From time to time, I’m sure that everyone’s come across a minor historical figure who, due to sheer chance, ended up as a footnote rather than attaining the fame and importance that they ought to have merited on paper: given that these sorts of people are invaluable for populating ATLs, and that we don’t seem to have a dedicated thread to cover them as of yet, I thought it might be worth setting up some sort of central repository for almost unknown people for use in alternate histories.
Since I’ve set this thread up, I should probably kick off with a suggestion: Brigadier John Powell. You’re vanishingly unlikely to have ever come across him unless you’ve studied Herodotus in the original Greek (his Lexicon to Herodotus, published under the name of J. Enoch Powell, served as my first introduction to him at University) or you have an overriding interest in WWII military intelligence in the Indian theatre: his career before and during WWII, however, suggests significant potential which could unfortunately never be realised. A professor at 26, he immediately enlisted in the British army as a private on the outbreak of the Second World War: rapidly promoted through the ranks, he provided invaluable if quiet assistance to the military intelligence element of the planning for the Second Battle of El Alamein before being transferred to India. Working closely with General Slim on the coordination of intelligence work in Burma, he had been given the rank of brigadier and assigned to a committee planning the post-war defence of India when he was killed in a plane crash in June 1945.
Given the range and scale of his talents, it’s quite likely that Powell would have played a significant role either in the military or the intelligence services subsequent to World War Two, although there’s a slim possibility that he might have entered the arena of politics at some point: given his apparent vaguely Labourish sympathies (fuelled mainly, by all accounts, by his opposition to the Munich Agreement) he could conceivably have ended up in one of Attlee’s or Wilson’s cabinets.
I was just wondering if anybody else had uncovered similarly obscure figures to be slotted into ATLs as necessary – please feel free to post any you’ve found below.