Ethel Gee

Ethel Elizabeth Gee (10 May 1914 – 1984), nicknamed "Bunty", was an Englishwoman who helped her lover spy on their country for the Soviet Union. She was a minor member of the Portland Spy Ring.

Early life

The daughter of a blacksmith, Ethel Gee lived on the Isle of Portland, England. She left school at 15 to go to work. In October 1950 she became a filing clerk at the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment at Portland. She thus handled top secret documents on Britain's underwater warfare work and HMS Dreadnought, the Royal Navy's first nuclear submarine. A spinster, Gee had little social life, since her spare time was spent looking after aging relatives, including her mother, aunt and uncle.

Life as a spy

In 1958, Gee met Harry Houghton, a former sailor who had become a civil service clerk. Houghton was an alcoholic and his marriage was about to collapse. She began an affair with Houghton, and would pose as his wife when they booked into hotels.

Houghton had been supplying military secrets to spies from Poland and the USSR for some time. Through Gee, he gained access to more classified material. In July 1960, Houghton introduced Gee to a man whom she claimed she only knew as "Alex Johnson", allegedly a commander in the United States Navy. "Johnson" wanted to know how the British handled confidential information provided them by the Americans.