Tuckton House / Melita Norwood

I've previously written about my gran's connection to the soviet spy, Melita Norwood (nee Sirnis), and trying to understand their unlikely friendship while both living in Bexleyheath.

I was therefore interested to see a feature on BBC South Today on 25 Jan 2025 about Tuckton House in Bournemouth and it's connection to and influence on Melita Norwood's early life. I referenced the book 'The Spy Who Came in from the Co-Op' by David Burke to better understand this and quote some material from there below.

Tuckton House had been founded in 1900 by Tolstoy's literary executor, Count Vladamir Chertkov, to house the Free Age Press - a small publishing business devoted to the production of cheap English-language editions of Tolstoy in which no copyright would be claimed, while unexpurgated Russian editions of Tolstoy's works were to be produced and smuggled back into Russia. Chertkov had left Russia in 1897 since the autocracy considered Tolstoyism an enemy.

Everything Tolstoy wrote was sent to Tuckton House. From there Chertkov liaised with publishers, both Russian and foreign, chose translators, supervised their work and decided upon publication dates. There was even a specially constructed safe used to house Tolstoy's manuscripts.

As you might expect there were concerns about the activities of the Tolstoyans living at Tuckton House and their communication methods with Russia. However the Tuckton House community came to be well respected locally as noted by a local policeman circa 1903: "they may be mad but they plays football and are kind'arted folk."

Melita Norwood's mother, Gertrude Sirnis, was a suffragette and supporter of the Labour Party. She had been previously married in January 1901 to Carl Adolf Brandt. They'd married in England and then went to Cuevas de Vera in Spain. Gertrude and Carl's son, Alfred, was born on 28 August 1902. Three months later Carl caught a local fever and died on 19 November 1902. Gertrude and Alfred returned to England and began visiting Tuckton House, where she met and fell in love with a Latvian translator of Tolstoy's works, Peter Alexander Sirnis also known as Sasha.

Aged 22, Alexander Sirnis had been recommended and recruited as a translator to work at Tuckton House. He'd previously been working on a ranch belonging to Russian exiles in San Jose, California. Alexander was a revolutionary socialist and the first man Gertrude had met who spoke enthusiastically about Mrs Pankhurst's suffragettes. The couple married on 3rd November 1909.

Melita (or Letty as her father called her) Sirnis was born on 25th March 1912 at 402 Christchurch Road, Pokesdown, East Bournemouth. Her father, Alexander, was diagnosed with TB (Tuberculosis) in 1910 and advised to travel to Davos, Switzerland to seek a cure. On 22 March 2014 Melita's sister Gerty was born in Davos. The time in Davos probably prolonged Alexander's life but he died on Tuesday 12 November 1918 - the day after Armistice Day.

Another visitor to Tuckton House was Feodore Aaronovich Rothstein better known as Theodore Rothstein who had fled to the UK from Russia in 1891. He was also invited by Count Chertkov to work as a translator and as a proof-reader on French editions of Tolstoy's works. Under his influence the mood in Tuckton House began to shift away from Tolstoyism towards Marxism. It was Theodore's son, Andrew Rothstein, who identified and recruited Melita Sirnis to the NKVD (a forerunner to the KGB) in 1934 when she was working for the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association (BN-FMRA). Melita's mother and future husband played a significant role in her recruitment. Her future husband was Hilary Nussbaum. He formally changed his name from Nussbaum to Norwood on 19 November 1935. He wanted to anglicise his name fearing the spread of anti-semitism in England and before his marriage to Melita in December 1935. She was now Melita Norwood and at the start of her spying career.

The office in Tuckton House in 1907. Melita's father, Alexander Sirnis, is in the foreground in front a typewriter. Count Vladamir Chertkov is standing 3rd from the right. Note the safe in the background.

There can be no doubt Tuckton House and its associated community played an important part in Melita Norwood's background and development. Her parents met there within a fervent culture of contemporary Soviet politics and political thinking. They were both activists themselves and the continued influence of her mother, Gertrude, after her father's death cannot be underestimated.

Two questions remain open for me in the Melita Norwood story:

1) What was the identity of the civil servant recruited by Melita Norwood in 1967 and codenamed HUNT? She confirmed in 2002 it was a "bloke" but refused to add anything further about them. Apparently their identity is also known to MI5.

