View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by St Andrews Research Repository ROWLAND KENNEY AND BRITISH PROPAGANDA IN NORWAY: 1916-1942 Paul Magnus Hjertvik Buvarp A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2016 Full metadata for this item is available in St Andrews Research Repository at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/8647 This item is protected by original copyright Rowland Kenney and British Propaganda in Norway: 1916-1942 Paul Magnus Hjertvik Buvarp This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 18 September 2015 1. Candidate’s declarations: I, ……, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately ….. words in length, has been written by me, and that it is the record of work carried out by me, or principally by myself in collaboration with others as acknowledged, and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student in [month, year] and as a candidate for the degree of …..…. in [month, year]; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between [year] and [year]. (If you received assistance in writing from anyone other than your supervisor/s): I, …..., received assistance in the writing of this thesis in respect of [language, grammar, spelling or syntax], which was provided by …… Date …… signature of candidate ……… 2. 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I also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the publication of this thesis: PRINTED COPY a) No embargo on print copy ELECTRONIC COPY a) No embargo on electronic copy Date …… signature of candidate …… signature of supervisor ……… Please note initial embargos can be requested for a maximum of five years. An embargo on a thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science or Medicine is rarely granted for more than two years in the first instance, without good justification. The Library will not lift an embargo before confirming with the student and supervisor that they do not intend to request a continuation. In the absence of an agreed response from both student and supervisor, the Head of School will be consulted. Please note that the total period of an embargo, including any continuation, is not expected to exceed ten years. Where part of a thesis is to be embargoed, please specify the part and the reason. Abstract Rowland Kenney was a British propaganda agent operating in Norway during both the First World War and the Second World War. He has been forgotten by history but the re-discovery of his private collection of materials allows for an analysis of his work. Kenney was deeply involved in the development of propaganda policy and practice. In the First World War, his work in Norway resulted in thousands of pro-British articles appearing in the Norwegian press as well as the realignment of the Norwegian national news agency. In the interwar years, in spite of severe medical difficulties, Kenney continued to work within the field of propaganda, becoming instrumental in the establishment of the British Council. At the start of the Second World War, he returned again to Norway, but was forced to flee during the German invasion of April 1940. During the Second World War, Kenney became the Director of the Northern Section of the Foreign Division in the Ministry of Information where he continued to affect policy-creation and the development of propaganda. There is no doubt that Kenney was a key figure in this development. His professional network and his varied roles within the propaganda bureaucracy speak to his level of involvement, and his documented accomplishments even more so. Finally discovering Kenney’s story and his impact illustrates vividly a few aspects of how the practice of propaganda mutated and changed between 1916 and 1942. 2 Acknowledgements This work could not have been accomplished without the generous help of: The Norwegian Institute of Defence Studies The Norwegian Resistance Museum and The Norwegian Press History Association I am also indebted to my supervisor, Professor Andrew Williams, who gave me this opportunity, showed great patience and offered invaluable advice. I would not be here at all were it not for his help and his confidence in me. It has been my sincerest pleasure to work with you. I would also like to thank Professor Nicholas Rengger, and Professor Tom Kristiansen (of the Norwegian Institute of Defence Studies) for their advice and support through this process. A very special and warm thanks goes to Asta Maria Kenney, who so generously has allowed me to get to know her grandfather. It has been an honour. This work is for you. I have to thank my examiners, Dr. Timothy Wilson and Professor Patrick Salmon, whose advice and comments made this work, and possibly future works, better. Thank you for an engaging and challenging viva. It would be remiss of me not to thank my parents, Jenny Hjertvik and Håvard Buvarp, for their unwavering support through this sometimes-maddening endeavour. My thanks go also to my friends, who with grace permitted my tireless oratory on propaganda theory and wartime history, on soldiers and spies and journalists. My apologies. Your enthusiasm has been an inspiration. I am forever grateful to everyone who has offered help on the way: Dr. Tony Insall, Professor Helge Pharo, Dr. MJ Fox, Professor Peter Putnis, Professor Rune Ottosen, Harald Engelstad, Hans Christian Erlandsen, Peter Day, Robert Pearson, John Entwisle, Ivar Kraglund, Frode Færøy, and such a vast collection of other individuals that I could not hope to fill a conclusive list. Please accept my heartfelt thanks. 3 I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stock yards at Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it. ― Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms 4 Table of Contents Chapter I Introduction 6 Materials and Literature Review 9 Methodology and Limitations 20 The Road Ahead 24 Chapter II Concepts in Propaganda 27 The Beginning 28 Propaganda Defined 30 The Conditions for Propaganda 39 Chapter III First World War: Time and Place 46 Britain in the First World War 47 The Ministry of Information 57 Norway in the First World War 69 Chapter IV The First World War: Rowland Kenney in Norway 79 A Man Behind Many Movements and Events 80 Persons of Interest 99 The Rising System 103 Chapter V The NTB-Reuters Affair: A Case Study 109 The Norwegian Telegrambureau 110 The NTB Affair 113 Analysis 119 Chapter VI The Interwar Years 122 He was a Civil Servant 123 Britain and the Second World War 138 Norway and the Second World War 144 Chapter VII The Second World War: Rowland Kenney in Norway 152 Kenney Returns to Norway 153 Persons of Interest 177 Developing Practices of Propaganda 180 Chapter VIII Legacy 186 Bibliography 198 5 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION It is very important that it should not be known that these copies have come into my possession…1 There is a handwritten list with the heading ‘Interviews 1945-46’ in the collection of papers belonging to the principal subject of this thesis, Rowland Kenney.2 Its cursive lettering is wide; the pencil it was written with was stub, the lead strokes broad and grey. Dates run down the right-hand column, appointments set in stone a year in advance for some. The left column carries names: E. Gerhardsen, T. Lie, O. Torp, and on. It is a remarkable list. In 1945, Einar Gerhardsen was the Norwegian Prime Minister. The list carries his name and the names of members of his cabinet: the Foreign Minister, the Finance Minister, Minister of Education, all present. The spacious cursive is unmistakeable after years of studying it on the back of postcards, on wafer-thin 1 Kenney, Rowland.