Lt Colonel James Ogilvy Blair-Cunynghame

As an Intelligence Corps officer, Blair-Cunynghame rapidly progressed from Captain in November 1940 to Lt Colonel while working in SIGINT during the Second World War. He was a dedicated SIGINT professional and worked in varied posts, from a stint in CIS London and then on German traffic analysis (TA) in the ‘Fusion Room’ of SIXTA at Bletchley Park.

In July 1941 Blair-Cunynghame moved to Beaumanor as part of the newly formed 6 Intelligence School (6 IS) and then transferred with 6 IS to BP in early 1942 to form the nucleus of SIXTA, providing TA support to Hut 6. He was valued highly almost straight away as a TA expert but in spite of BP objections he was posted to the Middle East as OC for 5 IS based in Cairo in September 1942. He was to return to BP to be appointed SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) Liaison Officer in late May 1944, a critical position in the run up to the Normandy invasion in June.

He was then posted to Italy in June 1944 as BP’s SIGINT Liaison Officer (SLO), having been replaced as GC&CS representative at SHAEF by Lt Col Jack Brown. In late 1944/early 1945 Blair-Cunynghame was to hold several positions in military commands across Italy and Austria, still as BP’s Liaison Officer. However, he returned to BP to be appointed the Head of the TA and Task Control Group in September 1945, when he replaced Lt Col Sayer. Blair-Cunynghame was still serving in the Army in 1946 but would go onto become the Director-General of the National Coal Board (NCB) in 1955. He then went into the banking sector serving as Chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Board, and was later knighted in 1976.