2) How did the unlikely friendship with my gran come about? Was it just the coincidence of them both living in Bexleyheath and travelling from Bexleyheath station to their respective jobs or was there more to it? I'll never know but knowing the background I can't help thinking it's the latter.

Spying in Bexleyheath (featuring Melita Norwood)

My gran (Grandma as we called her) lived in Brunswick Road, Bexleyheath from 1962/63 until she died in August 1994. When she died my Dad wrote to all her friends notifying them. He received a reply from one of those friends - a Melita Norwood of Garden Avenue, Bexleyheath. Here's the letter to my Dad dated 4th September 1994:

Now, as you may have guessed, Melita Norwood is the Soviet/KGB spy I'm referring to. However, when my Dad received this letter in September 1994 he didn't know Melita Norwood was a spy and neither did anyone else (apart from MI5 maybe). She was only outed as a Soviet/KGB spy 5 years later in September 1999.

When The Times exposed her spying activities on 11th September 1999 the question suddenly came up - how did my gran come to know Melita Norwood?

The story of Melita Norwood as one of Russia's longest running spies is well documented.

There's a book 'The Spy who came in from the Co-Op: Melita Norwood and the ending of cold war espionage' written by David Burke. There's also 'The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West' written by Christopher Andrew in collaboration with the dissident KGB archivist, Vasili Mitrokhin, who had escaped to Britain with a hoard of KGB material,

including notes on Melita Norwood's file. It was The Times serialisation of this book starting in the 11th September 1999 edition that finally exposed Melita Norwood's espionage activities to the world. There's also a film 'Red Joan' 2019 starring Judi Dench which is very loosely inspired by Melita Norwood's life. However, it seems that real spying is much less glamorous than portrayed in a movie and goes a long way to explaining why Melita Norwood was so successful at it. She was an active agent between 1934 to 1972 and was investigated on no fewer than 10 occasions between 1938 and 1995 but was only exposed in 1999. She'd avoided exposure for over 60 years and was never charged with any offence.

Melita Sirnis or Letty, as she was also known, married Hilary Norwood, a teacher, in 1935 (the same year she joined the Communist Party of Great Britain). Hilary was originally named Hilary Nussbaum but changed his name to Norwood before their wedding. They moved from Cheshunt to Bexleyheath in 1947. Her most well known spying years were during the '40s but she was still active until she retired in 1972. Her last KGB agent codename was HOLA but she also had the codename TINA in the '40s.

Despite there being several high profile spy cases like Gordon Lonsdale and John Vassall in the early '60s which resulted in long prison sentences Melita did not get exposed although there were suspicions about her. MI5 launched an 'extended' investigation into her in 1965. The Home Secretary at that time, Frank Soskice, was informed but decided not to pursue the investigation further and no action was taken. Meanwhile she continued working for the KGB and in 1967 recruited a civil servant known only by the codename HUNT (more on this later). My gran moved from Bexley to Brunswick Road, Bexleyheath in 1962/63. She started to work as a civil servant for the Ministry of Defence from about 1963/64. She had been positively vetted and worked as a secretary/PA handling documents and typing letters pertaining to matters of national security. At some point, unknown, she met Melita Norwood on the train as they commuted from Bexleyheath station to their offices in London (refer to her letter above). My gran retired from the civil service in 1974.

Here's a chronology of key dates in their relationship:

1947	Melita Norwood and husband, Hilary, move to Garden Avenue, Bexleyheath
1962/63	My gran moves from Bladindon Drive, Bexley to Brunswick Road, Bexleyheath
196?	My gran starts work at the Ministry of Defence as a secretary/PA
196?	My gran befriends Melita Norwood on the train journey from Bexleyheath station to their respective offices in London
1965	MI5 launch extended investigation into Melita Norwood. Labour Home Secretary, Frank Soskice was informed of the investigation but decided not to pursue it further and no action was taken.
1967	Melita Norwood recruits a civil servant to the KGB with codename HUNT.
1972/73	Melita Norwood retires from spying
1974	My gran retires from the civil service
11th Aug 1994	My gran dies aged 90
4th Sept 1994	Letter from Melita Norwood to my Dad (shown above)
11th Sept 1999	Melita Norwood outed as a spy in The Times
2nd June 2005	Melita Norwood dies aged 93

As mentioned previously, I, and other family members, have been wondering how my gran came to befriend Melita Norwood?

