Richard Wetzlar-Coit (1887-1960)

He was born in London and educated at Winchester and King's College, Cambridge. From 1920 to 1938, he was a junior partner with Schwab & Snelling, Stockbrokers, of 5 Throgmorton Avenue, London. In the Summer of 1940, his knowledge of Brazil and the German banking system saw him recruited into the British Security Co-ordination (BSC) as Chief of Staff to William Stephenson with the cover symbol G.100. He was operational in Brazil from 1940 to 1942. In his book, Desperate Deception: British Covert Operations in the United States, 1939-44, Thomas E. Mahl said of Coit that although nicknamed 'Coitus Interruptus' behind his back, his was, "a name to be reckoned with and certainly not to be taken in vain, despite his cherubic looks."

In the early 1940s, Guy Liddell, Director of Counter-Espionage, recalled: "We dined with Richard Coit, a pleasant individual who, according to Walter Bell, has done good work. He apparently goes down very well with the Americans. There are stories about his activities in the last war when he was said to be connected with Thornley Gibson (his brother-in-law) in some sort of peace move in Switzerland. I gather from Bill Stephenson, however, that there is nothing in this and that Coit explained it all before he was taken on. He had a letter from the Under-Secretary of State exonerating him from all blame. He appears to be pretty well off since he receives no salary from BSC. His real name is Wetzlar. He was formerly in Schwab & Snelling who have a very unsavoury reputation in the City. Financially he may have been a bit shady in the past but I should say that he was now solely concerned with assisting the allied cause to the best of his ability."

From 1944 to 1952, he was the founding Managing Director and subsequently Chairman and Managing Director of Biro Pens Ltd. After retiring in 1952 he went into the movie business from 1956 and was Director of Westridge Film Productions Ltd., Associated Dragon Films Ltd., Dragon Productions Inc., and Associated Dragon Films, C.A. In 1910, he was married at St. George's, Hanover Square, London, to Violet, daughter of the Rev. Frederick and Judith (Cripps) Slocock. Mrs Coit was a first cousin of the British statesman Stafford Cripps, former Ambassador to the U.S.S.R. and Chancellor of the Exchequer under Clement Atlee. Their only daughter, Ruth Coit, married 3rd Earl Lloyd-George.