Francis Storrs

Who was Francis Storrs?

Francis Edmund Storrs was a British academic and intelligence agent. He was the younger brother of Arabist and colonial administrator Sir Ronald Storrs.

He was educated at Radley College from 1897 to 1902, and then at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he received a BA; he won scholarships at both institutions He was a professor at Elphinstone College in Bombay in 1908, and then at Rangoon College in 1912.

He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1911. On November 28, 1912, he married Catherine Josephine Schiff.

During the First World War, he initially worked for the civil service in matters concerned with supplying Russia; he was awarded the Russian Order of St. Anne for this service. In 1916-17 he served with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in Greece with the rank of Lieutenant, then in 1917 with the Secret Intelligence Service in the Aegean. At the time, large areas of Greece were effectively under Allied military occupation, nominally controlled by the Venizelist government. Storrs was responsible for the passport control and port control of some thirty islands in the Cyclades, and in effect for all counter-espionage work in this area.