Guy Gaunt

Sir Guy Reginald Archer Gaunt KCMG (25 May 1870 – 18 May 1953) was an officer of the Royal Navy and later a British Conservative Party politician.

He was born in Ballarat, Australia, and educated at Melbourne Grammar School from 1881 to 1883. His parents wanted him to become a lawyer, but he chose to go to sea. He began training for the merchant navy, but transferred to the Royal Navy in 1885.

He served as a lieutenant on several vessels in the Pacific Ocean, and was promoted to the rank of Commander in 1901. He became a Captain in 1907, commanding a series of cruisers and the battleships HMS Majestic and HMS Thunderer.

In 1914 he was appointed naval attaché to the United States, and was instrumental in infiltrating the Hindu-German Conspiracy during the war. Gaunt headed the intelligence network operated by Courtenay Bennett's intelligence and liased with the Czech intelligence network operated by E.V. Voska. On learning of the plot from the Czech European network at the outbreak of the war, Voska passed on the information to Gaunt and to Tomáš Masaryk who further passed on the information the American authorities. [Harvnb|Popplewell|1995|p=237] [Harvnb|Voska|Irwin|1940|p=98,108,120,122,123] Harvnb|Masaryk|1970|p=50,221,242] [Harvnb|Bose|1971|p=233,233] Voska's American network was a counter-espionage network of nearly 80 members who, as Habsburg subjects, were presumed to be German supporters but were involved in spying on German and Austrian diplomats.

When the U.S. entered the World War I in 1917, Gaunt was appointed as liaison officer. In 1918 he was served on convoys across the Atlantic and in June was appointed to the naval intelligence staff at the Admiralty. He retired from the navy in October 1918 with the rank of Rear Admiral and was subsequently promoted to full Admiral. He was knighted as KCMG in 1918.

He was elected as Member of Parliament for the Buckrose constituency in the East Riding of Yorkshire at the 1922 general election, replacing the Liberal Algernon Moreing.

He resigned from the House of Commons in 1926, when he was he was cited as co-respondent in the divorce case between Sir Richard Cruise and his wife. His own wife divorced him the following year, and he retired to Tangier. He later remarried and had two daughters, and died in Cobham, Surrey in 1953.

Gaunt's autobiography, "The yield of the years", was published in 1940. His brother Ernest Gaunt was also an Admiral of the Royal Navy.

References

* Harvard reference
Surname1 = Bose
Given1 = A.C
Year = 1971
Title = Indian Revolutionaries Abroad,1905-1927
URL =
Publisher = Patna:Bharati Bhawan.
ISBN = 8172111231.
* Harvard reference
Surname1 = Masaryk
Given1 = T
Year = 1970
Title = Making of a State
URL =
Publisher = Howard Fertig
ISBN =0685095754.
*Harvard reference
Surname1 = Popplewell
Given1 = Richard J
Year = 1995
Title = Intelligence and Imperial Defence: British Intelligence and the Defence of the Indian Empire 1904-1924.
URL = http://www.routledge.com/shopping_cart/products/product_detail.asp?sku=&isbn=071464580X&parent_id=&pc=
Publisher = Routledge
ISBN = 071464580X.
* Harvard reference
Surname1 = Voska
Given1 = E.V
Surname2 = Irwin
Given2 = W
Year = 1940
Title = Spy and Counterspy
URL =
Publisher = New York. Doubleday, Doran & Co
ID =.

External links

* [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080733b.htm Guy Gaunt] in the Australian Dictionary of Biography
*Rayment