James Lonsdale-Bryans

James Lonsdale-Bryans (1893–1981) was a British writer, amateur diplomat and Nazi sympathiser. Between September 1939 and February 1940, he sought a peace agreement with Nazi Germany. His efforts were supported and financed by Lord Brocket and the Duke of Buccleuch.

Family He was the eldest child of stained-glass artist Herbert William Bryans and his wife, Louisa Bryans, née Richardson.

By 1901, the family lived at Regent's Park, London.

He was educated at Eton College.

Later attempts Upon his return to Britain, the Foreign Office first learned that Lonsdale-Bryans expected generous financial compensation for his work. On 17 March 1940, Lonsdale-Bryan's patron, Lord Brocket, wrote to Alexander Cadogan, the Permanent Undersecretary at the Foreign Office, to explain that Lonsdale-Bryans was deeply in debt and had a massive bank overdraft and so wanted lavish financial rewards for his work as an amateur diplomat. Cadogan wrote on the margin next to the part in Lord Brocket's letter about Lonsdale-Bryans's need for money "enlightening". The American historian Gerhard Weinberg called Lonsdale-Bryans a "rather dubious character", whose actions were motivated entirely by greed.

Lonsdale-Bryans also met with Chamberlain and Halifax, both of whom were sympathetic to Hassell but not Lonsdale-Bryans.

Halifax made it clear he wanted a professional diplomat to deal with Hassell and told Lonsdale-Bryans that he already sent "assurances" to Hassell via "another channel". Nonetheless, Lonsdale-Bryans returned to Arosa to meet Hassell again on 14 April 1940 but offered little more than words of encouragement. The fact that fighting had begun five days earlier with the German invasion of Norway led the British historian Sir John Wheeler-Bennett to note "the discussion of a negotiated peace was purely academic" by now; despite Hassell's claims that the Wehrmacht generals were deeply opposed to Hitler, they were fighting fiercely against British, French and Polish troops in Norway.

Lonsdale-Bryans then returned to Italy, where he continued his amateur diplomatic work until June 1940, when Italy entered the war. Then, he moved to Portugal, where he continued on much as he done in Italy. Lonsdale-Bryans "wrote to the then Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax with his plans.... MI5 was unsure as to how much backing Mr Lonsdale-Bryans had from Lord Halifax".

In October 1940, Lonsdale-Bryans continued his amateur diplomatic work by trying to set up a meeting with Hitler in Switzerland to discuss peace terms. Lonsdale-Bryans sent a letter from Portugal to the director of the Schwarzhäupter publishing house in Leipzig, Germany, which had agreed to translate his book The Curve of Fate into German before the war. He wrote that he willing to meet Hitler in Switzerland to discuss Anglo-German peace terms and again demanded generous monetary rewards.

In January 1941, the Foreign Office sent a message to the British embassy in Lisbon, Portugal, to find a way to ensure that "this undesirable and untrustworthy individual" would return to Britain at once before he did something that would cause Britain much embarrassment. Lonsdale-Bryans finally returned to Britain in 1941, much to the relief of the Foreign Office.

British officials had a low opinion of Lonsdale-Bryans. On 11 February 1941, Cadogan called Lonsdale-Bryans in a memo "an idiot and something of a crook".

A 1941 letter from an official in the Foreign Office stated, "Although there seems to been a good deal to been said for locking him up to prevent him airing his views to all and sundry, I understand that if this is done it will inevitably involve his bringing up the question of his contacts with the Foreign Office and the facilities afforded him to go to Italy".

When Winston Churchill succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister, Lord Halifax remained as Foreign Secretary until, in January 1941, he became the British ambassador to the United States. Lonsdale-Bryans's political influence then disappeared. However, Lonsdale-Bryans "tried to discuss his plans with senior American officials, including Dwight D. Eisenhower", That caused the British government to assure the Americans that Lonsdale-Bryans was "unreliable, though not disloyal".

In 1941, he published The Curve of Fate and in 1951 The Blind Victory: Secret communications, Halifax-Hassell, which recounted his wartime career. A number of references to him feature in the memoirs of the travel writer Robin Bryans (Robert Harbinson).

Suffering from osteoporosis and dementia, he died aged 87.

Lonsdale-Bryans was a contemporary at Eton of Evan Morgan, 2nd Viscount Tredegar (1893–1949).