Photo courtesy of The Intrepid Society, Winnipeg
Sir William Stephenson CC MC DFC
1897-1989
WW1 Flying Ace, Entrepreneur, Inventor, ‘Intrepid’
Winnipeg, Manitoba
William Samuel Stephenson was born on January 23rd, 1897, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His birth mother was Guðfinna Jónsdóttir whose name was angelized to Sarah Johnston. Guðfinna was born in the county of Húnavatnssýsla which is in the north of Iceland. She emigrated to Winnipeg, Manitoba where she met and married William Hunter Stanger, who was a Scotsman from the Orkney Islands. When Guðfinna’s husband suddenly died in 1901, she was unable to care for her three children, and another Icelandic-Canadian family took over the care of little William. This was not an uncommon practice at the time, when extended families and communities stepped in to help each other. There was no government social support, and it would have been very difficult for a woman on her own in the early 1900’s to care for children. William’s adoptive parents, Vigfús Stefánsson and Kristín Guðlaugsdóttir, both emigrated from Iceland’s western region of Snæfellsnessýsla. They adopted the anglicized name of Stephenson and lived in Port Douglas, Winnipeg near the Red River, which is where William grew up.
According to the historical notes collected by The Intrepid Society, William was fondly remembered by his elementary teacher as both a bookworm and a boxer. Despite his small stature, he never hesitated to stand up for himself, demonstrating a spirit of resilience and determination. His quick wits and photographic memory further distinguished him from his peers, making him a standout student in the classroom and beyond. When he was a young boy delivering newspapers door to door, he spotted the infamous criminal, ‘Bloody Jack Krofchenko’ and alerted the police. When the First World War broke out, Stephenson stepped forward to volunteer even though he was underage, but the medical officer deemed him “too small to be a soldier’ at five foot two inches tall with a 32-inch expanded girth… and signed him in as the company bugler”. However, when shipped over to England, Stephenson was sent to the Western Front where less than one week later, he was invalided out following a gas attack. When he recovered, he was sent to train as a pilot with the Cadet Wing of the Royal Flying Corps, where he rose to the rank of Sergeant. Stephenson also distinguished himself in his regiment, as a light-weight boxer. He had taken up boxing back as a young lad in Winnipeg, perhaps making up for his slight build with physical prowess. When William was posted to France, he entered a boxing tournament at the Inter Allied Games at Amiens and became the featherweight champion. He met the famous American heavyweight boxer, Gene Tunney, at the tournament who said William was ‘…quick as a dash of lightning. He was a fast, clever featherweight … [and] a fearless and quick thinker.’ One of William Stephenson’s elementary teachers once said, “William is a bookworm who loved boxing. A wee fellow, but a real one for a fight.” That ‘fight’, or what we might say, that Icelandic tenaciousness, came to direct Stephenson’s adult life as he took up the cause to fight for democracy.
At the end of the First World War, Sir William was honoured with the title of ‘Flying Ace’, recognizing his courage and skill in shooting down enemy aircraft. He shot down 26 enemy aircraft before he himself was shot down and captured. He flew a Sopwith Camel biplane fighter for the 73rd Division. Stephenson was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Military Cross. When his plane crashed behind enemy lines, he was held as a prisoner of war by the Germans, but he escaped and made his way back to England. When he was debriefed by his superiors, he was able to provide so much detailed strategic information from his observations as he made his way across land to friendly territory, that his name and the information was passed up to higher command. When it landed on Churchill’s desk, Churchill allegedly said, ‘Don’t send that man back in the air, bring him to me.’ This was the beginning of a life-long friendship and collaboration.
