Jacques Vaillant de Guélis
| Jacques Theodore Paul Marie Vaillant de Guélis | |
|---|---|
| Born |
6 April 1907 Cardiff, Wales |
| Died | 7 August 1945 (aged 38) Lichfield, England |
| Buried | Cathays Cemetery, Cardiff, Wales |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Years of service | 1939–1945 |
| Rank | Major |
| Unit |
General List Special Operations Executive F Section |
| Battles/wars | Second World War |
| Awards |
MBE Military Cross Croix de Guerre |
Major Jacques Theodore Paul Marie Vaillant de Guélis MBE MC (6 April 1907 - 7 August 1945) was a Wales-born French Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent during the Second World War. De Guélis was initially in the British Expeditionary Force in France in 1940 and later joined SOE and parachuted into France to organise resistance networks. He was badly injured in a motor accident in August 1945 and later died of his injuries in hospital. He is buried in his home town of Cardiff.
De Guélis was born in Cardiff, Wales on April 6, 1907. His French father, Raoul, was a coal exporter, his mother was Marie. He was educated in Cardiff and then studied at Magdalen College, Oxford. He held dual nationality but completed his required French national service in the 1930s and then returned to Britain to work in advertising in London and Paris. In 1938, he married Beryl Richardson. The family regularly travelled for holidays at the French family property, in Sancerre, in Cher.
Following the declaration of war in September 1939, de Guélis returned to France to join his unit in Orléans. In early October, 1939 he was then posted as a liaison officer to the British 234 Field Company of Royal Engineers. De Guélis was an interpreter on the staff of Lord Gort, commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France. He was later evacuated from Dunkirk in early June but later returned to France via Cherbourg on June 12 to assist other forces to escape.
Following the surrender of France on June 22, 1940, de Guélis fled south to Marseilles. He then travelled to neutral Spain via the Pyrenees. Held in an internment camp by Spanish authorities at Miranda del Ebro, his release was organised by the British embassy. De Guélis then travelled by boat to Glasgow arriving in March 1941.
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