Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence

TEMPLER BARRACKS• 539

leged that Malleson’s intentions had been misrepresented to Teague-

Jones and that in fact the British had wanted to take the 26 into cus-

tody, the implication being that alive they had a value as hostages to

be exchanged for British officers held by Moscow. Furthermore, in a

private account of the affair written by Teague-Jones in the mid-

1920s entitledAdventures with Turkmen, Tatars, and Bolsheviks, the

author leaves the impression that not only had he played no part in

the executions but he had not even been present at the controversial

meeting where the socialist revolutionaries had discussed what to do

with their troublesome prisoners whose continued presence in the

town was likely to spark an uprising.

Soon after it was announced from Moscow in May 1922 by Leon

Trotsky that Teague-Jones had been sentenced to death for his

involvement in the crime, Teague-Jones simply vanished. His name

disappeared from all further official British documents and lists, and

nothing more was heard of him—until the death in November 1988

in Plymouth of a certain Reginald Sinclair, formerly of theSecret

Intelligence Service(SIS), then in his 100th year. Further inquiries

about Sinclair revealed him to be Reginald Teague-Jones who, for

nearly 70 years, had lived under a false identity. Intriguingly, he left

behind a journal that was published posthumously and appears to

contradict some of his previous assertions regarding the 26 Bolshe-

vik commissars.

Little is known of Sinclair’s work for SIS andMI5before the war,

apart from the itinerary of journeys described in a travelogue,Adven-

tures in Persia, but in 1941 he was posted toBritish Security Coor-

dinationin New York under consular cover. He retired to Miami

soon after the war with his second wife and later moved with her to

Spain and eventually England. When she died, Sinclair was contacted

by his first wife, Valya, whom he had met in Baku, and they remained

close for their declining years. After his death his autobiography, The

Spy Who Disappeared, was published.

TEMPLER BARRACKS.Located on the outskirts of Ashford in
Kent, Templer Barracks was the headquarters of theIntelligence
Corpsuntil 1996, when the site was closed and the organization
moved to theDefence Intelligence and Security CentreatChick-
sands Priory.