During the interwar period, Stephenson briefly returned to Winnipeg and started a hardware business. According to the University of Manitoba Alumni magazine, during this time, William was fascinated with radio communications and presented a series of lectures on high frequency electronics at the university. He returned to England when he met with greater business success. He is accredited with inventing and patenting a wireless method for transmitting photographs, later becoming the fax machine. By 30 years of age, he had earned his first million through his technological inventions. As a wealthy entrepreneur, Stephenson made business contacts in many countries and socialized within leading circles. On July 22,1924, Stephenson married the wealthy American tobacco heiress Mary French Simmons. Stephenson’s friendship with Churchill continued. During the later 1920s and into the 1930s, Stephenson and Churchill watched events in Germany with increasing alarm. They shared a concern for the disturbing political trends and rise in popularity of the National Socialist Party. Stephenson began to use his own personal wealth and social network to gather information on prominent figures in the Nazi party and on the rearmament in Germany. Stephenson recruited famous actors and writers to surreptitiously gather information from prominent Nazi members. It was during the 1930s that Stephenson established the private intelligence network referred to as the Business Industrial Secret Service (BISS) that provided crucial information on German rearmament to the British government.
When Churchill became Prime Minister, he appointed William Stephenson as the Director of British Security Co-ordination (BSC). In this position, Stephenson was instrumental in setting up counter-espionage operations for the Allied forces. In 1940, Churchill sent Stephenson to New York City to coordinate operations with the Americans. He worked closely with ‘Wild Bill’ Donovan, who was recruited by Roosevelt to set up America’s first national intelligence service, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the CIA. Churchill vested Stephenson as his personal representative to President Roosevelt. The Los Angeles Times wrote in 1989 that ‘Stephenson has come to be viewed as the single most important link between future British Prime Minister Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the years before Pearl Harbor forced a still-vacillating America into war.
Stephenson’s breadth of operations was extensive. Part of his mandate was to counter Nazi propaganda and to bring America into the war on the side of Britain. Stephenson understood his mission was to create a secret intelligence network across the Western Hemisphere, which would integrate the British undercover operations of MI5, MI6 and SOE (Special Operations Executive) with American intelligence. For SOE, Stephenson set up the famous ‘Camp X’ in Whitby, Ontario, Canada, which was a secret training facility where spies and operatives were trained in espionage, sabotage and covert operations. This training was critical for agents, who operated behind the German line throughout Europe, and did much to destabilize the control of Nazis in occupied territories. Churchill credited Stephenson’s information-gathering for ending the War six months sooner. The Winnipeg Free Press summed it this way: “Winnipeg man helps change the course of history”. We would add – Icelandic-Canadian changed the face of history!
When reading about Stephenson and the Second World War, it seems as if he had his hand in many of the covert operations in the war against Nazism. There is much that we will never know, as so much of his life was veiled in secrecy. His energy, magnetism, and implacable spirit led Churchill to give him the code name “Intrepid”. His commitment to end the tyranny of Nazism sprung from his idealism and deep commitment to Western democracy. Stephenson never took a salary for any of the work he did. It is said Stephenson is the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s fictional character, James Bond. Famously, when asked about this, Fleming said, “James Bond is a highly romanticized version of a true spy. The real thing is …William Stephenson.” Fleming described Stephenson as ‘… a true hero whose real-life activities were much more impactful than any fictional character.’
King George VI bestowed a knighthood on Stephenson in the 1945 New Year’s Honours for his extraordinary service to the war effort. In 1946, President Truman awarded him the Presidential Medal of Merit in recognition of his “valuable assistance to America in the fields of intelligence and 3 special operations.” He was the first non-American to receive this award. Over the years, Stephenson has received numerous military awards and honours, including honorary degrees from the University of Winnipeg in 1979 and the University of Manitoba in 1980. In his later years, the United States also presented Stephenson with the William Donovan Award for his unique contributions to freedom. Canada honoured Stephenson with its highest honour in 1984, the Companion of the Order of Canada. The following year, he received the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo, which was Manitoba’s highest award at that time.
Sir William Stephenson leaves an incredible legacy, and the INLNA is proud to honour him in our 2026 INLNA calendar, ‘Influencers’. The INLNA wishes to thank the Intrepid Society of Winnipeg for sharing their photos and information with us. You can read more about Sir William on their website at https://intrepid-society.org/
Gwen Sigrid Morgan
INLNA President 2025