Denis James Northrop
6th October 1932 – 8th February 2021
Denis was born on October 6, 1932 in Enfield, North London. Only seven when World War II began, he attended Lavender Hill Primary School and Enfield Grammar School, collecting and trading shrapnel with his friends the morning after German bomber air raids.
Denis began his then-compulsory military service at the age of 18 in 1951. During basic training, he learned how to use rifles, machine guns, and hand grenades. Although thousands of British conscripts were sent to fight in the Korean War, he was chosen along with a select few other high-academic achievers to the Royal Signals. Here, Denis studied Russian language for a year before transferring to the intelligence corps. Denis never elaborated much on his time as a “Russian translator,” but it’s safe to assume that his efforts were focused on the Soviet Union during the then-evolving Cold War.
Denis finished his military service in 1953, around the time of Stalin’s death and the end of the Korean War and soon after he became the first in his family to attend university – his parents had both left school at the age of 14. This was an exceptional achievement in an era when far fewer people attended university, and also because Denis came from humble beginnings. He studied history and played in the Queens’ 1st X1 football team.
After graduating, Denis began his long and illustrious career in the British civil service as an Assistant Principal in the Ministry of Supply in 1956.
When he wasn’t at work, he spent much of his time at the Tennis Club in Enfield. Not only was Denis a county champion high jumper and centre-half in football, he was also a force to be reckoned with on the tennis court where he met his future wife Brenda. They married in 1958 and had a long, contented, traditional marriage until Brenda passed away in 2004. They had one child, Anne. Denis was incredibly proud of the person Anne grew up to become – even if she did ultimately defect to the enemy by attending Oxford University years later – and passed on his love of tennis to her. Even when she was so little she could barely hold a racket, Denis would spend many patient hours in the back garden teaching Anne how to play.
Meanwhile, Denis’s career in the civil service was taking him around the world: from the U.S., to Australia, to Northeast Asia. His final appointment was as Command Secretary, Commander-in-Chief Fleet at the land naval base HMS Warrior in Northwood. Here amongst other challenges, he presided over the construction of the first Fleet Top Level Budget Long Term costing submission. In order to thank him for his decades of service, the Queen awarded Denis with a CBE in her 1993 New Year’s Honours.
Denis’s first grandsons arrived soon after his retirement. Just as Denis had spent his weekends in the garden with Anne playing tennis, so too did he spend hours in Anne’s garden with his grandsons playing football. Even as an old man, Denis’s shots on goal still packed the same punch as they did during his Cambridge playing days, and he was still able to give Anne a run for her money on the tennis court well into his seventies.
Denis passed away unexpectedly at the age of 88 on February 8, 2021. Through his many successes in life, Denis was an example to his family that anything is possible with talent and hard work. But more than anything, he showed them that patience, generosity, and kindness toward one another help create the moments that make life worth living.
Anne Fretwell
25th March 2021
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