Flying ace and inventor, businessman and master spy, William Samuel Stephenson had one of Canada’s most remarkable careers in the first half of the twentieth century — remarkable enough even in its open aspects, but it had secret aspects, too, whose dimensions have yet to be made fully clear. Here, indeed, was a military hero of World War I who earned a fortune in the interwar years after inventing a radio facsimile method for transmitting photographs, who in World War II from headquarters in New York, directed vital British espionage and counter espionage operations under his code-name “Intrepid,” and, in recognition of his high services received a British knighthood and the top American Medal of Merit when that war was over. If Canadians are supposed to be a dull people, no one told a “Man called Intrepid.”
 

World War I pilot decorated for shooting down 20 enemy aircraft, inventor of the wirephoto transmitter - forerunner of the fax machines - coordinator of British and American spy intelligence during World War II, William Stephenson, "The Quiet Canadian," became the model for "M" in Ian Fleming's James Bond series of espionage books and Hollywood  movies. [Photo, courtesy Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library]

Born at Point Douglas, near Winnipeg, in 1896 and educated in that city, he became a commissioned officer in the Royal Canadian Engineers during the War of 1914-18, was gassed in the trench warfare of France, and earned the Military Cross for bravery. That might have been war career enough, but young Stephenson went on into the Royal Flying Corps. As a fighter pilot, he shot down 20 German planes, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross and the French Croix de Guerre for his exploits. Forced to bale out over enemy lines, he was taken and held prisoner till war’s end. Once more, no dull life. It was at least quieter back in Canada afterward at the University of Manitoba, yet there he invented the wire photo and then his radio method of transmitting pictures without telephone or telegraph wires which he took to England in 1921 to develop and sell for newspaper use. Success came in 1924 when the first radio-transmitted photograph appeared in the London Daily Mail, thanks to equipment invented by Stephenson.

Now well established in business in Britain, he acquired links with firms such as Aero Engines Ltd., General Aircraft, and Pressed Steels Co., while keeping up his interests in radio and film. In brief, he grew wealthy and influential, and gained ready access to inner political circles in London. And while travelling across Europe for his business purposes, he keenly observed German preparations for war during the 1930s and reported his findings to the British government. Because he was a notable businessman with a strong military background and evident gifts for communications and intelligence work, his reports were taken seriously by that government as the war of 1939-45 approached. It was not surprising, therefore, that in 1940 Britain’s new prime minister, Winston Churchill, chose Stephenson to direct British Security Co-ordination in the Western Hemisphere, Britain’s overseas counterspy organization, headquartered in New York.

As a Canadian, he was well suited to take charge of this key post in North America; moreover, Stephenson’s wife, Mary, was an American from Tennessee. He got on well with his American counterparts in dealing with joint security matters, especially after the United States declared war on Germany and Japan late in 1941. In his charge, the B.S.C. office monitored transatlantic mails and broke enemy letter codes (passing on to the Americans relevant information that resulted in the exposure of enemy spy activities in the United States), helped protect against dangers of sabotage American factories producing munitions for the war, and, as well, set up “Camp X” near Oshawa, Ontario, to train Allied agents for re-entry into German-held Europe. All these endeavours, and more, were widely effective, with much of the credit owed to Stephenson. In fact, such popular books in postwar years as The Quiet Canadian or The Man Called Intrepid perhaps gave him even more credit than professional historians or intelligence experts might allow, but there is no doubt that his own role in Allied espionage success was crucial and that he earned the honours he received when the war was over.

Still, Sir William Stephenson gladly slipped away to the West Indies after the war. There he would chair the Caribbean Development Corporation and eventually retire to Bermuda, where he died early in 1989. In effect, he remained the “quiet Canadian” — yet always anything but dull.

J.M.S. Careless