Harold Parker (civil servant)
Sir Harold Parker, KCB, KBE, MC (1895 – 5 February 1980) was an English civil servant. He entered the civil service in 1914 but his career was interrupted by service in the First World War; he joined HM Treasury after demobilization in 1919. He was deputy secretary at the Ministry of Pensions from 1941 to 1946 and the Secretary of the Ministry from 1946 to 1948.
Between 1947 and 1956, he was the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence. By January 1951, as Montagu explained to a friend[1], he was busy 'putting on pressure that they should either allow me to publish or prosecute Duff Cooper'. There had been endless meetings with Sir Harold Parker, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence
In 1952 he was pictured coming out of the plane with Field Marshal Earl Alexander (left), the Minister of defense, with Parliamentary Secretary Sir Harold Parker, arriving at London Airport, June 25th 1952. (Photo by J. Wilds/Keystone/Getty Images)[2]
In 1955 he published a report on civilian agencies[3] in Singapore that come under the aegis of the Commissioner General. Whilst permanent secretary Sir Harold Parker has prepared a memorandums[4] on the Military Organisation required by the Central Government in global war, which was considered by the Chiefs of Staff at their meeting on 1st May, 1956. The Chiefs of Staff broadly approved guidance for the Service Ministries as contained in the Memorandum, but before making a final decision they instructed the Joint Planning Staff to make a more detailed examination of the strategic and operational functions to be carried out by the Chiefs of Staff at the Central Government Head quarters.
Also in 1955 he was involved in commenting on the support of the West Africa Territories after independence on a major war the UK should find itself in: "We should hope that the West African territories on achieving independence would agree to undertake some external defence commitment, on the lines of the present commitment to provide a Brigade for use in a major war, as part of the obligations arising from Commonwealth membership.[5]
Whilst Permanent Secretary, Sir Harold Parker, complained to the then Defence Minister, Harold Macmillan[6]: "We have drifted into trouble in many Colonial territories-Malaya, Kenya, British Guiana. The S of S for War and the Chiefs of Staff feel that had our local intelligence and our local security forces been better organised, we might never have got into the mess, or, alternatively, if help had to be given by the Army it might have been given earlier in the day. [... ] To put it in other words, the Army argues that the Colonial Office gets into a mess and then asks the Army to help it out. [... ] The Colonial Secretary will probably not accept this view. He has his difficulties. Personally, I have always felt that the share of the budgets of the various Colonies devoted to law and order may well be inadequate. 143 Defence reviewers in London therefore saw room for considerable improvement in colonial police and intelligence structures, as well as the necessity to `build up local Colonial forces in order to reduce the demands on our own Army."
The letter he received from Patrick Dean of FO to Sir Harold Parker of MoD, 9 Mar 1956 is mentioned in the thesis[7] by CHIKARA HASHIMOTO on British Intelligence, Counter-Subversion, and ‘Informal Empire’ in the Middle East, 1949-63. Another piece of research on CONTAINING THE GERMAN THREAT: THE BRITISH DEBATE OVER WEST GERMAN REARMAMENT 1949-55 SPENCER WILLIAM MAWBY[8] quotes him at a meeting of officials commenting about Britain’s commitment to the continent was evident. "explained that though the French wanted a further commitment of forces from Britain to European defence, "For us, the worst drain on our resources was the retention of forces in Europe".
For the period of at least 1960[9] to 63[10] he was a member of the International Civil Service Advisory Board which advised on the salary scales of the internationally recruited staff for the United Nations. The International Civil Service Advisory Board[11], was established by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
After leaving the service, he was chairman of the Corporation of Insurance Brokers Society of Pension Consultants until 1970
He was very active in swimming and in particular the Otter Club[12] and outside the Club served as President of SCASA from 1939-1945[13] and a president of the Amateur Swimming Association in 1958.[14][15] His presence was often found wielding a stopwatch at SCASA events in the 1960’s.
His portrait[16] hangs in the National Gallery by Walter Stoneman
References
[edit]- ^ "Policing the Past: Official History, Secrecy and British Intelligence since 19451 Richard J. Aldrich" (PDF).
- ^ "Field Marshal Earl Alexander (left), the Minister of defense, with Parliamentary Secretary Sir Harold Parker, arriving at London Airport, June 25th 1952". 10 November 2014.
- ^ "Sir Harold Parker's report on civilian agencies in Singapore that come under the aegis of the Commissioner General".
- ^ "THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT IN GLOBAL WAR: MILITARY ORGANISATION".
- ^ "BRITISH ANTICOMMUNIST POLICY AND THE TRANSFER OF POWER IN NIGERIA FROM THE LATE 1930s TO 1960 BY HAKEEM IBIKUNLE TIJANI" (PDF).
- ^ "Circumstances Short of Global War': British Defence, Colonial Internal Security, and Decolonisation in Kenya, 1945-65 by David Antony Percox, BA (Keele), MA (Lancaster)" (PDF).
- ^ "Thesis quoting letters sent to Sir Harold Parker" (PDF).
- ^ "Thesis" (PDF).
- ^ "Roster of the United Nations" (PDF).
- ^ "Luncheon for members of the International Civil Service Advisory Board" (PDF).
- ^ "OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATIONNo. 112 EXECUTIVE BOARD TWENTY -EIGHTH SESSION GENEVA, 29 MAY - 1 JUNE 1961" (PDF).
- ^ "Otter Club History" (PDF).
- ^ "Menu from dinner mentioning his role" (PDF).
- ^ "Sir Harold Parker", The Times (London), 12 February 1980, p. 14. Gale CS238126668.
- ^ "Sir Harold Parker", National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
- ^ "Portrait of Sir Harold Parker".