They both lived in Bexleyheath and both travelled from Bexleyheath station into London to their respective offices. They were both secretaries/PAs. Melita Norwood had carried out most of her espionage in the '40s when secretary to G.L Bailey who was Director of the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association where she was granted access to classified information on the Anglo-American atomic bomb project, codenamed Tube Alloys. My gran was positively vetted for her work in the Ministry of Defence and typed letters and handled documents pertaining to sensitive matters of national security.

It really does seem very strange that my gran was friends with Melita Norwood. My Mum wrote to The Times in September 1999 expressing our curiosity. My gran was very patriotic, a staunch Conservative and quite intolerant of those with opposing views. She had expressed her disgust at the Norwood's connection to Russia but was obviously unaware of Melita's rather deeper connection. It would have been so interesting if my gran had lived to see Melita Norwood exposed as a spy and what her reaction would have been. We also wonder what else my gran knew or observed during their friendship? Of course there may be nothing more to it than coincidence. Unfortunately we'll never know.

​My gran, Edith Clayton 'Grandma'	​Melita Norwood

One open question remains and I'm hoping to find this out and update in the future. Who was the civil servant codenamed HUNT recruited to the KGB by Melita Norwood in 1967?

The Mitrokhin Archive states HUNT was active for 14 years and a valuable KGB asset. There was an article in The Times on 14th Sept 1999 by Michael Evans: "Mystery KGB Agent in the Civil Service is still alive.": "The civil servant codenamed HUNT, who was recruited as a Russian spy by Melita Norwood, is still alive and his identity is known to MI5."

When pressed on HUNT's identity in 2002 Melita Norwood refused to comment apart from indicating it was a 'bloke' and not denying their existence. It would be interesting to know their identity.

As a child I can recall playing 'I Spy' at my gran's house in Bexleyheah. Imagine if we'd known then what we know now...

Spying in Bexleyheath (featuring Melita Norwood)

Road sweeping spy in Bexleyheath

My first post was about potholes so thought it only natural to begin this one with another council activity, road sweeping. A subsequent post then covers my gran's friendship with a well known Soviet spy. And all this happened in Bexleyheath. In the early '80s, when a student, I worked as a road sweeper for Bexley Council during the summer. I was based out of the Bexley Council depot in Footscray Road, Sidcup.

A road sweeper's guide book in the early '80s

On one occasion I was tasked with sweeping an area opposite Bexleyheath bus garage in Erith Road. I set off with my barrow, broom, shovel and black bags along Bexleyheath Broadway excited by the challenge before me. I had to finish early as I had a dental appointment but I completed the task with zest and felt enormous pride as I stood back and admired the clean pavements and gutters plus the large quantity of rubbish filled black bags I'd generated. Wheeling my barrow back along the Broadway, however, the supervisor, Andy, pulled up beside me in his light blue council van: "Where have you been Mr Clayton?" he asked. "I've been working in that area you told me to clean this morning" "Well that's strange. I've been there and couldn't see you or what you've done" "Are you calling me a liar?" I retorted. I was uncomfortable with his sweeping statement. "Jump in" he said. "Let's go take a look" and off we went. I showed him the area I'd cleaned and the pile of black bags I'd filled ready to be collected. "Aha Mr Clayton!" he proclaimed "You've been cleaning in the north of the borough. We (as in the Footscray Road depot) are responsible for the south of the borough".

I asked him to show me exactly where the borough boundary was but he was uncertain. On the other hand he was absolutely certain that I'd cleaned the wrong part. How does one deal with such treachery? I was crestfallen and broken.

He dropped me back to my barrow left in the Broadway and departed with his usual goodbye message: "Got enough black bags? Queen and borough. Queen and country". Inspiring words but I'd missed my dental appointment. Andy liked to closely monitor the workforce under his control watching for unmanned barrows, extra time spent in cafes on breaks or, on one occasion, popping out of a hedge to check on a colleague while litter picking on a dual carriageway. He lived life in the fast lane (or was it the gutter) and really was in the wrong job. He should have been a spy for MI5.

Now talking of spying. There was another spy (apart from Andy) who lived and operated in Bexleyheath. A real one and a Soviet/KGB spy of some importance - Melita Norwood.

Read my next post to discover more...