Thomas Chaloner is an agent with British Intelligence.
Since the year of his first recorded adventure is 1662 and there was no organized government department with that mandate, it is more accurate to say he is an operative who answers directed to the Earl of Clarendon, newly appointed head of His Majesty's intelligence operations. He is not the only person in that man's retinue but he is one of the most experienced although Lord Clarendon is only just learning how good Chaloner is at his job. Even Chaloner is surprised at a bit surprised at how adept he proves to be at the myriad of different missions he is assigned.
Chaloner is no stranger to being a clandestine operative. For several years he worked as an undercover agent for John Thurloe when that man held the position of Oliver Cromwell's Secretary of State and Spymaster General during the period of the Commonwealth. His 'turf' was the Kingdom of the Netherlands where he "watched shipyards, monitored the manufacture of cannons, stole nautical charts, and started rumours to damage Dutch alliances with France and Spain". He is, however, very much inexperienced to the kind of work he will be asked to do under the new regime, namely spy on and/or investigate his fellow British citizens inside the boundaries of England. He freely admits when offered a new position that "I did not spy on my fellow countrymen, and being an agent in a foreign country is not the same as being a spy here. I do not have the right skills for such work".
During out introduction to Chaloner we learn that while he had been a spy in Holland for several years, with the death of Cromwell and the restoration of the monarchy, resulting in Thurloe's loss of office, he was at the moment unemployed and "his situation was fast becoming desperate - he owed rent to his landlord, there was no food in the larder and even his best clothes were beginning to look hopelessly tatty". He appealed to his former boss who introduced him to Clarendon and Chaloner was again employed as an operative. This time, though, while he might be sent on occasion by Clarendon out of the country for one assignment or another, most of his service would be inside England fighting enemies of the Crown.
Chaloner is described as being "of average height and build, with brown hair and grey eyes. He had a pleasant face, but not one that was in any way remarkable, and he had worked hard over the years to make his appearance as unmemorable as possible. Outstanding features were a serious disadvantage for a man who made his living as a spy".
He is an interesting man in the days of much divided loyalties, some to the former Commonwealth and some to the monarchy, because Chaloner is a patriot to the Country or, as Thurloe puts it, "your loyalty lies with your country, not with its shifting governments, which is as it should be". He has friends on both sides of that still tender subject, as well as enemies.