I am glad that since I wrote about Francis McCullagh in Churchill’s Abandoned Prisoners, Wikipedia has published a biography about him, but I am disappointed that no mention is made about his two most important contributions to international affairs.
The first of these was his coverage of the Italian invasion of Libya in 1911. The great newspaper editor WT Stead, who died on the Titanic, described his contribution as “a potent influence on the policy of Great Britain” and wrote: “Francis McCullagh…whose ready pen, whose fearless spirit and whose presence in the firing line has made it possible to make the great public realize the criminality of the plunder-raid on Tripoli.”
His second pivotal role was during his time as a British Army officer in Siberia, for which he was appointed MBE (not mentioned in the Wikipedia article). He had already served in the Royal Irish Fusiliers at Gallipoli and due to his extensive knowledge of eastern Russia, he was sent as part of Churchill’s original team in 1918, as can be seen in the attached secret document. While working for the White Russian government in Omsk, he took charge of propaganda for the Supreme Ruler and worked closely with British Military Intelligence chief, Cecil Cameron, before he was captured with Brian Horrocks in Krasnoyarsk. His extraordinary adventures, torture and escape are told in Chapter 11 of Churchill’s Abandoned Prisoners. When McCullagh eventually returned to London, MI6 interviewed him at the Hyde Park Hotel in May 1920 and the unique information he provided heavily influenced Lloyd George’s government in their foreign policy decisions about Russia.
Rupert Wieloch 