Patrick Beesly

Who was Patrick Beesly?

Patrick Beesly was a British author and intelligence officer during World War II.

Beesly was the son of Gerald Beesly and his wife Helen who was a cousin of Neville Chamberlain. Beasley attended Oundle School following which he read history at Trinity College, Cambridge. Like his brother Richard Beesly, who obtained an Olympic gold medal in rowing, he had an interest in boats and became captain of the boat club. He received further education at Bonn, Vienna, and Brussels.

Just before World War II, he joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in June 1939, became a Sub-Lieutenant, and was appointed to the Naval Intelligence Division, in the section concentrating on France, Spain, and the Benelux countries. Subsequently he became assistant to Lieutenant Commander Sir Norman Denning in the Operations Intelligence Centre. His first assignment was with the activities of armed merchant raiders but from 1941 until the end of the war with Germany he worked on submarine tracking as Deputy to Commander Rodger Winn. He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and acted as Intelligence Officer to the Commander in Chief, Germany, at Flesburg and Minden.