Conrad Fulke Thomond O'Brien-ffrench, 2nd Marquis de Castelthomond (19 November 1893[2] – 23 October 1986[3]) was a distinguished British Secret Intelligence officer, captain in the Tipperary Rangers of the Royal Irish Regiment and 16th The Queen's Lancers in World War I, and Mountie for the Royal North-West Mounted Police.

[1] Conrad Fulke Thomond O'Brien-ffrench was born in London, England, the second son of Henry Albert De Vreque O'Brien-ffrench, 1st Marquis de Castelthomond, and his wife Winifred née Thursby, heiress and daughter of Major James Legh Thursby, of Ormerod House Lancashire.

[5][6] He and his elder brother Rollo (Rollo Adrien Vladimir Thursby Marie Altieri O'Brien-ffrench) spent their early childhood in Italy at Villa Torlonia (Frascati) in the Alban Hills, east of Rome, and then at Piazza dell'Indipendenza in Florence, where they received private tutoring in English, French and Italian.

After Rollo left the Wick, Conrad completed his preparatory schooling at St. Aubyns School in Rottingdean, and then attended Bradley Court Agricultural College in the Forest of Dean, where he developed his lifelong interest in horsemanship, fox hunting and other country pursuits, and became a junior member of the Ledbury Hunt.

[5] Conrad left school at this time to study farming in the Evesham Valley, and while there he met a Justice of the Peace from Buffalo Lake Ranch in Saskatchewan, who told him of life on the wild frontier and of the Royal North-West Mounted Police.

[1] In April 1910, at age 17, he sailed on the Empress of Britain for Quebec and continued west to join the Royal North-West Mounted Police in Saskatchewan.

[7] Following his mother's death, O'Brien-ffrench travelled to his ancestral homeland in Ireland and joined The Tipperary Militia, a special reserve unit of the Royal Irish Regiment.

[7] Here he began an exchange of letters with his friend Cathleen Mann and, through the use of invisible ink, transmitted details of troop movements and other strategic information gathered from incoming prisoners.

[16] At the time, Menzies reported to Captain Mansfield Smith-Cumming, the first head of the British Secret Service, who was called "C", a designation that remains to the present day.

[1] In 1920, O'Brien-ffrench was assigned to escort Russian diplomat Leonid Krasin through countries hostile to the new Communist government to meet with Prime Minister Lloyd George in London for secret talks about the restoration of trade with the West.

[18] This event, the first face-to-face meeting between Russian Communist leadership and the outside world, led to the Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement of March 1921.

[21][22] During this time the Indian National Congress of Gandhi and Nehru was in full swing, and the royal tour was dogged by passive demonstrations and riots.

[27] In response the crowd began throwing stones at the police, who were then ordered to open fire, and killed three and wounding several others.

O'Brien-ffrench experienced firsthand the transformative influence of one man as he peacefully expressed true character, and soon the control of the British Raj gave way to India's leadership.

[33] While climbing the Skoro La Pass, a mountain downpour created dangerous conditions, transforming the rocky cliff his party was ascending into an icy waterfall.

Student friends included Simon Elwes, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Guy Arnoux and Elena Mumm Thornton Wilson.

[33] Upon completion of his studies, O'Brien-ffrench travelled to Jamaica with his father, painting and preparing for an exhibition at the Claridge Gallery in London.

O'Brien-ffrench's style, athletic endeavours, personal adventures and experience in espionage may have provided Ian Fleming with some of his inspirations for James Bond.

[63] O'Brien-ffrench provided intelligence on Nazi occultism and the build up of German forces in preparation for World War II.

Knowing this, O'Brien-ffrench used the most expedient method available to transmit the message, phoning the report directly to London, even though it exposed his cover.

[57] The ease of travel quickly changed, and by the next morning Gestapo officials were ripping soles from passengers' shoes in search of money and incriminating documents.

At 9 a.m., Saturday morning, 12 March, a large force of German troops entered Kitzbühel, with another at Mittenwald to occupy Innsbruck and the country west as far as the Arlberg Pass.

Himmler's Gestapo, in 1940, prepared for Nazi Germany's invasion of Britain in World War II by compiling a list of more than 2,300 names of the most-wanted Britons in The Black Book (Sonderfahndungsliste G.B.).

"[67] The Reich Main Security Office, RSHA, combined the SS Intelligence Service (the SD), Secret State Police (Gestapo), Criminal Police (Kripo) and Foreign Intelligence Service into an enormous organization, armed with the data and resources to commit mass murders.

After World War II Conrad and his wife moved to British Columbia, and purchased waterfront property on Maple Bay, Vancouver Island.

[73][74] Conrad designed and helped to build a large 14-room lodge and a cottage at Fairholme, where he and Rosie raised their sons, Rollo and John.