Life
1841-1894 [prop. Thomas Miller Beach; var. Thomas Billis Beach];
b. Colchester; trained as Colchester draper; travelled to Paris in 1861,
and learned French; emig. to America; served in Pennsylvanaia Reserves
as Major Le Caron; Asst. Adj.-Gen., 1865; joined Fenians while in the
Union Army; later studied medicine; Detroit, MD (or perhaps not); practised
in Detroit and later in Braidwood; settled in Nashville; fnd. Fenian group
at Illinois; informed on Fenian raid to Canada commanded by Gen. O’Neill
of the IRB, 1866; contacted Robert Anderson of Home Office in England,
1867; fndr. mbr. Clan na Gael; paid £2,000 by British Govt. between 1868
and 1870; assisted organisation of arms for second Fenian raid on Canada,
informing Canadian Commissioner of Polie all the while, 1870; close friend
of Alexander Sullivan of terrorist Triangle; also hoodwinked John Devoy,
who omitted any mention of him in his memoirs; carried packets to John
O’Leary and Patrick Egan in Paris, 1881, showing them to Anderson
en route; trusted by Davitt, who spoke of his ‘gentlemanly manners
and good address, and accepted his advice and prescription for insomnia;
introduced to Parnell by Egan; commissioned by Parnell to secure understanding
between constitutionalists and American Fenians; denounced for Fenianism
in America; stood for House of Representatives, 1885; finally left America,
1888; examined in Parnell hearing, Feb. 1889, revealing his career; paid
£10,000 by British Govt. for his evidence, claiming patriotism as his
motive for a lifetime of spying; retired in England and suffered nervous
breakdown before death; issued Twenty-five Years in the Secret Service
(1892) claimed that he spied as a patriot; [see DNB under Beach]. DNB DIH
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Commentary
Francis MacManus, ‘The Master Spy’, Adventures of an Irish
Bookman (Dublin: Talbot Press 1952), pp.29-33.
Colonel Victor K. Kaledin, High Treason, Four Major Cases of the St Petersburg Personal Court (London: Hurst & Blackett 1936), (p.17.)
J. J. Abrahams, Surgeon's Journey: Autobiography ( London: Heinemann 1957), p.51.
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Notes
Twenty-five Years in the Secret Service (1892) [Hyland 224]
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)