John Scale

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}

{{Use British English|date=February 2018}}

{{Infobox person

| honorific_prefix =

| name = John Dymoke Scale

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| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1882|12|27}}

| birth_place = England

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| known_for = {{Plainlist|

• MI6 agent
• Alleged involvement in the murder of Rasputin

}}

}}

Lieutenant Colonel John Dymoke Scale DSO, OBE (born 27 December 1882) was an MI6 (SIS) agent, originally from Merthyr Tydfil in Glamorgan.{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pFEMAQAAMAAJ|year=1931|page=2061|publisher=Kelly's Directories}}{{cite book|author=Andrew Cook|title=To kill Rasputin: the life and death of Grigori Rasputin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUkjAQAAIAAJ|date=May 2005|page=269|publisher=Tempus|isbn=9780752434094 }} He was involved in a British propaganda unit called the Anglo-Russian Commission in St Petersburg, where his responsibilities included running Mohammed Beck Hadjetlaché.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/8010063/Communists-lured-to-their-deaths-by-MI6-with-promise-of-sex.html Gardham, Duncan., Communists lured to their deaths by MI6 with promise of sex, Daily Telegraph, 17 September 2010] Scale served in the British Indian Army and was first sent to Russia in 1912.{{cite book|author=Andrew Cook|title=On His Majesty's Secret Service, Sydney Reilly Codename St1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NBMqAQAAIAAJ|date=1 December 2002|page=260|publisher=Tempus|isbn=9780752425559 }} He qualified as a Russian translator in 1913 and rejoined the 87th Punjabis in 1914.{{cite book|author=Andrew Cook|title=Ace of Spies: The True Story of Sidney Reilly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RDE7AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA311|date=26 August 2011|publisher=History Press|isbn=978-0-7524-6953-9|pages=311–}} In 1916, Scale served with Stephen Alley and Oswald Rayner under Mansfield Cumming at the time of the murder of Grigori Rasputin. Whilst a captain in St Petersburg, in the weeks leading up to the killing, Scale is recorded as having met with Oswald Rayner and Felix Yusupov in the diary of their chauffeur, William Compton.{{cite book|ref=Fuhrman|last1=Fuhrmann|first1=Joseph T.|title=Rasputin, the untold story |edition=illustrated|year=2013|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc.|location=Hoboken, New Jersey|isbn=978-1-118-17276-6}} Several other books and documentaries have claimed Scale's involvement in Rasputin's death, or even alleged that Scale commanded Rayner to fatally shoot him.{{cite book|author=Douglas Smith|title=Rasputin: The Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=npKqDAAAQBAJ&pg=PR174|date=3 November 2016|publisher=Pan Macmillan|isbn=978-1-4472-4586-5|pages=174–}} A letter from Alley to Scale provides the best evidence of British Intelligence involvement in the murder and torture that reads:

{{cquote|Dear Scale, ... Although matters here have not proceeded entirely to plan, our objective has clearly been achieved. Reaction to the demise of "Dark Forces" has been well received, although a few awkward questions have already been asked about wider involvement. Rayner is attending to loose ends and will no doubt brief you on your return."{{cite web | url=https://www.pressreader.com/uk/bbc-history-magazine/20161103/282935269877287 | title=Who Murdered Rasputin? | magazine=BBC History Magazine | date=3 November 2016}}}}

In March 1918, Scale was an SIS bureau commander in Stockholm.{{cite book|author=Nigel West|title=Historical Dictionary of World War I Intelligence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CVNzAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA249|date=24 December 2013|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-8002-3|pages=249–}}