grew to dislike army life.

In 1929, Norman Baillie-Stewart was posted to the Seaforth's Second Battalion in India.

Norman Baillie-Stewart later replaced the banner on the orders of a senior officer.

Norman Baillie-Stewart returned to England in early 1931 after he had applied for transfer to the Royal Army Service Corps.

Norman Baillie-Stewart replied with a letter to "Herr Obst" in Berlin.

Norman Baillie-Stewart refused to do this and so was charged with offences against the Official Secrets Act.

Norman Baillie-Stewart wrote a further letter to "Herr Obst" in Germany, describing his predicament, which he gave to his Adjutant to post.

On 20 March 1933, Norman Baillie-Stewart was taken to the Tower of London, the authorities believed this was the least-open military establishment in London, and holding him there would help keep the matter out of the public eye.

Norman Baillie-Stewart was the last British subject to be held in the Tower as a proper prisoner, rather than as one awaiting transfer.

The story of Norman Baillie-Stewart's arrest was revealed in the press by the well-known romance novelist Barbara Cartland who got the details from an acquaintance.

The court was told that Norman Baillie-Stewart began to offend in 1931 when he met and fell in love with a German woman while he was holidaying in Germany.

Norman Baillie-Stewart decided to become a German citizen and wrote a letter to the German Consul in London to offer his services.

Norman Baillie-Stewart was convicted of seven of the ten charges against him and was sentenced to cashiering and five-years in prison.

Norman Baillie-Stewart was released from Maidstone Prison on 20 January 1937.

Norman Baillie-Stewart applied for naturalisation, but the application was delayed by bureaucracy at the ministry, and he did not become a German citizen until 1940.

In July 1939, Norman Baillie-Stewart attended a friend's party in which he happened to hear some German English-language propaganda broadcasts.

Norman Baillie-Stewart criticised the broadcasts and was overheard by a guest at the party who happened to work at the Austrian radio station.

Norman Baillie-Stewart informed his superiors of Baillie-Stewart's comments, and after a successful voice test in Berlin, Baillie-Stewart was ordered by the German Propaganda Ministry to report to the Reich Broadcasting Corporation in Berlin, where he became a propaganda broadcaster in August 1939, taking over as chief broadcaster from Wolf Mittler.

Norman Baillie-Stewart made his first broadcast reading pro-Nazi news on the Germany Calling English-language service a week before the United Kingdom declared war on Germany.

Norman Baillie-Stewart, who had gradually become disenchanted with the material that he had to broadcast, was dismissed in December 1939, shortly after his last radio broadcast.

Norman Baillie-Stewart continued to work in Berlin as a translator for the German Foreign Ministry and lectured in English at Berlin University.

In early 1942, Norman Baillie-Stewart made a brief return to radio under the alias of "Lancer".

Norman Baillie-Stewart made several broadcasts for both the Reichsrundfunk and Radio Luxembourg.

Norman Baillie-Stewart spent much time avoiding the more blatant propaganda material he was asked to present.

Norman Baillie-Stewart translated to English the words of "Lili Marleen", which were sung by Lale Andersen as a form of propaganda towards Allied soldiers but then taken up strongly by the Allies themselves.

In 1944, Norman Baillie-Stewart had himself sent to Vienna for medical treatment, where he was arrested in 1945 in Altaussee, while he was wearing "chamois leather shorts, embroidered braces and a forester's jacket", and was sent back to Britain to face charges of high treason.

Norman Baillie-Stewart avoided execution only because the Attorney-General, Hartley Shawcross, did not think he could successfully try him on charges of high treason since he had German citizenship and instead decided to try him on the lesser charge of "committing an act likely to assist the enemy".

In January 1946, Norman Baillie-Stewart was charged under the 1939 Defence Regulations with aiding the enemy; he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Norman Baillie-Stewart was released from HM Prison Parkhurst in May 1949.

Norman Baillie-Stewart moved to Ireland, where he lived under the pseudonyms of James Scott and Patrick Stuart.

Norman Baillie-Stewart had two children before he died of a heart attack after collapsing at a pub in Harmonstown in June 1966.