250 • HOUGHTON, HARRY
ter Detection Establishment at Portland in Dorset and lived in a small
cottage at Broadwey near Weymouth. In January 1957, he was trans-
ferred to the Port Auxiliary Repair Unit at the same base, which by
then had been renamed the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Research
Establishment.
Houghton’s childless marriage of 23 years to a widow from his
home town of Lincoln ended in divorce in 1958. His embittered wife
denounced him as a spy about the time of their divorce, but this tip
was not acted upon and he continued to spy until theCentral Intelli-
gence Agencysupplied information from a sourceMI5codenamed
lavinia, who was in factMichal Goleniewski, a senior Polish SB
officer (and part-timeKGBinformant) who requested political asy-
lum for himself and his German girlfriend. Goleniewski described a
spy with a name like ‘‘Horton.’’
Once the 56-year-old Houghton had been confirmed as the most
likely candidate for ‘‘Horton,’’ he was placed under surveillance.
When he traveled to London by train one Saturday morning, he was
observed exchanging envelopes with a stocky, middle-aged man car-
rying a shopping bag. Houghton was trailed back to Dorset while his
contact was kept under observation at his hotel in Bayswater. Dis-
creet inquiries at the hotel revealed Houghton’s link to be a Canadian
guest, a recent arrival named Gordon A. Lonsdale. Further surveil-
lance and an overheard conversation produced a pattern of meetings
between Houghton and Lonsdale, usually on the first Saturday of the
month.
At their next meeting in August, Houghton was accompanied by
Ethel Gee, a colleague from Portland with whom he spent the week-
end at the Cumberland Hotel, Marble Arch. Both had driven up to
London in Houghton’s new car and later had attended a performance
of the Bolshoi Ballet at the Royal Albert Hall with tickets supplied
by Lonsdale. Although she spent much of her spare time with
Houghton, Gee, who was known as Bunty, lived with her elderly
mother, uncle, and disabled aunt in a small terraced house in Port-
land. Whereas Houghton’s job did not give him access to secrets,
Gee’s position in an adjoining building that housed the Drawing Of-
fice records section, most certainly did. She had worked at the base
since October 1950 and had moved from the stores department in
1955, two years before she had been accepted as an established civil
servant.