special communications unit section v111

[annie rose]

Am trying to research my great great uncle, Robert Henry Tricker MBE, known as Harry. He was an expert at morse code. He was in the navy and was headhunted by Richard Gambier-Parry in about 1938/1939 for Section v111 the communications section of MI6 in WW2.
   He was at Bletchley Park for a while and was OC at Weald. In 1940 he was in Norway at least twice and the second time he went in Norwegian made clothes entering Norway via Sweden.
He was on the same ship as the King of Norway, HMS Devonshire, in June 1940,  that left Tromso and landed three days later in Greenock. It is family rumour that he had something to do with helping the Norwegian Royal Family escape from the Germans.
   I would like to know why he received the MBE. I have searched the London Gazette and all it says is that he is an employee of the foreign office.
  Also I would be very grateful if someone could shed any light as to why he was in Norway when the Germans had already invaded.
     Thank you

[canuckscot]

Harry was a chief petty officer at the Flowerdown wireless station when he was recruited. Along with 5 other CPOs their status changed when they joined Gambier-Parry's mob. Due to the nature of their work for MI6 Section VIII they were considered not part of the regular armed forces and their pay books were mark NPAF (not paid army funds). This was all secret, hush hush.

Harry spent time as OC Weald and headed up SCU9. He retired as a major. Harry also headed a team of agents that were dropped behind enemy lines to report on German activities. This could explain why he was in Norway.

As part of their cover many of these people worked for the "Foreign Office".

If you're interested in the work he did there is an excellent book by Geoffrey Pidgeon called "The Secret Wireless War". Harry is mentioned on 11 pages and there is a photo of him.

[annie rose]

Dear Canuckscot,
I have just read your reply which I am very pleased about. I do have the book The Secret Wireless War which did help me to find out a bit more about Harry.
 
I didn't know that he was in charge of agents being dropped into Norway, although I did wonder that he was involved in something similar.
I would very much like to know if you have any other info on Harry that is not in the book.
If you have info and don't want to put it on this forum you can email me on (*)

I look forward to hearing from you and once again thank you for replying.
          Frankie
       
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[canuckscot]

The info from The Secret Wireless War was all I had seen on Harry.

As to the MBE have you tried the archives at Kew or the Imperial War Museum?

Maybe contact Geoff Pidgeon as he may have further research info.

[annie rose]

Thank you for your reply canuckscot. I was rather hoping that you had met Harry sometime in the past but never mind I haven't given up yet!
I have an address to write to which I must try.
 thanks again
ps  If I manage to find out anything I will post it in case anybody is interested.

[annie rose]

Hi, I  thought that in case anyone has anymore info on Harry (Robert Henry Tricker MBE) I would like to add that in case of German invasion Richard Gambier-Parry put the ex CPO's in the uniform of Royal Corps of Signals. Harry's army number was 152622.
In SCU9 he went over to Normandy on D Day+50. He would have gone earlier but one of the mulberry harbours was destroyed in bad weather.
Also on his 1966 death certificate , of which I have a photocopy, it says that he was a retired officer grade 2 in the DWS.

    I am hoping that somewhere out there someone can solve my mystery about great great uncle Harry.

ps. I think this is a great site with lots of very kind and helpful people. I strongly believe that we should support our men and women in the forces. They all do a fantastic job in sometimes horrific circumstances and they should be recognized for it.

Sorry about waffling on!

[kevinCBP]

Hi
I am a guide at Bletchley Park and The National Museum of Computing - DWS is the Diplomatic Wireless Service which carried on the work of the SCU's post war they were based at Hanslope Park which was SCU 3 during the war - David White who runs HUT 1 at BP worked there post war you could pop in to see him - he is there most afternoons after 1pm and always on a sunday - he will probably know all you require to find out and he may of know Harry or what he did.

Best Regards KevinCBP

[Bonnie27]

I found this thread whilst trying to find out more about my grandfather's wartime experiences.  His name was Bert  (Albert Reginald) Miller and he was also part of "Richard Gambier Parry's mob".  We have his army and navy service records which show that he was part of SCU 4 from August 43, but was working with Gambier Parry from 1939. He had served in the Navy  in WW1 and served in the Army in WW2 (when he was in his 40s).  He continued to work with DWS at Hanslope after the war until his retirement.  I'm starting to piece together some of his possible activities during the war but would be very interested if anyone has any information they could share with me.

Also - how possible is it to obtain records from the National Archive which relate to SIS service during the war?

[Martin Briscoe]

I came across this thread by chance. 

Did you find out any more about the connection the RSS / Section VIII?

I have some friends who are very knowledgeable on them and they have contacts they could ask.

MB