Roy C. Firebrace

According to data reported by him in Spica (January 1973), Firebrace was born on 16 August 1889 at 5:00 p.m. AST, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where his English father had an army post. He was second son of Lieutenant-Colonel George Firebrace, of the Royal Artillery, of a branch of the family from which also came the Firebrace baronets, and Agnes Adela, daughter of Henry Aylmer Porter, of Cranborne Court, Windsor Forest, Berkshire. His elder brother was Aylmer Firebrace.{{cite ODNB|last=Haley|first=Reginald|title=Firebrace, Sir Aylmer Newton George (1886–1972)|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/66852|accessdate=14 July 2013|date=January 2012|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/66852}}Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 2, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 1663{{Cite web|url=http://www.bloodysunday.co.uk/intelligence-organisations/MO4x/firebrace/firebrace.html|title = RCWG Firebrace}}

Firebrace was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1908. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1936, colonel in 1937, and retired as a brigadier in 1946. He was the British military attaché in Riga before the beginning of the Second World War and later in Moscow until 1940 as Head of the British Military Mission in Moscow. He acted as an observer and interpreter for Winston Churchill at the Potsdam and Yalta conferences{{cite journal|last=Addey|first=John|title=Brigadier R.C.Firebrace, C.B.E.|journal=The Astrological Journal|volume=XVII|issue=1|date=1974–1975|issn = 0144-6754|url=http://www.astrologicalassociation.com/pages/publications/journal.php}} and when Molotov visited London in 1942{{cite book |last=Gilbert |first=Martin |title=Churchill at War: His 'finest hour' in photographs, 1940-1945 |publisher=Carlton |year=2003 |page=72}} Includes a photograph of Firebrace with Churchill.{{cite book |editor=Rzeshevsky |title=War and Diplomacy: The Making of the Grand Alliance |publisher=Psychology Press |year=1996 |isbn=9783718657902 |page=89}} and ran the War Office Russian Liaison Group.{{cite book |last=Glees |first=Anthony |title=The Secrets of the Service: British intelligence and Communist subversion 1939-51 |publisher=Cape |year=1987 |isbn=9780224022521 |pages=278–279}}

Nikolai Tolstoy recounts some of Firebrace's military views and experiences in his 1977 book, Victims of Yalta.Tolstoy, Nikolai. The Secret Betrayal, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1977, {{ISBN|0-684-15635-0}}; originally published in London as Victims of Yalta, 1977. Firebrace is also mentioned in Nicholas Bethell's 1974 book, The Last Secret.{{cite book |last=Bethell |first=Nicholas |title=The Last Secret: The Delivery to Stalin of over two million Russians by Britain and the United States |url=https://archive.org/details/lastsecretdel00beth |url-access=registration |publisher=Basic Books |year=1974 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/lastsecretdel00beth/page/38 38], 43|isbn=9780465038138 }}

During his service in military intelligence, Firebrace was involved (in 1944) in the affair surrounding the arrest and prosecution of Helen Duncan, a famous British spiritualist medium, under the Witchcraft Act 1735 (9 Geo. 2. c. 5) (repealed by a private member's bill in 1951).{{cite book |last=Gaskill |first=Malcolm |title=Hellish Nell: Last of Britain's Witches |publisher=Fourth Estate |year=2001 |isbn=9781841151090 |pages=184, 276}}{{cite book |last=Shandler |first=Nina |title=The Strange Case of Hellish Nell: The True Story of Helen Duncan and the Witch Trial of World War II |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2006 |isbn=9780306814389 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/strangecaseofhel0000shan }}

The Brigadier became interested in astrology relatively early in life but it was not until after the war that he became really active in astrological circles. At first his interest extended to psychic studies and for many years he was president of the College of Psychic Studies in London.{{cite book |last=Underwood |first=Peter |title=No Common Task: The Autobiography of a Ghost-Hunter |publisher=Harrap |year=1983 |isbn=9780245539596}}

A big-framed man, known affectionately as "the Brig", Firebrace worked closely with the eminent siderealist Cyril Fagan (1896–1970) and gained a lifelong interest in sidereal astrology.

Firebrace co-founded the Astrological Association of Great Britain with John Addey in 1958 and was its first president.Lewis, James R, The astrology book: the encyclopedia of heavenly influences, p.71. Visible Ink Press, 2003. {{ISBN|978-1-57859-144-2}}. His enthusiasm for sidereal astrology was resisted by other members; in March 1961 he resigned to found Spica,{{cite book |last=Burk |first=Kevin |title=Astrology: Understanding the Birth Chart: A Comprehensive Guide to Classical Interpretation |publisher=Llewellyn Worldwide |year=2001 |isbn=9781567180886 |page=337}} the quarterly journal he published until October 1974. This publication was a major driving force behind the western siderealist movement in the second half of the 20th century.{{cite book |last1=Brau |first1=Jean Louis |last2=Weaver |first2=Helen |last3=Edmands |first3=Allan |title=Larousse Encyclopedia of Astrology |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=1980 |page=112}}

Firebrace wrote a series of books called the "Astrology Moray series" and contributed to American Astrology magazine.

;Astrology Moray series

• {{cite book |title=Primer of Sidereal Astrology |series=Astrology Moray series |volume=1}}
• {{cite book |title=Wars in the Sidereal |series=Astrology Moray series |volume=2 |year=1959}}
• {{cite book |title=New Directions in Astrology |series=Astrology Moray series |volume=3 |year=1959}}
• {{cite book |title=Tertiary Directions |series=Astrology Moray series |volume=4 |year=1960}}

;Current editions

• {{cite book |last1=Fagan |first1=Cyril |last2=Firebrace |first2=Brigadier R. C. |title=Primer of Sidereal Astrology |publisher=American Federation of Astrologers |year=2008 |isbn=978-0866904278}}

In 1916, Firebrace married Esme, eldest daughter of Henry Claud Lyall, of The Hurst, Headley, Surrey, of a landed gentry family. They had a son, Anthony, and a daughter, linguist Margaret Anne ("Margot"), who respectively married a daughter and a son (Richard John Boileau Walker, curator of the Government Art Collection),{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/jun/09/richard-walker-obituary|title = Richard Walker obituary|website = TheGuardian.com|date = 9 June 2010}} of Commander Kenneth Ralph Walker, RN, of Scotnish, Lochgilphead, Argyllshire and the Dower House, Crawley, Hampshire.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/margot-walker-98-linguist-whose-russian-wowed-joseph-stalin-5mzxqm3t0|title = Margot Walker, 98: Linguist whose Russian wowed Joseph Stalin}}Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage, John Debrett, Kelly's Directories Ltd, 1973, p. 2636

{{Reflist}}

• Ken Gillman, "Roy C. Firebrace", in John McKay-Clements, The Canadian Astrology Collection, Toronto, Canadian Astrology Press, 1998, {{ISBN|0-9683695-0-2}}, pp. 24–25.

• [https://generals.dk/general/Firebrace/Roy_Charles_Whitworth_George/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II]

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Category:1889 births

Category:1974 deaths

Category:20th-century British astrologers

Category:British Army brigadiers of World War II

Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Category:Military personnel from Halifax, Nova Scotia

Category:Royal Artillery officers

Category:British Army personnel of World War I

Category:British military attachés

Category:War Office personnel in World War II