David Spedding

{{Infobox spy

|honorific_prefix =

|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCMG|CVO|OBE}}

| name = Sir David Spedding

| service = Secret Intelligence Service

| serviceyears =1967–1999

| rank = Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service

| operation =

| awards = KCMG, CVO, OBE

| birth_date =7 March 1943

| birth_place =

| death_date ={{Death date and age|df=yes|2001|6|13|1943|3|7}}

| death_place =

| nationality = British

| spouse = Gillian Kinnear

| children = Two sons

| occupation =Intelligence officer

| alma_mater = Hertford College, Oxford

}}

Sir David Rolland Spedding {{post-nominals|size=100%|KCMG|CVO|OBE}} (7 March 1943 – 13 June 2001) was head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1994 to 1999.

Early life

David Spedding was the son of a Border Regiment lieutenant colonel,{{cite news |last=Woo |first=Elaine |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jun-16-me-11176-story.html |title=Sir David Spedding; Ex-Chief of British Spy Agency |work=Los Angeles Times |date=2001-06-16 |access-date=2020-11-02}}{{cite book|author=Nigel West|title=Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HKPmAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA563|date=18 February 2014|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-7897-6|pages=563–}} and grew up in the middle class.{{cite news |last=Woo |first=Elaine |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jun-16-me-11176-story.html |title=Sir David Spedding; Ex-Chief of British Spy Agency |work=Los Angeles Times |date=2001-06-16 |access-date=2020-11-02 |quote="The son of a lieutenant colonel in the British Border Regiment, Spedding grew up in comfortably middle class surroundings. He went to Sherborne, a public school in Dorset remarkable for the fact that le Carre, the spy-thriller master, and Christopher Curwen, another future MI6 chief, also went there. At Oxford, Spedding listed as his chief interests walking, medieval history and golf. But he was a run-of-the-mill duffer, with a handicap, Adams noted, of 20." }} He was initially educated at Sherborne School, then read history at Hertford College, Oxford.{{Cite news |last=Norton-Taylor |first=Richard |date=2001-06-14 |title=Sir David Spedding |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/jun/14/guardianobituaries.politics |access-date=2025-06-17 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

Career

Spedding joined the Secret Intelligence Service in 1967, while a postgraduate student at Oxford. He then attended the Middle East Center for Arabic Studies in Beirut, becoming a specialist on Middle East affairs. He also served in Santiago and Abu Dhabi.{{Cite web |date=2001-06-14 |title=Sir David Spedding |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1309010/Sir-David-Spedding.html |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=The Telegraph |language=en}}

In 1971 Spedding was named as the local SIS station commander in Lebanon, and was later posted to Abu Dhabi in 1977. Following his Middle East Directorate appointment in 1983, he was made the Amman Jordan station head, and was subsequently commended in that position for uncovering an Abu Nidal plan to assassinate the Queen during an upcoming Jordan visit.{{cite book|author=Gordon Thomas|title=Secret Wars: One Hundred Years of British Intelligence Inside MI5 and MI6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aAqjMjs09P0C|date=16 February 2010|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-4299-4576-9}} For this he was made Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.

In 1993, Spedding became Director of Requirements and Operations. In 1994 he became Chief of the Service, becoming the first chief to have never served in the armed forces, and the youngest to have held the position to that date.{{cite book|author=Nigel West|title=The A to Z of British Intelligence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zYAXAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA514|date=2 September 2009|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-7028-4|pages=514–}} During his tenure the SIS faced some degree of negative publicity due to unauthorized disclosures in the wake of Richard Tomlinson's dismissal.{{cite book|author=Nigel West|title=At Her Majestys Secret Service: The Chiefs of Britains Intelligence Service, MI6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VealDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT142|date=30 June 2016|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|isbn=978-1-84832-895-2|pages=142–}}

Spedding died of lung cancer on 13 June 2001, aged 58.