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.