Daniel Knox , 6th Earl of Ranfurly Thomas Daniel Knox , 6th Earl of Ranfurly KCMG ( 29 May 1914 – 6 November 1988 ) , known as Dan Ranfurly , was a British soldier and farmer , and served as governor of the Bahamas . He was a Second Lieutenant in the British 7th Armoured Division , called " the Desert Rats " . His exploits in the Second World War , along with those of his wife , Hermione and his valet , Whitaker , were chronicled in his wife ' s memoirs from the time , " To War With Whitaker : The Wartime Diaries of the Countess of Ranfurly , 1939 – 1945 " . Background . Ranfurly was the son of Captain Thomas Uchter Caulfeild Knox , Viscount Northland , and succeeded his grandfather in the earldom in 1933 . He was educated at Eton . He was commissioned into the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry in 1936 . He and his wife met in 1937 when he was an aide - de - camp to Lord Gowrie , the Governor - General of Australia , an appointment Ranfurly held from 1936 to 1938 . Two years later , both aged 25 , they returned to Britain and were married . They later had a daughter , Caroline . Action in World War II . On outbreak of war Second Lieutenant , Lord ( Dan ) Ranfurly of the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry ( Sherwood Rangers ) - 1st Cavalry Division was initially posted to British - controlled Palestine , thence to join with the 7th Division in Egypt . His wife , violating multiple British Army protocols forbidding the wives of soldiers at the front , repeatedly hatched schemes to join him as he was shuffled across the Middle East and North Africa , finally succeeding in Cairo in 1941 . Soon after , however , Dan Ranfurly who had been appointed as ADC to Lt . Gen . Neame were both captured in Cyrenaica desert between Derna and Mechili in April 1941 . He was taken to Sulmona camp in the Abruzzo near Rome , but joined Neame again when they were both transferred to Castello di Vincigliata PG12 in October 1941 . He was amongst many distinguished British officers including generals Richard O ' Connor , Philip Neame , and Adrian Carton de Wiart . He became friends with Carton De Wiart , and adapted to prison life , managing the officers house - keeping and Red Cross parcels . As de Wiart wrote , ‘ He was our most expert gambler , did me the good turn of teaching me to play backgammon . ’ Boyd ' s ADC Flt . Lt . Leeming wrote ' Four more prisoners arrived . . including Lieutenant Lord Ranfurly , who took over the management of the household in my place . He helped with the tunnel escape . ' Air Marshal Owen Tudor Boyd and Ranfurly made a cover for our hole from the lift shaft to the chapel , and Ranfurly plastered it over and it was never detected ' . He was amongst the small party including some NCO ’ s released by General Chiapati in September 1943 after the Italian Armistice . They were driven to Firenze Campo di Marte railway station from where a special train took them to Arezzo . The party eventually dispersed and spent many months with the partisans in the Apennines . He , together with Rudolph Vaughan , John Combe , Ted Todhunter and Guy E Ruggles - Brise ( who was an old school - friend ) from Vincigliata , an American pilot Jack Reiter ( who had been shot down over Italy . He escaped from a military hospital to join the partisans ) together with John Kerin and Irish Sapper , who they had picked up along the way , managed to reach the coast . After further delays they put out to sea in a boat , which began to leak badly . After rowing and bailing for 24 hours they were at last picked up by an Italian vessel which landed them at Ancona , from where they were shipped to brigade HQ on 30 May 1944 . Lady Ranfurly , records this incident in her book of memoirs , To War with Whittaker . After World War II . Following the end of World War II , Lord Ranfurly worked briefly in insurance at Lloyd ' s of London , not long after being appointed Governor of the Bahamas by Winston Churchill . While there , he and his wife began the Ranfurly Library Service in Nassau . After they returned home in 1957 , Lady Ranfurly continued to ship books to parts of the world short on libraries , founding an organisation now known as Book Aid International . Lord Ranfurly , meanwhile , took up farming at his Buckinghamshire estate .