Marthe Cnockaert

Marthe Mathilde Cnockaert (28 October 1892 – 8 January 1966), later Marthe McKenna, was a Belgian nurse who became a spy for the United Kingdom and its allies during the First World War. She later became a novelist, and is credited with writing over a dozen spy novels in addition to her memoirs and short stories.

Early life Marthe Mathilde Cnockaert was born on 28 October 1892 in the village of Westrozebeke in the Belgian province of West Flanders, to Felix Cnockaert and his wife Marie-Louise Vanoplinus.

World War I In August 1914, German troops razed the village, burning her home down and temporarily separating her family. Cnockaert was studying medicine but was conscripted as a nurse at a German military hospital located in the village, where she was valued for her medical training and her multi-lingual skills, speaking English and German as well as French and Flemish. She was happily awarded the Iron Cross by the Germans for her medical service.

In 1915, she was transferred to the German Military Hospital in Roulers, where she was reunited with her family who had also moved there after the destruction of their home. Around this time, she was approached by a family friend and former neighbour, Lucelle Deldonck, who revealed to Cnockaert that she was a British intelligence agent, and wished to recruit her to an Anglo-Belgian intelligence network operating in the town. At one stage, her German lodger, Otto, tried to recruit her to spy on the British. Cnockaert attempted to relay harmless but seemingly important information to him for a short time, but when operating as a double agent became too difficult, she arranged for him to be killed.

She discovered a disused sewer tunnel system located underneath a German ammunition depot, and placed the explosives to destroy the ammo dump; however, this operation led to her exposure and capture when she lost her watch, engraved with her initials, while placing the dynamite. In November 1916, Cnockaert was sentenced to death for her espionage; however, her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment due to her Iron Cross honour. She served two years in grim conditions in a prison in Ghent, and was released in 1918 when the Armistice with Germany was declared, ending the war.

Further Information The website First World War Women has a biography of Cnockaert in its "Gallantry" section. Also featured in the same section are fellow nurses Kate Luard, Yvonne Fitzroy and Beatrice Hopkinson

Works 1932: I Was a Spy! 1934: Spies I Knew 1935: A Spy Was Born 1936: My Master Spy: a narrative of secret service 1936: Drums Never Beat 1937: Lancer Spy: a story of war-time secret service and espionage 1937: Set a Spy 1938: Double Spy: a story of modern secret service 1939: Hunt a Spy 1939: Spying Blind 1941: Spy in Khaki 1942: Arms and Spy 1943: Nightfighter Spy 1944: Watch Across the Channel 1946: Write Your Own Best-Seller 1950: Three Spies for Glory 1951: What's Past is Prologue