Peter Kemp (writer)

Peter Mant MacIntyre Kemp (Bombay, 19 August 1913 – London, 30 October 1993), known as Peter Kemp, was an English soldier and writer. The son of a judge in British India, Kemp was educated at Wellington College and proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge where he studied classics and law. He became notable for his participation in the Spanish Civil War and during World War II as a member of the Special Operations Executive.

As a staunch Conservative and Monarchist, he was alarmed by the rise of Communism and in November 1936, shortly after the end of the Siege of Alcazar, broke off from reading for the bar and travelled to Spain where he joined a Carlist unit under the Nationalists. He was given journalistic cover for entry into Spain by Collin Brooks, then editor of the Sunday Dispatch, "to collect news and transmit articles for the Sunday Dispatch from the Spanish Fronts of War." He later transferred to the Spanish Legion where, in a rare distinction for a non-Spaniard, he commanded a platoon. Kemp was often badgered by his Spanish comrades about whether he was a freemason due to his protestant background. On one occasion his unit captured a Belfast man who had deserted from the Republican side. Despite Kemp's attempts to intervene on the man's behalf, he was ordered to supervise his execution.

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