Brian Thomas Webster Stewart (27 April 1922 – 16 August 2015) was a British soldier, colonial official, diplomat and the second-most senior officer in the British Secret Intelligence Service. He fought in the Second World War, played an influential role in the Malayan Emergency, then served as British Consul-General in Shanghai on the eve of the cultural revolution, as British Representative to North Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and as the Director of Technical Services and Assistant Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1974 to 1979.
He is credited with being one of the first China specialists in the Secret Intelligence Service, and the first Director of Support Services. Sir Colin McColl, Chief of SIS from 1989 to 1994 said of Stewart: "Everything he did, he did very well. He was one of the most remarkable persons in the service."
Early life
Stewart was born on 27 April 1922 in Edinburgh, the second of two children of Redvers Buller Stewart, a Calcutta jute merchant, and his wife, Mabel Banks Sparks. His parents returned to India shortly after he was born, leaving him and his brother in the care of his aunts in Kirriemuir in Scotland. He and his brother, George Redvers Hudson Banks Stewart, were educated at prep school in Dalhousie Castle, and then at Glenalmond College in Perthshire, before both boys won open exhibitions to Worcester College, Oxford University.
World War II
During World War II, Stewart and his brother joined the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment), in which their grandfather had also served. George (Stewart's older brother) was posted to the 5th (Angus) battalion, was wounded at El Alamein and killed in Sicily. Stewart went to OCTU at Eaton Hall, and was assigned to the Tyneside Scottish (Black Watch).
He landed on the Normandy beaches, and later remarked of the German army, "They had a bad habit of sticking snipers up trees. But I had a bad habit of shooting at snipers up trees". He fought at the Battle of Rauray, to the west of Caen, as part of Operation Epsom, in which the unit he commanded claimed the destruction of 12 Panzer tanks, and where he was wounded.<ref name=Atlantic>{ { cite magazine|last=Graham|first=David A.|date=29 September 2015|title=The Magic of The Telegraph'''s World War II Obituaries|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/09/the-guilty-pleasure-of-telegraph-obituaries/407968/|magazine=The Atlantic|access-date=3 August 2020}}</ref> The Regiment was awarded a battle honour for its role in the defence of Rauray: the battle, and Brian Stewart's role in it, is described in detail in the regimental history.
Colonial career
After the war, Stewart joined the Malayan Civil Service, where he became a Chinese Affair Officer. He was awarded the highest marks awarded to any cadet in his Cantonese exams, and after an early postings as a district officer, during which he ambushed a troop of bandits at night and sentenced them, as magistrate, the following day, he was made Secretary for Chinese Affairs in Malacca, and then Secretary for Chinese Affairs in Penang, at the very young age of 32.
His period in Malaya coincided with the Malayan Emergency. He worked closely alongside the Malayan Police in counter-terrorism operations. The key figure in his Malayan life, and great hero, was the High Commissioner, General Sir Gerald Templer, for whom Stewart pioneered the 'White Area' policy, whereby cooperative communities were relieved of the burdens of martial law.
Intelligence career
Following Malayan Independence in 1957, Stewart joined the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6, where he specialised in Asia. A first posting in Burma was followed by postings in Peking (Beijing), as British Consul General to Shanghai (where he formed a close friendship with Nien Cheng, who describes him in Life and Death in Shanghai), Malaysia and the Philippines. In 1967, he was made British representative to North Vietnam, and Consul General to Hanoi – a post in which he was preceded by John Horace Ragnar Colvin and succeeded by Gordon Philo who was then succeeded by Daphne Park.
