Daphne Park: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox Peerpeer

|birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1921|09|01|}}<br>|birth_place=[[Surrey]], England, UK

'''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 spyintelligence officer, diplomat and public servant. During her career as a clandestine senior controller in [[MI6]] (1943-19931943–1993) she was stationed in [[Moscow]]Austria (19541946-19561948), AustriaMoscow (1946-19481954–1956), the [[Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)|Congo]] (1959-19611959–1961), [[Zambia]] (1964-19671964–1967) and [[Hanoi]] (1969-19711969–1971).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.namebase.net:82/names/nn01.cgi?Na=Park%2C+Daphne+ |title=Park Daphne Margaret Sybil Désiree |work=[[NameBase]] |access-date=20 January 2012}}</ref>

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 <ref>{{cite web |last1=Roth |first1=Andrew |title=Lady Park of Monmouth obituary Senior MI6 officer, diplomat and Tory peer, she was known as the 'Queen of Spies' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/mar/28/daphne-park-obituary |website=The Guardian |date=28 March 2010 |access-date=18 January 2021}}</ref> and as an alluvial gold prospector in [[Tanganyika (territory)|Tanganyika]] (now [[Tanzania]]). When Daphne was six months old she travelled to Africa with her mother to join him there. <ref name="DT">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/special-forces-obituaries/7521245/Baroness-Park-of-Monmouth.html|title=Obituary: Baroness Park of Monmouth|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=25 March 2010|access-date=22 February 2011|location=London}}</ref> Park had a brother, David, who died aged 14.

When shePark was 11, Daphne Parkshe returned to England and was educated at [[Rosa Bassett School]] in [[Streatham]] and at [[Somerville College, Oxford]], where she graduated with a B.A. in modern languages in 1943. She was further educated at [[Newnham College, Cambridge]], where she received a Certificate of Competent Knowledge in Russian in 1952.

In 1948, she was attached to the [[Foreign Office]], while actually working for the [[Secret Intelligence Service]] (SIS, aka SIS/[[MI6]]), becoming Third Secretary of the United Kingdom's delegation to [[NATO]] in 1952. She then became Second Secretary of the [[Embassy of the United Kingdom in Moscow|British Embassy in Moscow]] between 1954 and 1956.

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 [[Katanga Province|Katangese]] [[uranium]] (deposits of [[Shinkolobwe]]) deposits as well as the diamonds and other important minerals largely located in the [[Katanga Province|secessionist eastern state of Katanga]] to the [[Soviet Union|Russians]].<ref>[http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n07/letters Letters, ''We did it''], ''London Review of Books'', Vol. 35 No. 7, 11 April 2013</ref> The Shinkolobwe uranium mine provided the uranium used by the [[Manhattan Project]], including in [[Nuclear weapons|atomic bombs]] dropped on the Japanese cities [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945]].<ref name = "WP">Compare:{{cite news|last= McCrummen|first= Stephanie|title= Nearly Forgotten Forces of WWII|url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/03/AR2009080302959.html|agency= Washington Post Foreign Service|date= 4 August 2009|worknewspaper= [[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>

She rose further through the ranks of the Foreign Office to beserve in the [[British High CommissionerCommission]] toin [[Lusaka]] from 1964 to 1967 and then [[Consul-General]] to [[Hanoi]] from 1969 to 1970. In 1972 she was named as [[Chargé d'Affaires]] of the British Embassy of [[Ulan Bator]] for several months. From 1973 onwards she served in the Foreign Office then retired two years early in 1979 to become Principal of Somerville College, Oxford.<ref name="DT" />

* 1984–90, Chairmanchairman, Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Aid

* 1989–94, Chairmanchairman, [[Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England]]

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=ArchivedSpecial copyForces Club - Eulogy - Daphne Park |access-date=2011-03-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321070715/http://www.sfclub.org/daphneypark.htm |archive-date=21 March 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

[[Category:FemaleLife lifepeeresses peerscreated by Elizabeth II]]

[[Category:Secret Intelligence ServiceMI6 personnel]]

[[Category:Fellows20th-century ofBritish the Royal Society of Artsdiplomats]]