Daphne Park
Daphne Park | |
|---|---|
| Baroness Park of Monmouth | |
| Known for | SIS officer |
| Born | 1 September 1921 |
| Died | 24 March 2010 (aged 88) |
| Nationality | British |
Daphne Margaret Sybil Désirée Park, Baroness Park of Monmouth CMG, OBE, FRSA (1 September 1921 — 24 March 2010) was a British diplomat. During her career she was also a clandestine senior controller in MI6 in Hanoi, Moscow, the Congo, and Zambia.[1]
The daughter of John Alexander and Doreen Gwynneth Park, she 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. Park served in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry from 1943 to 1948 and in the Allied Commission for Austria from 1946 to 1948.
In 1948, she was attached to the Foreign Office, while actually working for the Secret Intelligence Service (aka SIS/MI6), becoming Third Secretary of the United Kingdom's delegation to NATO in 1952. From 1954 to 1956, she was Second Secretary of the British Embassy of Moscow, from 1959 to 1961, Consul and First Secretary to Leopoldville, from 1964 to 1967 High Commissioner to Lusaka and from 1969 to 1970 Consul-General to Hanoi. In 1972 she was named as Chargé d'Affaires of the British Embassy of Ulan Bator for several months. From 1973 to '79 she served in the Foreign Office.
Affiliations
- 1971–72, Honourable Research Fellow at the University of Kent
- 1980–89, Principal of Somerville College
- 1982–87, Governor of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
- 1983–89, Member, British Library Board
- 1984–90, Chairman, Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Aid
- 1985–89, Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of Oxford
- 1989–90, Director, Zoo Development Trust
- 1989–94, Chairman, Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England
- 1991–92, Trustee, Royal Armouries Development Trust
- 1994–96, Member, Forum UK
- 1994–2010, President, Society for the Promotion of the Training of Women
- 2003, Patron, Action Congo
- Member, Royal Asiatic Society
- Governor, Ditchley Foundation
- Trustee/Patron, Great Britain-Sasakawa Foundation
- Trustee, Jardine Educational Trust
- Trustee, Lucy Faithfull Travel Scholarship Fund
Honours/awards
In 1960, Park was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). In 1971 a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG). On 27 February 1990, she was created a life peer Baroness Park of Monmouth, of Broadway in the County of Hereford and Worcester, and served as SIS's semi-official spokesperson in the House of Lords. She was an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College, and a Fellow of Chatham House (RIIA) and of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).
Personal life
Park was unmarried and had no children. She died on 24 March 2010, aged 88.[2][3]
References
Sources
- "DodOnline". Retrieved 2007-02-14.
External links
- 1921 births
- 2010 deaths
- 20th-century English people
- 21st-century English people
- Academics of the University of Kent
- Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge
- Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford
- BBC Governors
- British diplomats
- Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
- Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts
- Female life peers
- Honorary Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford
- MI6 personnel
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- People from Streatham
- Principals of Somerville College, Oxford