H. Wentworth Eldredge


H. Wenthworth Eldredge or H.W. Wentworth, was an American professor of sociology specializing in urban planning who also served as an American spy during World War II, where he helped divert Nazi attention from the pending invasion of Normandy.

Background

Hanford Wentworth Eldredge was born on October 16, 1909, in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Hanford W. Eldredge and Taylor Eldredge. In 1931, Eldredge received a BA from Dartmouth College; in 1935, he received a doctorate from Yale University.

Career

Early academic

In 1935, upon receiving his doctorate, Eldredge joined Dartmouth College as an instructor in Sociology. In 1939, he became assistant professor.

Military career

In 1942, Eldredge joined the United States Air Force where he remained to the end of World War II. In 1943, he transferred to London. Originally, he was to record the history of the 8th Air Force. He then became an intelligence officer and helped deceive the Nazis by diverting their attention away from the pending invasion of Normadny.
Later, Eldredge provided government service as:
In 1945, Eldredge resumed his position as an assistant professor at Dartmouth. In 1949, he became a full professor at Dartmouth through 1974.
Eldredge chaired several departments and programs:
Eldredge was visiting professor or guest lecturer at the Royal Architectural Association London, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, University of North Carolina, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University, and Harvard University.
In 1974, Eldreged retired.

Personal life and death

On April 21, 1947, Eldredge married Diana Joan Younger, the second daughter of Sir William Robert Younger, 2nd Baronet, and they had two sons.
Eldredge was a member of the: American Sociological Society, American Society Planning Officials and its certifying body American Institute of Certified Planners, American Association of University Professors, and Beta Theta Pi.
H. Wentworth Eldredge died age 81 on February 21, 1991, of pneumonia in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Legacy

The University of New Hampshire houses Eldredge's papers.
The National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior has received an application to put the Wentworth and Diana Eldredge House in Windsor County, Vermont, on the National Register of Historic Places.
Eldrege and his wife donated the painting "Mother and Son" by Haitian painer Roland Dorcely to Dartmouth College's Hood Museum of Art.

Works

Books:
Articles:
Eldredge wrote part of an unpublished autobiography.