Arthur Christie
Arthur Christie (14 March 1921 – 2003) was a British coal miner who became a wartime intelligence agent. He joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE) on 22 April 1940 at Aston House in Stevenage and helped found the organization. Trained as an explosives expert, he used his mining experience to handle charges, which led to his transfer from the regular army into MI6 (R) at Aston House, a place nicknamed “Churchill’s Toy Box.”
He was born in Cobridge, Staffordshire, one of seven children, and grew up in Burslem. He left school at 14 to work as a lathe turner and machine driller at Sneyd Brick Company, then became a coal miner at 16 and studied coal-blasting and explosive handling. When the factory closed in 1936, he and a friend joined the Royal Air Force in Eltham, lying about his age because he was only 17.
During the war, Christie worked with an SOE group at Tanjong Balai, sending messages to Britain about Japanese troop movements. He was captured by the Japanese during the fall of Singapore and imprisoned in Camp Mukden, linked to Unit 731, in 1942.
After the war, he served in the Korean War and continued in the army for 27 years, reaching the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1 in The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire). His service file is held by the Public Record Office (HS 9/313/1).
Christie’s son, Maurice, published his wartime memoirs in 2004, a year after Arthur Christie’s death.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:47 (CET).