British and World Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The rare and historically interesting inter-war C.M.G., Great War M.C. group of six awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel J. W. F. “Frankie” Thelwall, Commercial Secretary at the British Embassy in Berlin 1919-34, late Intelligence Corps: having served as a 1st Class Agent and Gough’s Fifth Army Intelligence Officer 1916-18, he returned to his Foreign Office career in Berlin and witnessed the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Hitler - the compiler of internationally acclaimed annual reports on German politics and economics, he was to make some prophetic and chilling observations on the effects of Nazi rule just prior to his sudden death in 1934

The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, C.M.G., Companion’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel; Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (2 Lieut. J. W. F. Thelwall); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. J. W. F. Thelwall); French Croix de Guerre 1914-1917, with gilt star riband fitment, mounted as worn where applicable, contact marks and somewhat polished but otherwise generally very fine (6) £1800-2200

C.M.G. London Gazette 1 January 1932.

M.C. London Gazette 4 June 1917.

John Walter Francis Thewall was born in Klagenfurt, Austria in 1884 and educated abroad, at Ushaw College, Durham and Trinity College, Oxford. A fluent German speaker, he was appointed Vice-Consul at Frankfort-on-the Main in January 1910 and served as Acting Consul there in 1913-14.



Intelligence Agent and Officer

War was declared by Great Britain on Germany 4 August 1914 and Thelwall was probably lucky to have avoided internment by the German authorities. However he did it, he enlisted as a Private in the 11th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment in September 1914, and was commissioned into the 12th Battalion, Essex Regiment in February 1915.

In July of the latter year he was appointed to the Intelligence Corps and transferred to the General List, shortly thereafter proceeding to France, where he was attached to Headquarters Indian Cavalry Corps. And he subsequently rose swiftly as an Intelligence Officer, being attached to Headquarters XIIIth Corps, December 1915, and to Headquarters Fifth Army, August 1916, gaining advancement to 1st Class Agent with the rank of Captain that December, in addition to his awards of the Military Cross in June 1917 and the French Croix de Guerre in April 1918.

Further research is needed to determine exactly what Thelwall did as an Intelligence Agent and Officer in Gough’s Fifth Army, both before and after the German Spring Offensive of March 1918, but a recommendation in his service record for his promotion to substantive rank gives some indication. Dated 19 April 1918, it recommends that Thelwall ‘is forwarded for favourable consideration with a view to his being granted the rank of substantive Captain ... This Officer has been 1st Intelligence Officer at an Army H.Q. since 11 April 1916, and has done extremely good work since the Offensive which commenced on March 21st. It is largely owing to his efficiency that the situation with the regard to the number of German Divisions employed against this Army has been so closely followed.’






Berlin, the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich

Thelwall served with the Foreign Office at the British Embassy in Berlin from 1919 to 1934, witnessing the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party, until his untimely death following an operation aged only 49 years. His obituary in The Times on 18 May 1934 records that:

‘The advance of the British troops to Cologne in 1918 again brought “Frankie” Thelwall – for thus he was called by all who knew him – to the country for which he had a deep friendship and whose language he spoke so well, in which he had already spent several years of his life, and in which he was destined to end it. At first attached to the British Military Mission under General Malcolm, he was in 1919 appointed, pending the resumption of diplomatic relations, senior Commercial Commissioner in Germany, and after their resumption Commercial Secretary at the British Embassy in Berlin. In 1928 he was promoted to the rank of Commercial Counsellor, and in 1932 received the C.M.G.

These are the dry facts of Thelwall’s career. The man himself was an outstanding figure of kindliness, shrewd judgement, and humour amongst the shifting scenes of post-war Berlin. He was known far beyond the limits of the Diplomatic Service – he was, indeed, known throughout the world from his annual reports on economic conditions in Germany. The “Thelwall Report” was a publication for which all students of Germany eagerly awaited. He had an extraordinary knowledge of the German economic system and German trade. German ministers and private citizens who were qualified to judge were often heard to say that these reports gave a more accurate and interesting picture of German conditions than any publication they knew, and it was often to be seen on their desks. He prepared almost the whole of his reports himself. He had from his long residence in Germany a vast knowledge of the country, its people and politics, and his judgment was a thing to be valued. Though an outstanding member of the Service to which he belonged there was no arid aloofness about him, and he contrived to know and be esteemed by a far greater circle of men that is often the lot of diplomats. In Berlin, where from his window overlooking the pleasant trees of the Tiergarten he had so long watched the incalculable German scene with understanding and knowledge, his loss will be deeply mourned by Germans and British alike.’

The Times later published a series of tributes to Thelwall from the German newspapers, including those from the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung and Berliner Tageblatt, the latter recording that ‘for many years it was his task to observe the economic and financial situation of Germany, and at the same time to conduct negotiations about complicated economic issues between Germany and England. He did great service to both countries by his objective and accurate judgment and preserved these qualities at moments when unexpected political and economic developments in Germany upset the balance of judgment in others.’

The Nazis

Thelwall reported from Germany at a time when reparations, the collapse of the Mark, unemployment and the general economic decline led to the rise of power of Hitler and the Third Reich. His last report, quoted extensively in the British and American newspapers in 1933 as were all those from the preceding years, was sub-titled ‘Effects of Nazi Rule’. It contained some prophetic and chilling words, Thelwall writing that ‘In considering the new regime in Germany it is necessary to bear in mind that it is primarily a movement based on racial and party ideals and that its followers are prepared in certain respects to forgo economic and political advantages for the sake of their principles. The standards of a democratic, individualistic, capitalistic state like the United Kingdom cannot, therefore, be applied to it ... This organization of the State will be dominated by the National Socialist Party. The point that is probably hardest for the outsider to understand is that if the tenets of this creed and economic necessities come into conflict, the former take precedence over the latter.’