Pencil dagger associated with Lieutenant Colonel Donald Hamilton-Hill, Special Operations Executive (SOE), 1941-1945 (c)

Steel blade has a narrow triangular spike and is concealed within a pencil, 1941-1945 (c).

Donald Hamilton-Hill (1907-1985) served with the Honourable Artillery Company before World War Two (1939-1945). Commissioned in 1939, Hamilton-Hill served with the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. Following a course in military intelligence he was involved in the setting up of Auxiliary Units in Lincolnshire. These were units trained in irregular warfare formed to resist German occupation were a successful invasion to follow the Allied defeat in France.

Hamilton-Hill went on to join the Special Operations Executive in 1941. In 1942 he worked on Operation SKIDDAW, SOE's clandestine intervention in neutral Spain. Hamilton-Hill served in Italy in 1943, supporting General Tito's partisans in Yugoslavia. In 1944, promoted to lieutenant colonel, Hamilton-Hill served in Greece where he was second in command of 'Foxforce', a composite unit including 9 Commando, elements of the Long Range Desert Group, Special Boat Section and the Raiding Support Regiment. In October 1944, Hamilton-Hill served with 'Floydforce', another composite unit, deployed to the Balkans, supporting partisan units blocking the retreat of German forces.

After the war Hamilton-Hill wrote an account of his wartime service entitled 'SOE Assignment'.