Noel Mason-MacFarlane

Lieutenant General Sir Frank Noel Mason-MacFarlane, KCB, DSO, MC & Two Bars (23 October 1889 – 12 August 1953) was a senior British Army officer, administrator and politician who served as Governor of Gibraltar during the Second World War.

Frank Noel Mason was born on 23 October 1889, the son of a doctor. His father was convinced that war between Germany and Great Britain was inevitable and joined the Territorial Army^{[citation needed]} to work as an army doctor. As a result, his father was frequently absent, and a major influence on him when growing up was a German governess hired by his father. Mason-MacFarlane was educated at Rugby School and, after attending the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Artillery in 1909. Until February 1909, his surname was Mason, but he hyphened it that month to Mason-MacFarlane out of pride in his Scottish heritage as MacFarlane was the maiden name of his Scots mother.

Mason-MacFarlane served in the First World War on the Western Front and in Mesopotamia. An intense individualist, Mason-MacFarlane's experience as a young artillery officer left him a reputation as an officer who was always ready to "look out for trouble" and who had a profound distrust of the higher command. A non-conformist, he was known for his love of amateur theatrical acting, sports and for writing sarcastic doggerel poems mocking the high command. In the winter of 1915–16, he served with the relief forces involved in the bloody fighting outside of Kut as the British sought to unsuccessfully rescue the Indian 6th Division besieged by the Ottomans inside Kut. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1916, a bar to the award in 1918 (gazetted in September) and a second Bar in the same year, awarded while he was attached to the Artillery Headquarters of the 41st Division, the most junior Kitchener's Army division. The citation for the second Bar was published in a supplement to the London Gazette on 2 December 1918, and reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. While he was engaged on a reconnaissance another officer who was with him was severely wounded by a sniper. He removed him to a place of safety and also brought in a stretcher-bearer who was wounded by the same sniper. He then completed his reconnaissance and returned with valuable and accurate information.

Mason-MacFarlane was also awarded the French Croix de guerre and mentioned in despatches during the First World War.

Between the wars, Mason-MacFarlane attended the Staff College, Quetta from 1919 to 1920. At Quetta, his evaluation upon graduation declared his ability as "above that of any of his fellow students", though his judgement was described as only "fairly good ... rather immature and lacking balance". Afterwards, he served on regimental duties, before attending the Imperial Defence College, a prestigious posting for the most promising officers, in 1935. In 1931, after spending most of the preceding ten years in British India, he was appointed military attaché to Hungary, Austria and Switzerland. The director of M3, the intelligence section of the War Office dealing with Central Europe wrote in an evaluation of Mason-MacFarlane: "He combines a first-class brain with a remarkable flair for intelligence work. He has a keen sense of humour and is an excellent linguist. Full of mental and physical energy and with great initiative...he should go far". A lover of fast cars, he was badly injured in a car crash in 1933 that left him with spinal pain for the rest of his life. In 1934, Mason-MacFarlane returned to Great Britain.

Mason-MacFarlane served as Britain's military attaché to Berlin prior to the Second World War, under the ambassador Sir Nevile Henderson starting in January 1938. Additionally he served as military attaché to Hungary, Austria, Switzerland and Denmark. In his favourite Ford V-8 coupe, Mason-MacFarlane went out to personally observe the Anschluss after the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht denied to him that it was happening and to investigate the German-Czechoslovak border region during the May Crisis. His reports during the May Crisis that he found no evidence of an imminent German invasion of Czechoslovakia did much to cool down the heated atmosphere during the weekend of 20–22 May 1938. "Mason-Mac" as he was known to his colleagues in the embassy in Berlin was viewed as an eccentric with some like Sir Walford Selby, the ambassador in Vienna, praising him for his "consistently good advice" while others like Sir Alexander Cadogan, the Permanent Undersecretary at the Foreign Office, regarded him as reckless and too easily excited. The British historian D. C. Watt called Mason-MacFarlane a "courageous eccentric" who very much wanted to assassinate Hitler.

On 27 July 1938, Mason-MacFarlane reported to Henderson that the Wehrmacht was preparing for a war against Czechoslovakia, stating in a report that the German Army generals were "seeing to it that if the emergency arises their preparations shall not be found wanting". Henderson passed on Mason-MacFarlane's report to London, but stated he did not believe that Hitler was preparing to invade Czechoslovakia. On 3 August 1938, Henderson reported to the Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax that up to 8 German divisions had been sent to the German-Czechoslovak border, but he believed that this was a bluff on the part of Hitler to pressure President Edvard Beneš of Czechoslovakia to grant autonomy to the Sudetenland. In his own report, Mason-MacFarlane wrote the test mobilisations performed by the army were "desperately provocative. It is hard to see how Czechoslovakia can fail to mobilise in reply". Henderson sent Mason-MacFarlane to London the next day to "discuss the extent and significance of German military preparations". During his visit to London, Mason-MacFarlane met Lord Halifax; Sir Robert Vansittart, Chief Foreign Policy Adviser; and Sir Horace Wilson, Chief Industrial Adviser and a close friend of the Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Halifax wanted Mason-MacFarlane to take back a personal message to Hitler, a course of action which he rejected as a "waste of time".