Sir Frank Nelson

Frank Nelson, after attending Bedford School between 1893 and 1897, went into business overseas, rising to become President of the Associated Indian and Ceylon Chambers of Commerce. Returning to Britain in the 1920s he was knighted for his services to the British Empire, elected MP for Stroud and before the Second World War worked for the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). In 1940 he was appointed Executive Director of the Special Operations Executive, a TOP SECRET organisation established to supply resistance movements and infiltrate agents into occupied Europe. In this booklet Bernard O’Connor sheds light on one of Bedford School’s lesser known wartime heroes.