Sidney Reilly (Famous spy and trickster)

Sidney Reilly (Shlomo Rosenblum) was a spy who worked for the British secret service from the late 1890s to 1925. He almost certainly worked for other organisations as well - a freelancer that acquired a reputation. This achievement often over shadows the darker side of the man, who was ruthless acquiring his results.

His real name was Shlomo Rosenblum and he was said to be from Odessa in the Ukraine, which was part of imperial Russia. Rosenblum was a clever young man who spoke several languages, including English and very well. He was also a conman and murderer that could act with cold efficiency.

In this age, the world was changing rapidly and there were power struggles among many of the progressive nations. Britain was waking up to the fact that honorable gentleman acting out cloak and dagger spying was not the way to progress. They needed charlatans and tricksters - people with non of the normal every day moral fibre to life.

The ruthless Rosenblum was most effective for British needs, even though he was a double edged sword, so it is doubtful that British intelligence had complete control of this important agent. However, the British had the type money to buy his services and could make things awkward for him if he did not comply. The British SIS would be a service capable of being just as ruthless as Rosenblum if they did not get their way and probably had holds over him.

For the British, Rosenblum did deliver some fabulous results, especially concerning other countries navel treaties. This tends to paint him in a romantic light among popular history and TV shows. It is said that Ian Fleming based some of his characteristics on his James Bond character. The man certainly lived life on the edge and rode his luck on many occasions.

In the beginning of his time with British SIS it is believed he murdered an older man to marry his young wife and inherit her fortune. He is even believed to have forged the death certificate. He then adopted his new wife's name of Reilly and went by the name of Sidney Reilly, discarding the name of Shlomo Rosenblum. He was not to be a good husband as he was and would remain a notorious womaniser.

This dark and very sinister character worked and gained many secrets from foreign powers for the British, especially in navy development. In 1904 he worked for the British in Korea at Port Arthur, aiding the Japanese allies to attack the port. He betrayed imperial Russia, a nation that governed in the Ukraine. This begs the question of his loyalties during this matter. Money was probably his biggest motivator for what he did was surely treacherous to the country of his birth.

What is also strange is that Reilly would become a tenacious defender of the old imperial Russia during the Bolshevik revolution. He was involved in the Lockhart plot - the young Scot who worked for Britain in an attempt to destroy the new communist regime by assassinating Lenin with young Russian counter revolutionaries. This went wrong when a young woman outside of the Lockhart plotters attempted to shoot Lenin earlier then the plotters attack date. This forced the Soviet security services to raid all suspects, blowing the Lockhart plot before it could get off the ground. Lenin survived the shooting but only lived a few years after.

Dead Reilly in Soviet mortuary

Reilly continued in his efforts to undermine the Soviet Union's new revolutionary country, helping the White army as best he could, trying to get foreign aid for them. In 1925 he was lured by the Cheka back to Moscow where he was captured. Starlin ordered his execution and so perished Sidney Reilly after a roller coaster ride of adventures over a twenty seven year period.