Desmond Doran

John Desmond Beauchamp Doran (6 April 1913 – 9 September 1946) was a British Army Intelligence Officer who started his career in intelligence in the Secret Intelligence Service. He spent most of his active service career in the Middle East during the Second World War and the troubles that followed in the British Mandatory Palestine. Doran's family were a long established military family with roots in County Wexford, Ireland. His father Walter Robert Butler Doran was a highly decorated British Army Officer, as were his uncles and grandfather.

John Desmond Beauchamp Doran (known as Desmond Doran)
Born(1913-04-06)6 April 1913
Marylebone, London, England
Died9 September 1946(1946-09-09) (aged 33)
Tel Aviv/Jaffa, Palestine Mandate
Buried
Ramleh War Cemetery
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branchSecret Intelligence Service, British Army/Intelligence Corps
RankMajor
Service number274197
UnitIntelligence Corps
Battles/warsEgypt, Palestine Mandate

He is recorded as being an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service before transferring to the army.[1]

He was commissioned in the Intelligence Corps as a Lieutenant on 12 February 1943; his service number was 274197.[2] He is recorded as having been on the staff of Security Intelligence Middle East (SIME)[3] based in Cairo.[4] His preferred titling was Desmond Doran whilst on government service.[5]

At the end of the war Doran was transferred from Cairo to British Mandatory Palestine and became the Area Security Officer for Jaffa/Tel Aviv. His living quarters and office were located above another government office located at the municipal boundary between Jewish Tel Aviv and the Arab port of Jaffa.

He died of wounds received in a terrorist attack on his quarters on 9 September 1946. He was buried at the Ramleh War Cemetery now located in Israel.[6][7] Major Doran had been specifically targeted by the Lehi because he was a threat to the organistation.[8][9] Doran's Romanian-born wife Sanda and other military personnel Arab and British were involved in the attack.[10] Major Doran's obituary notice indicates that Sanda Doran did survive the injuries received in the attack.[11][12][13]

References
  1. Jeffery, Keith (2010). MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909–1949. London: A&C Black. p. 689. ISBN 9780747591832.
  2. "Supplement to the London Gazette" (PDF). 6 July 1943: 3049. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Arditti, Roger (15 April 2016). "Security Intelligence in the Middle East (SIME): Joint Security Intelligence Operations in the Middle East, c. 1939–58". Intelligence and National Security. 31 (3): 369–396. doi:10.1080/02684527.2015.1034471. ISSN 0268-4527. S2CID 155958178.
  4. West, Nigel (2015). Double Cross in Cairo: The True Story of the Spy Who Turned the Tide of War in the Middle East. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 9781849548670. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  5. Charters, David A (1989). The British Army and Jewish Insurgency in Palestine, 1945–47. London: Palgrave. p. 243. ISBN 978-1-349-19977-8.
  6. "Events: 1946 – British Forces in Palestine".
  7. Doran, J D B, Major. "CWGC Burial Record". Retrieved 3 June 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. Gruszow, Avner (1959). Memoirs of an Assassin: Confessions of a Stern Gang Killer. Israel: T. Yoseloff. pp. 13 82–83.
  9. "May 1948-1947 | העמותה להנצחת מורשת לח״י".
  10. "Events: 1946 – British Forces in Palestine". www.britishforcesinpalestine.org. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  11. Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, England 1790–1976, Ancestry.com, 2010
  12. "More British Victims in new Palestine Disorder". Townsville Daily Bulletin: 1. 11 September 1946. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  13. "Obituary: Fallen Officers: The Army". The Times. 13 September 1946. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
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