John Wallinger
[2] In 1902, during a period of concern over the activities of Indian nationalist political activists, Wallinger was seconded to the Metropolitan Police at Scotland Yard.This was a substantial organisation and role, reflecting the concerns the British government had regarding anti-colonial political activists, described by historian Richard Popplewell as "not much smaller than the European intelligence operations of the Secret Service Bureau, let alone those of the War Office".[2] Here he also worked alongside his younger brother Ernest, a major in the Intelligence Corps who had lost his foot at the Battle of Le Cateau serving in the Royal Field Artillery.[8] In 1926 he was offered the role of deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, but instead chose to retire to Brighton on the south coast of England, where he died on 7 January 1931.Inspired by Maugham's stories, the character of "R." based on Wallinger was played by Charles Carson in the 1936 Alfred Hitchcock espionage thriller Secret Agent.