Gordon1552
Senior List
- Oct 7, 2019
- 207
- 199
- AFL Club
- Brisbane Lions
BEN kept some interesting company>
Here's a picture of BEN's comrade.View attachment 914295
Alfred Hughes (born in 1900 in Sydney) was a worker in his younger years, then studied in a technical college. Later for four years he studied medicine, but in 1924 because of financial problems in the family he joined the police force. In 1932 he joined the CPA and remained its member for 40 years. In 1940 Hughes was transferred to the Military Police. In 1942, after formation of Security Bureau (SB), the Military Police was disbanded, and he joined the SB. Here he became the chief of the counter espionage group involved in surveillance over subversive activities and the Communist Party affairs. According to colleagues, he was a real expert in his business. In 1945 he returned to the New South Wales police where he worked for the next fifteen years. In the beginning of 1945 Clayton recruited Hughes. Due to this Clayton got his hands on copies of the SB files with the data on the Soviet diplomats and TASS correspondents, the data on the structure of the Australian security service, the information of operation value. By the way, Hughes never named his agents in the CPA to his colleagues in SB, or, later, to the inspectors from ASIO.
Alfred Thompson Hughes
Much in his activities remains a riddle, as in materials of the Venona operation there is very little about a character of the information handed by him to Clayton in 1943-45. He was repeatedly interrogated in ASIO in 1949-52 and 1957, but during all interrogations he categorically denied acquaintance and contacts with Clayton, let alone the facts of transfer of information to the latter. Hughes was a skilled, first class policeman, it was uneasy to interrogate him as, as he being on a certain position, perfectly knew the contents of all police files on the CPA and its members. It was impossible to incriminate him anything, as ASIO, being a descendant of the Security Service, was not interested at all in a public condemnation of subversive activities of a person which in theory should have prevented that activity. Hughes served in police till 1960 and retired in a rank of detective-sergeant of 1st class. He died in 1978.
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Good notes but I think the photo is of Feodor Nosov?