Daniel Gibson Harris (1915–2007) was an accountant, a British agent during World War II and a writer on Swedish naval history. He was born in

Great Missenden Great Missenden is an affluent village with approximately 2,000 residents in the Misbourne Valley in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England, situated between the towns of Amersham and Wendover, with direct rail connections to London Mary ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, England and, after attending

Sherborne School (God and My Right) , established = 705 by Aldhelm, re-founded by King Edward VI 1550 , closed = , type = Public school Independent, boarding school , religion = Church of England , president = , chair_label = Chairman of the governors , ...

, trained as a chartered accountant. He joined the Royal Naval Supplementary Volunteer Reserve but, having learned Swedish, was sent in 1940 to the

British embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, excluding honorary consulates. The UK has one of the largest global networks of diplomatic missions. UK diplomatic missions to capitals of other Com ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

as Assistant Naval Attache, and remained there for the rest of the war. During

Operation Rheinübung Operation Rheinübung ("Exercise Rhine") was the sortie into the Atlantic by the new German battleship and heavy cruiser on 18–27 May 1941, during World War II. This operation to block Allies of World War II, Allied shipping to the United ...

, together with his superior, Captain Henry Denham, he obtained details of the current position of the '' Bismarck'' - this information then led to its chase and eventual sinking by the British Navy. In 1943, he met and married Marianne Syk - their marriage continued until his death. Towards the end of his life, he wrote and published a memoir, ''Observed Secretly: Northern Window'' about his experiences during the War. After the war, Harris remained in Stockholm for a while as an employee of the English Steel Corporation, and then moved first to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and then to

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada. In 1960, he joined the National Energy Board and in 1963, moved to Ottawa where he helped found the Canadian Nordic Society. After he retired in the early 1980s, Harris took a BA in history at

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...

and started seriously pursuing his interest in Swedish

naval history Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Even in the interior of large lan ...

. In 1989, he published his first book '' F H Chapman: The First Naval Architect and his work''. He also published a number of papers and articles on Swedish naval history, continuing to do so until his final years. In 1991, he was awarded the Silver Medal of Merit of the Swedish Royal Society of Naval Sciences. Harris died on 19 November 2007 at Bells Corners,

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Canada.

Bibliography

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Daniel Gibson 1915 births 2007 deaths People from Great Missenden