Daphne Park, Baroness Park of Monmouth

Daphne Margaret Sybil Désirée Park, Baroness Park of Monmouth CMG OBE FRSA (1 September 1921 – 24 March 2010) was a British intelligence officer, diplomat and public servant. During her career as a clandestine senior controller in MI6 (1943–1993) she was stationed in Austria (1946-1948), Moscow (1954–1956), the Congo (1959–1961), Zambia (1964–1967) and Hanoi (1969–1971).

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 and worked as an alluvial gold prospector in Tanganyika (now Tanzania). When Daphne was six months old she travelled to Africa with her mother to join him there. Park had a brother, David, who died aged 14.

When Park was 11, she 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.

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. The Shinkolobwe uranium mine provided the uranium used by the Manhattan Project, including in atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

She rose further through the ranks of the Foreign Office to serve in the British High Commission in Lusaka from 1964 to 1967 and then Consul-General to Hanoi from 1969 to 1970. In 1972 she was 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.

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 and awards In 1960, Park was invested as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her service as Consul to Leopoldville. In 1971 she was invested as a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for her service as Consul-General to Hanoi. 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. According to Lord Rooker, Park told him that her choice of 'Monmouth' in her title was unconnected with the market town of Monmouth but chosen to honour Monmouth House, a building in which her friends in the Secret Intelligence Service worked. She was an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford, 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 after a long illness on 24 March 2010, aged 88. 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 Sir Mark Allen, CMG.