John Hopkins

Very little that we know of him can be taken as absolute fact.

Only long after his death, as Cold War dossiers were declassified and new archives opened, has a clearer picture begun to emerge.

Sidney Riley is almost certainly born near modern-day Ukraine under the name of Shlomo Rosenblum, sometime around the 1870s.

From the very beginning, the facts blur.

Even his parents, religion, and education are contested, with some claiming he is the product of an affair and that his biological father was not Russian Orthodox but Jewish.

Though Riley himself tells different versions of his early life at different times, what is clear is that he comes of age at a time of deep unrest.

These years in the Russian Empire are marked by poverty, political tension, and waves of violence.

By the time he seeks safety by slipping out under a false name in the 1890s, it appears young Rosenblum has already learned that when things get dangerous, a new identity is a good form of protection.

He arrives in London, having Germanified his name on his way through Europe.

And he did very well.

The patent medicine trade sits somewhere between science and salesmanship.

Remedies for any ailment are branded boldly, tested lightly, and sold on confidence.

Rosenblum, with his training in chemistry and his gift for persuasion, proves adept at both.

In London, he becomes close to a well-connected English clergyman, the Reverend Hugh Thomas, and his much younger wife, Margaret.

Reverend Thomas suffers from a serious kidney condition called Bright's disease.

Rosenblum presenting himself as medically knowledgeable frequents the household often, administering treatment to the Reverend while growing increasingly close to Margaret.

At the same time, Rosenblum is moving in another circle altogether.

London, at the turn of the century, is crowded with Russian exiles and political dissidents.

Some are simply critics of the Tsar, but others are suspected of more extreme, even terrorist, ambitions.

William Melville, head of the Special Branch at Scotland Yard, is tasked with monitoring them.