"Naval mutineer", memoirs

Wincott was born in 1908, joined the Navy in 1922 and saw action fighting in the China Sea. In 1931 he became the spokesman for the crew of the cruiser "HMS Norfolk" who were protesting in the face of a heavy cut in the pay for ordinary ratings.

He joined the Communist Party and in 1934 went to Russia and toured the Soviet Union delivering propaganda speeches. He settled in Leningrad and ran a hostel for foreign seamen. In 1946 he was arrested as an alleged British spy and spent the next 10 years in Labour camps.

He published "Invergordon Mutineer" (1974). He died in 1983.

Memoir of the "Invergordon mutiny" in September 1931 when the British Atlantic Fleet, anchored at Invergordon in the Cromerty Firth in Scotland, mutinied in the face of a pay cut

The memoir was deposited at Churchill Archives Centre by Wincott in March 1972

This collection is owned by Churchill College, Cambridge.

The collection is open for consultation by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Churchill Archives Centre is open from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm. A prior appointment and two forms of identification are required.

Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain prior permission from the copyright holders and should seek advice from Archives Centre staff.

Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, "Naval mutineer", memoirs, LWIN

A copy of this catalogue is available for consultation at Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, the National Register of Archives, London and on the Janus website, http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/.

This collection level description and catalogue was prepared by Andrew Riley of Churchill Archives Centre in June 2003 using information from a "Daily Telegraph" obituary (January 1983)