Sir Royston Thomas
Biographical Details
- Full Name
- Sir Royston Thomas.
- Born
- Hampshire, England; 6 September 1879.
- Died
- Not recorded.
- Relatives
- None recorded.
- Occupation
- Civil Servant.
- Associates
- Member of the Diogenes Club.
History
Royston Thomas was born the second son of landed gentry and was given an excellent education at Eton and Cambridge before taking a minor role in the foreign office in his mid-20s. In 1905, he joined the Diogenes Club, where he made the acquaintance of Sir Charles West, among other notable figures of the era.
Sir Royston was exempt from military service during the Great War due to his government position, but through his Diogenes Club contacts he found himself engaged in espionage on behalf of the Empire, and discovered he had a creative flair for the planning, if not the execution, of espionage operations. He was responsible for conceiving some of the most daring wartime missions of Charles West and the group known as the Four Feathers, as well as other missions involving Diogenes Club agents. He was knighted after the war in recognition of his great (though unsung) services to the Empire.
Between the wars, Sir Royston remained in the foreign office and continued his intelligence activities. With the outbreak of the Second World War, he sat as a member of the Joint Intelligence Committee and thus was privy to some of the most sensitive information in the country. When he suggested that a special department be created within the War Office for the purpose of controlling unconventional intelligence assets, he was put in charge of that department, which went by the innocuous title of "War Office Room XIII" to disguise its true importance.
As head of Room XIII, Sir Royston specialised in unconventional plans that no other branch of the military or intelligence services would consider, such as the recruitment of a team of super-powered criminals to carry out suicide missions behind enemy lines.
Many years after Sir Royston's death, his sealed memoirs were opened and have provided the only record of the forgotten activities of Room XIII.
Psychological Profile
Sir Royston was unquestioningly loyal to Great Britain and her people. He was also pragmatic and ruthless in the defence of the nation, ready to sacrifice his agents if necessary in the service of the greater good.
Skills and Abilities
Sir Royston had a keen intellect and an aptitude for thinking up solutions that nobody else had considered.
Though he had carried out some missions himself in his younger years, he had no real skill in field work, nor the required temperament for facing personal danger.