Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence

KNOX, DILLWYN• 293

theFauvette, which took him to Corfu and then Patras. Upon his ar-

rival in Greece, Knoblock was installed at the British Legation’s

annex where SIS operated under Port Control cover. Soon afterward

Athens was turned into a battleground as the supporters of Venizelos

made a vain attempt to dethrone the king and seize power.

After this exciting episode, Knoblock, acting as Mackenzie’s dep-

uty, moved to the island of Syra, which had recently been occupied

by the Turks. InAegean Memories, Compton Mackenzie recalled that

‘‘even the indefatigable Knoblock was wilting under the strain of

coding and decoding, for the Secret Service cipher was a diabolical

device to torment the mind of man.’’ During their four months on

Syra, broken only by Knoblock’s occasional visits to Salonika and

Athens, the two novelists collaborated on a play,All’s Fair. By July

1917 Knoblock was struck down by dysentery and, when his weight

dropped to 98 pounds, he was sent home.

After two months sick leave, Knoblock returned to work for

Smith-Cumming, and until May 1918 was accommodated in an of-

fice next to that occupied by singer Kennerley Rumford. Thereafter

he spent a greater part of his time in France, either carrying dis-

patches between Paris and London or working from an SIS outstation

known as ‘‘the Nunnery,’’ somewhere in the French Alps. He was

there when the Armistice was declared and later was assigned the

task of supervising the return of British PoWs from Germany. He

represented his Chief at the French victory parade at Strasbourg and

attended the Paris Peace Conference on behalf of SIS. Knoblock’s

return to civilian life took place in January 1919, but not before he

had expressed a wish to stay in SIS permanently. As he told Smith-

Cumming, ‘‘One doesn’t have to think. You do the thinking for us.

We just obey orders. That’s the beauty of the service. I almost wish

I could remain in it for the rest of my life.’’ Knoblock died in July

1945, six years after the publication of his autobiography,Round the

Room.

KNOX, DILLWYN.A classicist from King’s College, Cambridge,
Dilly Knox joinedRoom 40as a cryptographer in 1915 and during
World War I helped solve the GermanAdmiralstab’s three-letter Flag
code. After the war he remained on the staff of theGovernment
Code and Cipher Schooland in 1940 solved theAbwehr’sEnigma