John Hind Farmer

He died aged 95 on 29 October 2012 at Saint-Julien-en-Genevois.

In the 1960s Farmer moved to Paris where he worked in the visa section as a cover then, after retiring from MI6, became a consultant for Control Risks Group, a London risk assessment company. He lived in America, Beirut, Cyprus, and Istanbul before retiring to Geneva and subsequently to Pougny (Ain) in France.

According to André Gerolymatos in 1953 Farmer was introduced to Mahmud Khalil, head of the intelligence directorate of the Egyptian air force, at the Riviera Hotel in Beirut and handed over £1,000 to him with the promise of £100,000 in future for the purpose of organizing a coup or assassinating President Nasser.

His wartime marriage to Alyson Impey was dissolved after the war and he married France Fisher in 1947. After her death he subsequently married Margaret Steele in 1992 who died in 2012.

On the night of 29 April 1944 Farmer, under the code name “Hubert” flew from RAF Tempsford in Bedfordshire and parachuted into France near Cosne-d’Allier accompanied by his courier Nancy Wake, code name “Hélène.”

Led by Jean Antoine Llorca Villechenon, codenamed “Laurent”, from Aydat (Puy-de-Dôme), they put themselves at the service of Colonel Émile Coulaudon (called “Gaspard”), Head of the Mouvements Unis de la Résistance (MUR) which was located at Ligonès Castle, in the commune of Ruynes-en-Margeride (Cantal) to direct the activities and supplies of some 20,000 men in the Chaudes-Aigues region. From 15 May 1944 Farmer was responsible for parachuting weapons to the Maquis in their Redoubt of La Truyère (Cantal). As a result of these activities, the Maquis groups posed such a serious threat to the Germans that on 21/22 June 1944 the Germans attacked the Redoubt with several infantry battalions supported by armoured cars, tanks, artillery, and aircraft.

In 1939, when working in the Bank of England, he joined the Royal Artillery and was sent to an anti-aircraft battery on the Maginot line. He was evacuated from Dunkirk then went to Yorkshire where he found life dull. In 1944 he volunteered for Special Forces and went into one of the new Jedburgh Units. During training however he was recruited by Colonel Maurice Buckmaster, head of “F” section of SOE.

John Hind Farmer (1917-2012) was a member of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. He was head of the FREELANCE network active in Auvergne from May to June 1944. Subsequently he worked for MI6 and is said to have been involved in a British plot to assassinate President Nasser of Egypt.

John Farmer was born in London on 12 January 1917 and educated in Germany and Switzerland as well as the Jesuit College at Godinne-sur-Meuse (now part of the commune of Yvoir) in Belgium. He continued his education at Beaumont College, Windsor, United Kingdom.