Sir Patrick Dalmahoy Nairne, GCB MC PC (15 August 1921 – 4 June 2013^[1]) was a senior British civil servant.^[2] His career started in the Admiralty. He eventually became Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Security and Master of St Catherine's College, Oxford (1981–88).^[3][4] Nairne was a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, appointed in 1982 when he became a member of Lord Franks' official inquiry into the Falklands War, and a governor of the Ditchley Foundation.^[3] He was Chancellor of the University of Essex from 1982 to 1997.^[5] He was an Honorary Fellow of University College, Oxford.^[6] Nairne was the first Chair of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics from 1991 to 1996.

Nairne's six children include Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery,^[7] and Andrew Nairne, Director of Kettle's Yard, Cambridge.^{[citation needed]}