Catalogue description John CAIRNCROSS: British. CAIRNCROSS was recruited by the Russian Intelligence Services...

John CAIRNCROSS: British. CAIRNCROSS was recruited by the Russian Intelligence Services (RIS) while a student at Cambridge during the 1930s and became a member of the Cambridge Five ring of spies. He joined the Civil Service in 1936, serving in the Foreign Office, Treasury, GC&CS (the forerunner of GCHQ), SIS, the Treasury again and the Ministry of Supply. He was first suspected of being a spy when material in his handwriting was discovered in the flat belonging to RIS agent Guy BURGESS after BURGESS had defected to Moscow in 1951. CAIRNCROSS had to resign from government service and he moved abroad. He made a partial confession in 1964 but never revealed the whole truth about his role for the RIS