Granville, Christine, 1908-1952

Christine Granville, was born Krystyna Skarbek on her parents' estate at Mlodziesyn, thirty miles from Warsaw. In 1938 she married Jerzy Gizycki. Shortly after their marriage, he was sent to Ethiopia as the Polish Consul, and the couple were in Addis Ababa when Hitler invaded Poland. They made their way back to London but the pair separated. Krystyna made three undercover visits to Warsaw, collecting military and economic information which was sent to London.

On her return from the third visit, she and Andrzej Kowerski were arrested by the Hungarian Secret Police, but were, eventually, released. After this, they contacted the British Ambassador, Sir Owen O'Malley, who arranged for them to be given false passports, under the names Christine Granville and Andrew Kennedy. With these new identities, the pair conducted much espionage work in Turkey, Palestine and Egypt, including the information about troop movements which enabled Churchill to predict that Hitler would declare war upon the Soviet Union. In Cairo, Christine joined the Special Operations Executive. She became part of the "Jockey" underground network, led by the British officer Francis Cammaerts. When Cammaerts, Major Xan Fielding and a French officer were arrested by the Gestapo, Granville assisted with the negotiation of their ransom for release; she was awarded the George Medal by the British and the French awarded her the Croix de Guerre avec Palmes.

After the War, Granville became a stewardess on the Shaw-Savill line to Australia. On the voyage, she met a 41-year old steward named Dennis George Muldowney. He fell in love with her, but she did not respond favourably. In June 1952 Muldowney stabbed Granville to death.