594 • YOUNGER, WILLIAM
in 1932. He was practicing as a barrister when, in 1940, he was
drafted into the Security Service, where he headed the French coun-
try section. Younger’s tenure in what was then known asE Division,
or Alien Control, is memorable for his participation in a major diplo-
matic incident—the arrest in 1941 of AdmiralEmile Muselier,
Charles de Gaulle’s deputy, who was suspected of having sold out to
Vichy. He was detained in prison until de Gaulle lodged a vigorous
protest withWinston Churchill, and a subsequent investigation re-
vealed that Muselier had been the victim of an elaborate conspiracy.
Despite this embarrassing episode, Younger continued to liaise with
the Free French authorities and later was appointed director of E Di-
vision, theMI5branch responsible for dealing with aliens.
In 1945 Younger stood for Parliament and was elected the Labour
MP for Grimsby, a seat he represented for the next 14 years. After his
retirement from the House of Commons, he was appointed to Lord
Radcliffe’s security tribunal, which looked into the case ofJohn
Vassall, the Soviet spy jailed for betraying Admiralty secrets to the
KGB. Knighted in 1972, Younger contributed to several political
publications and wroteThe Public Service in New Statesin 1960. He
died in May 1976.See alsoYOUNGER, WILLIAM.YOUNGER, WILLIAM.The Younger family, long a member of ‘‘the
beerage,’’ has always enjoyed close links with the Security Service.
Bill Younger’s mother Joan, who marriedDennis Wheatley, was as-
signed toMI5’s motor pool as a driver, while his cousinKenneth
Younger, later a Labour MP, headed MI5’s French country section.
Bill’s sister Diana also worked in ‘‘the office’’ as a secretary.
Younger’s intelligence career began at Christ Church, Oxford,
where he was taught byJohn Masterman, when he started reporting
on suspectedCommunist Party of Great Britainmembers forMax
Knight. As his stepfather Wheatley recalled, ‘‘MI5 were anxious to
learn which out of the silly idealistic youngsters were really danger-
ous agitators, secretly paid by Moscow or the Nazis.’’ A polio victim
while still a child, Younger suffered from restricted growth and a
withered arm and was therefore medically unfit to join the army, so
instead he worked for Knight, first as an agent and later as a full-time
case officer. Younger was so secretive about his work for the Security
Service that his family nicknamed him ‘‘the bearded oyster.’’