author
Henri Le Caron
1841–1894
A Victorian double life sits at the center of this story: an Englishman who spent years inside Irish nationalist circles in America while secretly reporting back to British and Canadian authorities. His memoirs and the scandal around his testimony helped make him one of the most notorious spies linked to the Fenian movement.
1 Audiobook
Twenty-five years in the Secret Service: The recollections of a spy
by Henri Le Caron
About the author
Born in Colchester, England, on September 26, 1841, Thomas Miller Beach became widely known under the alias Major Henri Le Caron. As a young man he went to America during the Civil War era, served with Union forces, and later built a life in the United States, including periods in Detroit and other Midwestern communities.
What made him historically important was his hidden role as an informer. For many years he moved within Fenian and Irish nationalist organizations while secretly passing information to British and Canadian officials. His evidence later drew major public attention during the Parnell Commission proceedings, when his long undercover career was exposed to a much wider audience.
He also wrote about his experiences in Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, a memoir that helped fix his reputation as a secret agent living between loyalties, causes, and identities. He died in London on April 1, 1894, leaving behind a life story that still reads like political thriller material.