Meme-Free Zone

Torchwood was founded in 1879. I don't think we're ever told who ran it in its early days, only that they reported directly to the Queen.

So I started thinking about characters from fiction who might plausibly be involved in running Torchwood in its early days, and there are two outstanding candidates - Mycroft Holmes, whose qualifications speak for themselves but was already involved in every aspect of keeping the Empire running smoothly and probably couldn't spare the time, and one other, a man implicitly trusted by the Queen, fearless in the face of all adversity, and devilishly handsome.

I speak, of course, of that paragon of Victorian manhood, Sir Harry Paget Flashman VC, KCB, KCIE. Born in 1822, Flashman would be 57 when Torchwood was founded, fresh from his gallant heroics in the Battle of Isandlwana, one of the few British officers to emerge from it with any credit, but that's probably a little early for him to get involved, since he was still a troubleshooter for the Empire. He'd be 77 when Jack Harkness was recruited by Torchwood in 1899. Oddly, the adventures mentioned in his autobiography end around 1900, although he was still alive and active up to the start of the Great War. Coincidence? I think not!

Obviously the Queen, or her successor Edward Edward VII, ordered Flashman to fake his retirement so that he could secretly take the reins of Torchwood, with an emphasis on keeping Harkness from going too far off the rails! My guess is that they soon worked out each other's motives etc., and worked very well together until Flashman's death in 1915.

Any thoughts on this?