MO4x

Hittle's book "Michael Collins and the Anglo Irish War" Cites that the intelligence operatives in Ireland came from MO4x. And that MO4x was under command of Lt.Col Walter Wilson . His office in Dublin grew from 7 officers on 1 Jun 1920, to 51 in July, 82 in August and reaching a max of 97 in November 1920. Resigned when command moved from Army to Police in Dec 1920 under Winter. He served as General Staff Officer (Intelligence) Dublin District, May 1920 to November 1921.

MO4x was underfunded, and did not have enough time to train army officers for undercover work in Ireland. Though they did get some training at Hounslow Barracks

Therefore they had to be

I can find no other references to MO4x. But in 1918 there was certainly a MO4 with th e personell listed as

After Bloody Sunday , Jurys and Central Hotel were used to house these men. The hotels being gusrded by troops

Hittle has it that the operation was commanded by Major General Cecil Francis Romer in 1919. Romer was born at Ifield in Sussex. He was commissioned into the Royal Dublin Fusiliers as a Second lieutenant on 1 March 1890, promoted lieutenant on 23 August 1893, and captain on 19 October 1898. He served in the Second Boer War between 1899 and 1902, and received the brevet rank of major on 29 November 1900. Following the war he was seconded as an Adjutant of Volunteers in February 1902, but only a few months later he was on 19 June 1902 appointed Brigade Major to the 13th Brigade, in Dublin. He went on to become a General Staff Officer in 1904. In World War I he fought on the Western Front. He was General Officer Commanding 59th (2nd North Midland) Division between 1917 and 1918. He became General Officer Commanding 1st Division at Aldershot in 1926. He was then elevated to General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command in 1928 and to General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command in 1931. In 1933 he was appointed Adjutant-General to the Forces: he retired in 1935.

 

 

Intelligence Organisations