Arthur Christie

Arthur Christie (14 March 1921-2003) was a British coal miner and intelligence agent. He was seconded into Special Operations Executive on 22 April 1940 at Aston House, Stevenage, where he was to become one of the founding members of SOE. He was originally trained as an explosives expert, laying charges at the coalface as a miner. It was this expertise that became the reason he was seconded from the regular army into MI6 (R) based at Aston House; this was the place christened "Churchill’s Toy Box."

Christie was born in Cobridge, Staffordshire, one of seven siblings, and grew up in the nearby town of Burslem. At 16, he became a coal miner and attended college to specialise in coal-blasting and explosive-handling.

He was captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore. He was imprisoned in camp Mukden unit 731 in 1942

Also served in the Korean War

He served for 27 years reaching the rank of wo1 loyal lancs regiment

His file is now open at the Public Record Office HS 9/313/1.

Legacy Christie's son, Maurice, published the wartime memoirs of his father in 2004, one year after Arthur Christie's death.