Robert Nathan (intelligence officer)

Sir Robert Nathan KCSICIE
Nathan as the Police Commissioner ofDhaka(1907)
Born	1868
Died	1921 (aged 52–53)
Alma mater	Peterhouse, Cambridge

Sir Robert NathanKCSICIE(1868–1921) was a British intelligence official notable for his work against theIndian revolutionariesinBengal,Britain and North America.

Early career in India

Nathan was educated atPeterhouse, Cambridge,before joining theIndian Civil Servicein 1888. He was appointed secretary of the Indian Universities Commission in 1902, for which he was created a Companion of theOrder of the Indian Empire(CIE) in the1903 Durbar Honours.In 1905, he was asked to become Private Secretary to the Viceroy,Lord Curzon,but only two years later, in 1907 Nathan was made Chief Secretary to the Government of Eastern Bengal and Assam, and Commissioner of Dhaka Police.In 1908, Nathan, then thePolice CommissionerofDhaka,was responsible along with the district collector H.L. Salkeld for uncovering the revolutionary organisation of theAnushilan Samiti,and for instituting the measures to suppress the organisation.

Return to Britain

Nathan was appointed Vice Chancellor ofCalcutta Universityin 1914, and the same year returned from India on account of ill-health.He began his work for British intelligence against Indian revolutionaries in October 1914. After retiring from the ICS in 1915, Nathan joined theMI5's section dealing with theIndian seditionist movement in Europe,calledMI5(g),that was formed at the time headed byVernon Kell.Nathan's fellow officer at the time was another ex-Indian police official, H. L. Stephenson.He headed at the time the political branch of the Secret Service,and along withBasil Thomsonwho headed the Special Branch of theScotland Yard,Nathan was closely involved in the interrogation of Indians who worked along with the Germans during the war.

Nathan's efforts, along with those ofJohn Wallinger'sIndian Political Intelligence Office(with whom Nathan worked closely), were key in the British counter-espionage work.Nathan identified plans byGhadar Partyand theBerlin Committeeto assassinateLord Kitchenerin 1915 through an associate ofHar Dayal,Gobind Behari Lal.He was also responsible at this time, along with Basil Thomson, to turn Harish Chandra (who was associated with theBerlin Committee) into a double agent.Nathan was also responsible for the plans made by British intelligence in late 1915 to assassinateVirendranath Chattopadhyayathrough agent Donald Gullick.

Work in North America

Later, on instructions from British secret service, Robert Nathan transferred to the Pacific coast of North America where theGhadar Partyworked closely with the German consulate at San Francisco to obtain arms and men for what came to be known as theGhadar Conspiracy.Nathan successfully brought the Ghadarites and staff at the German consulate to trial following theAnnie Larsenarms plot.He organised theHindu–German Conspiracy Trial,which at the time was the longest in American legal history.He was responsible for the arrest ofChandra Kanta Chakravertyand his subsequent interrogation, along with thatErnst Sekunna.Through March 1917, Nathan worked closely withWilliam Wiseman,and negotiated with theUS State Departmentthe details of the case against the Indian conspirators. He strongly supported granting a guarantee to the United States not to be held responsible for violation of neutrality.

Later life

Nathan returned to Britain at the end of World War I where he died in 1921.

Publications

Official History of Plague in India; Progress of Education in India, 1897-8, etc.

References

• Dictionary of Indian Biography. Charles Edward Buckland. 1906. p313
• Ghosh, Suresh Chandra (1977).Development of university education, 1916-1920.Selections from educational records of the Government of India;new series, v. 2. New Delhi: Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University: [Distributed by Sterling Publishers]. p. 359.hdl:2027/uc1.b3585846.OCLC681130346.
• Sir Horace Rumbold; Portrait of a Diplomat: 1869-1941. Martin Gilbert, Michael Gilbert. 1973. p52
• Who's who: An Annual Biographical Dictionary. Henry Robert Addison, Charles Henry Oakes, et al. p1117
• The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia.Isaac Landman,Simon Cohen. 1939. p111
• Skolnik, Fred; Berenbaum, Michael (1972).Encyclopaedia Judaica.
• Popplewell, Richard J (1995),Intelligence and Imperial Defence: British Intelligence and the Defence of the Indian Empire 1904–1924,London: Frank Cass,ISBN0-7146-4580-X.