“Alresford likes to be different,” said local historian Glenn Gilbertson. “Whereas you would expect this [plaque] to be to a local hero or a national hero, no, it’s to a national traitor, Harry Houghton.”
The building was used by the spy ring as a drop-off point for passing stolen top secret documents, he said, adding: “This was significant because we were just introducing nuclear submarines at the height of the Cold War.”
A triangle of people was set up involving Gordon Lonsdale, who was well known in the antique book trade, US couple the Krogers, who had an antique bookshop, and Houghton, said Gilbertson.
“Recruited back in the 1930s, they had the equipment to photograph secret documents, produce microdots, put them into old books, which would then be picked up,” he said.
“So now you’ve now got a triangle, each piece of which can have a reason for why it’s happening.”