I came across an exhibition of this man's work in a barn at Bickleigh Castle near Tiverton, Devon, but there is now another 'James Bond' exhibition at Dover Castle in Kent.
Under cover of a temporary civil servant for the Ministry of Supply's Clothing and Textile Department (Dept. CT6), he supplied equipment and gadgets for secret agents, saboteurs and prisoners-of-war during World War 2. He was the man immortalised by Ian Fleming as 'Q'.
Before the war he had been working as a Christian missionary in Morocco, where he became adept at procuring supplies from just about any source. It was at a lecture about his exploits that he was spotted by the Director of the Ministry of Supply in Leeds, and was invited to work for them on a secret project.
His first order was to produce 100 Spanish Army uniforms, in case the Special Operations Executive (SOE) needed to infiltrate agents into Spain to prevent the neutral Spain entering the war on the side of Germany.
He sent out a sample of the cloth to a leading textile firm, specifying that the fabric be "thick, coarse, cheap and nasty". Unfortunately the manufacturer decided to be patriotic and sent back a sample roll of a much finer cloth, with a note saying that he shouldn't be bothered about the extra expense as it would be absorbed "on Britain's behalf". The roll was returned by Fraser-Smith with a note stressing the need to specify the material as specified, but it still took three attempts before a suitable fabric arrived.
Some items were fairly standard items - miniature cameras, small automatic pistols, continental-style luggage, etc. and could be picked up from second-hand shops, dealers, foreign nationals entering the country and even lost property offices - the owners were simply offered a brand new replacement and were normally quite happy to accept. Other items were special designs and gadgets that Ian Fleming's 'Q' would have been proud of. He estimates that 50% of the orders he received were exact specifications (like an order for 300 small automatics required in 3 weeks), 40% were approximate specifications (like the pens with hidden compasses) and 10% were his own idea.
Amongst the items he supplied were:
He was asked to provide a container 6' 2" long, 3' wide, to carry a 'deadweight' of 200lb. Fraser-Smith, as usual, didn't ask why, but later learned that the container was used in Project Martin. Project Martin was immortalised in the film "The Man Who Never Was", starring Clifton Webb. The body of a man who died of pneumonia was provided with papers and personal effects of a 'Major Martin' of the General Staff, and the body and a briefcase containing the plans for an allied invasion of Sardinia was dumped in the sea off Spain. Copies of the plans duly fell into the hands of the Germans and they prepared for an attack - but the real attack, when it came, was targeted at Sicily!
He was asked to make copies of a new type of Luftwaffe life jacket and made a couple of interesting discoveries that were subsequently incorporated as standard in RAF 'Mae Wests'. The first was a small metal cylinder that turned out to be compressed air for inflating the jacket. Up until then many airmen were lost simply because they didn't have the strength to blow up their life jacket. The second discovery was a pouch filled with a mystery powder, who's purpose was only discovered when Fraser-Smith washed his hands. The powder was a powerful fluorescent dye.
Fraser-Smith was critical of the golf balls used in the Bond film "Diamonds Are Forever". The balls, used in the film to hide diamonds, would not have been acceptable to him unless they behaved as a normal. The golf balls he supplied, containing a compass or a supply of forger's ink, could be played like a normal golf ball and you would never suspect otherwise.
Most of the companies were only too happy to help him, unfortunately the Treasury weren't always so willing. He was phoned and given a roasting by a senior official over the extravagant costs of his order for 'packets of 12 razor blades', but he was hardly going to announce that they were really part of an escape kit, so he asked for a treasury costing clerk to accompany him on his next visit to check that the company wasn't profiteering.
After checking that the clerk had signed the Official Secrets Act, the clerk was taken through the costs of materials, labour, profit, etc. It was found that, far from being too expensive, the company was in fact undercharging because they had not claimed a penny of the regulation profit. So Fraser-Smith tore up the invoice and asked the astonished supplier to submit a new invoice including the proper profit. The clerk then had to present his red-faced superior with an even larger bill with every item fully justified. He never had a bill queried after that.
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Last updated: 12 Apr 97