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{{Short description|British spy (1921–2010)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox
|honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
|name = The Baroness Park of Monmouth
|image = Baroness Park of Monmouth 2010.png
|birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1921|09|01|}}
|death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2010|03|24|1921|09|01}}
|title = Baroness Park of Monmouth
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}}
'''Daphne Margaret Sybil Désirée Park, Baroness Park of Monmouth''', [[Order of St Michael and St George|CMG]], [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]], [[Royal Society of Arts|FRSA]] (1 September 1921 – 24 March 2010) was a British
==Early life and education==
Daphne Park was born to John Alexander and Doreen Gwynneth Park. Her father had contracted tuberculosis as a young man and was sent to Africa for rest and recuperation. He moved from South Africa to [[Nyasaland]] (now [[Malawi]]), and served as an intelligence officer during [[World War II]]. Thereafter he owned a tobacco plantation
When
==Career==
On graduating in 1943, Park turned down jobs in the Treasury and the Foreign Office to make a direct contribution to the war effort.<ref name="DT" /> She then joined the [[First Aid Nursing Yeomanry]] (FANY). During the selection process for FANY, she came to the attention of the [[Special Operations Executive]] (SOE), due to her understanding of [[ciphers]]. Park was promoted to the rank of sergeant and trained groups of operatives for [[Operation Jedburgh]], whose task was to support the [[Resistance during World War II|Resistance in Europe]].<ref name="DT" /> In 1945 Park went to work as a briefing and dispatching officer in North Africa. On her return in 1946 she was sent to [[Vienna]] to establish an office for the Field Intelligence Agency Technical (FIAT), a unit of the [[Allied Commission]] responsible for tracking down former [[Axis powers|Axis]] scientists.
In 1948, she was attached to the [[Foreign Office]], while actually working for the [[Secret Intelligence Service]] (SIS, aka
From 1959 to 1961 she was Consul and First Secretary to [[Kinshasa|Léopoldville]], which in practice meant being head of MI6 there. British parliamentarian [[David Lea, Baron Lea of Crondall|David Lea]] wrote that shortly before she died, she claimed to have been involved organising the abduction and murder of [[Patrice Lumumba]] during the [[Congo Crisis]]. Park (allegedly) confided to Lea that the reasoning behind the assassination was MI6 fears that Lumumba would hand over the high-value
She rose further through the ranks of the Foreign Office to Despite her known intelligence service, SIS would neither confirm nor deny she was under their employment.<ref>{{cite news |last=Warrell |first=Helen |date=8 December 2022 |title=The secret lives of MI6's top female spies |url=https://www.ft.com/content/741772c0-ee76-4d3d-bfcd-4fabc1fb405d |work=Financial Times |location= |access-date=20 December 2022}}</ref>
==Affiliations==
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* 1982–87, Governor of the [[British Broadcasting Corporation]] (BBC)
* 1983–89, Member, [[British Library|British Library Board]]
* 1984–90,
* 1985–89, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, [[University of Oxford]]
* 1989–90, director, Zoo Development Trust
* 1989–94,
* 1991–92, Trustee, Royal Armouries Development Trust
* 1994–96, Member, Forum UK
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==Personal life==
Park was unmarried and had no children. She died after a long illness on 24 March 2010, aged 88.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7076407.ece | location=London | work=The Times | first=Michael | last=Evans | title=Daphne Park MI6 woman with a 30year secret career dies at 88 | date=26 March 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.scotsman.com/obituaries/Obituary-Daphne-Park-Baroness-Park.6186737.jp | location=Edinburgh | work=The Scotsman | title=Obituary: Daphne Park, Baroness Park of Monmouth, MI6 Spy | date=29 March 2010}}</ref> A Service of Thanksgiving for the Life and Work of Baroness Park was held on Tuesday 26 October 2010 and the eulogy was given by fellow ex-spy [[Mark Allen (businessman)|Sir Mark Allen, CMG]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sfclub.org/daphneypark.htm |title=
==References==
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* Paddy Hayes: Queen of spies, The autobiography of Daphne Park. Duckworth Publishers, 2015.
* [[Susan Williams (historian)|Susan Williams]]: Spies in the Congo: The Race for the Ore that Built the Atomic Bomb. Hurst, June 2016, {{ISBN|9781849046381}}
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[[Category:1921 births]]
[[Category:2010 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials in Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Kent]]
[[Category:Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge]]
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[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) life peers]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Asiatic Society]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Streatham]]
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[[Category:British women diplomats]]
[[Category:Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford]]
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