Donald Maclean (spy)

Donald Maclean
Born
Donald Duart Maclean

(1913-05-25)25 May 1913
Marylebone, London, England
Died6 March 1983(1983-03-06) (aged 69)
NationalityBritish
Alma materTrinity Hall, Cambridge
Gresham's School
SpouseMelinda Maclean
Children3 (Donald, Fergus, Melinda)
Espionage activity
Allegiance Soviet Union
Service branchForeign Office
RankCounsellor

Donald Duart Maclean (/məˈkln/; 25 May 1913 – 6 March 1983) was a British diplomat and Soviet double agent who participated in the Cambridge Five spy ring. After being recruited by a Soviet agent as an undergraduate student, Maclean entered the civil service. In 1938, he was appointed as Third Secretary at the British embassy in Paris. He served in London and Washington, D.C., achieving promotion to First Secretary. He was subsequently posted to Egypt, and then was appointed head of the American Department in the Foreign Office.

The Soviets helped Maclean to defect from London to Moscow in 1951. In Moscow, he worked as a specialist on British policy and on relations between the Soviet Union and NATO. He died there on 6 March 1983.