Jock Haswell Explained

Major Chetwynd John Drake "Jock" Haswell (18 July 1919  - 21 January 2018^[1]), who also wrote as George Foster,^[2] was a British military and intelligence author and former British intelligence officer.^[3] He was "Author for Service Intelligence" 1966–1984.^[4]

Early life

Haswell was born in Penn, Buckinghamshire. He was educated at Little Appley Preparatory School and Winchester College.^[5]

Career

Haswell was trained at Sandhurst c. 1938/9 - 1941.^[6] He joined the Queen's Royal Regiment on 3 April 1941. Later in 1941 he was stationed in India, and saw local action.^[7] He was promoted Major on 3 July 1952, and retired from the army on 29 April 1960.

Haswell's later work was mostly writing, continuing a thread from his military and intelligence work. He self-deprecatingly described his books as "holes held together with string". Nonetheless, his James II, for example, was reviewed in the Times of 29 July 1972 by Geoffrey Homes.^[8]

He died on 21 January 2018 at the age of 98.^[9]

Bibliography

Books

• Indian File (Michael Joseph, 1960) - as 'George Foster'
• Soldier on Loan (Michael Joseph, 1961) - as 'George Foster'
• The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) (Hamish Hamilton, 1967)
• The First Respectable Spy : The Life and Times of Colquhoun Grant, Wellington's Head of Intelligence (Hamish Hamilton, 1969)
• James II Soldier and Sailor (Hamish Hamilton, 1972)^{[10] [11]}
• Citizen Armies (Peter Davies, 1973)
• British Military Intelligence (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1973)
• The British Army: A Concise History (Thames & Hudson, 1975)
• The Ardent Queen: Margaret of Anjou and the Lancastrian Heritage (Peter Davies, 1976)
• The Battle for Empire: A Century of Anglo-French Conflict (Cassell, 1976)
• Spies and Spymasters: A Concise History of Intelligence (Thames & Hudson, 1977)^{[12] [13] [14]}
• The Intelligence and Deception of the D-Day Landings (Batsford, 1979) also published in the US as D-Day : Intelligence and Deception, New York
• The Tangled Web: The Art of Tactical and Strategic Deception (J. Goodchild, 1985)
• The Magnet Book of Spies and Spying (Methuen, 1986)

Articles

• Military Review. September 1976. Combined Arms Center. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The need to know.

Notes and References

1. Book: Pseudonyms. Joseph F. Clarke. BCA. 1977. 63.
2. Web site: Trove.
3. Book: Books and Bookmen. 1976. Hansom Books.
4. Book: International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004. 2003. 1857431790. 238.
5. Book: The Author's & Writer's Who's who. 1971. Burke's Peerage. 366.
6. Book: Michael Lowry. Fighting Through to Kohima: A Memoir of War in India and Burma. 19 January 2009. Casemate Publishers. 978-1-84415-802-7. 8.
7. Book: Michael Lowry. Fighting Through to Kohima: A Memoir of War in India and Burma. 19 January 2009. Casemate Publishers. 978-1-84415-802-7. 45.
8. Book: Clyve Jones. Britain in the First Age of Party, 1687-1750: Essays Presented to Geoffrey Holmes. A Biography of the Works Published by Geoffrey Holmes. 1987. A&C Black. 978-0-907628-89-7. xvi.
9. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thetimes-uk/obituary.aspx?n=jock-haswell&pid=187970967 Jock Haswell
10. News: King Who Lost the Battle of the Boyne. Sydney Morning Herald. R. T. Foster. 11 March 1973. 118.
11. Web site: Book Reviews, Sites, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction.
12. Book Review, Boulton, William N., The Hartford Courant, Feb 26, 1978.
13. Spies & Spymasters: A Concise History of Intelligence (book review,) Chicago Tribune, Oct 16, 1977
14. Rings in the Tree of Espionage (book review,)Kirsch, Robert, Los Angeles Times, Oct 14, 1977.