Ralph Wigram

Ralph Wigram

Ralph Follett Wigram CMG ( /ˈreɪf ˈwɪɡrəm/; 23 October 1890 – 31 December 1936) was a British government official in the Foreign Office. He helped raise the alarm about German re-armament under Hitler during the period prior to World War II. In part, he did this by providing intelligence information about German re-armament to Winston Churchill, at a point in time when Churchill did not hold any position in the government of Stanley Baldwin; Churchill used the information to publicly attack the policies of Baldwin. Churchill's magisterial six-volume history of World War II, The Second World War, described him as a "great unsung hero." The autobiography of Valentine Lawford, who worked under Wigram in the Central Department, describes him variously as "the authentic local deity" and "the departmental volcano." Wigram's role was brought to public attention by the biographical movie about Churchill, The Gathering Storm (where he was played by Linus Roache) and also in the Masterpiece Theatre miniseries "Winston Churchill The Wilderness Years."