RSS/SCU Newsletter no.22 MAY 2005
For the reunion at Bletchley Park on May 1st we had excellent weather and a wonderful venue in the Music room. Although I thought our numbers would be down this year, we had more than 40 present in total and this included 4 more ex-SCU members (or close relatives) than last year.
I hope this letter will be some compensation for those who were unable to attend. My mailing list is available on request; please keep me informed of any changes.
There have been changes to the museum plan and ‘B’ block contains many interesting exhibits among them David White’s extensive collection of cipher machines. We are indebted to the staff who made us so welcome.
Our first item was the amusing account, by John Foster, of the development in precision measurements. Someone who can make fun out of his own debilitating affliction is a very special person; John is such a person. He explained how his involuntary muscle movements help to burn up calories so that he can satisfy his appetite without gaining much weight. To stir the contents of a cup he only needs to hold the spoon in the cup. John explained how he got into the job he wanted at the age of 17 by good fortune and he was apprenticed to a firm specialising in making gauges accurate to one tenth of a thou or 10-4 inch. However his master gauge was even accurate to 2x10-6 inch. (I calculated this accuracy to be one thousandth of the thickness of a strand of my own grey hair). This was long before the days of electron microscopes. He was told to find a boiler suit 2 sizes too big for him and soak it in water to shrink it to size. The smallest suit he could find was indeed 2 sizes too big. As an apprentice he was asked to remove a ring from an old lady’s finger. He fixed the finger in a big engineering vice and he can still see that lady’s face as he fitted a new blade in his hacksaw.
A lot of interest was shown among those sections of the audience who obvious knew something about engineering. John became a VI through his uncle who was already in the business. He was worried that his heart would fail him for full time work and he was downgraded. However the M.O. said, “ Your heart is alright but you have a flat foot”. Post war he worked at GCHQ for many years.
His hobbies include photography and woodturning. John brought a sample of his turning in the form of an excellent table lamp turned in a most unusual wood taken from his garden. He offered a prize to the first person to identify the timber. No one succeeded but £56 was collected towards the costs of refurbishing HUT 1 that has so far been financed by David White. John presented me with the lamp and as he had previously told me what it was made of I was not surprised that no one identified it. I shall treasure this, especially as he made it recently in spite of Parkinson’s disease.
We rely heavily on Geoffrey Pidgeon to keep us informed about the fortunes of Bletchley Park, which is an endangered site in spite of its tremendous history in computing and deciphering. He paid tribute to Tony Sale and John Best (Chief Executive of Milton Keynes) for getting some buildings listed and planning consent. The usual fight is against demolition and housing substitution. Finance is an ever present problem and looks as if it will remain so. Grants from the sources which might support us are not forthcoming. [Read the highly amusing autobiography of Sir Patrick Moore for ideas on how to get funding for science related projects. One example is to suggest a scheme for saving a fictitious nomad North Indian Tribe from extinction. Be careful not to mention science or heritage in any form]. Geoffrey detailed much that has been achieved but reliance must be placed on English Heritage and he suggests writing to Dr Simon Thurley, English Heritage, at 23 Saville Row in London WI5 2FT, urging action. WWW.heritagebletchleypark.org.uk will supply you with interesting details of the buildings, their listing and history.
Pat Hawker has done a great deal of research into the origins of radio intercept work and is well informed on matters relating to the early history of wireless. Interception of LF and MF wireless signals became well established during WW1 but such frequencies were unsuitable for clandestine purposes. Pat explained that the pre-history of the Radio Security Service (RSS) stretches well back before its MI8c designation early in WW2 but it has always been separate from the Y (armed forces and diplomatic Morse) intercept service. Early in 1940 however MI8 tried to close it down because of its apparent lack of success. Interception of secret messages has long been the mainstay of intelligence. Guy Fawkes was undone by message interception and Shakespeare's line in Henry the 5th was quoted in the officers’ mess at Hanslope; “The King hath note of all that they intend by interception that they dream not of ”. In 1915 Rene Klein, the then secretary of the Wireless Society of London (the forerunner of the RSGB), wrote to ‘The Times’ suggesting that members of the Society could keep watch for illicit wireless transmission. Apparently no action was taken However interception did play a large role in German naval matters with Commander Hippisley (later G2IW) assisted by Leslie Lambert (later G2ST and a pre-war member of the Magic Circle) setting up listening stations along the East Coast. Lambert, better known as the BBC story teller A.J.Alan, continued to work in Signals Intelligence but died in December 1941 working at Bletchley Park. [Col. Morton Evans immediately recognised his voice when telephoning BP in connection with Abwehr intercepts].
The early Naval and diplomatic intercepts were successfully decrypted in Room 40 at the Admiralty. Walter Gill, an officer in MI1(e) served in the Middle East during WW1. MI1(e) was the War Office cryptographic intercept organisation. Gill with Hugh Trevor Roper (later Lord Dacre), at the beginning of WW2, laid the foundations for the success of the RSS. [See my library paper ‘Sideways into SIS’ given to me by Lord Dacre]. Interception of foreign military and diplomatic radio traffic was the responsibility of the three Services and known as the Y service. No special provision was made for the detection of illicit transmissions which was assumed to be covered by the GPO as the licensing authority. Nevertheless Harold Kenworthy (G6HX), working with the Metropolitan Police in 1922-25, demonstrated the value of radio communication with CID wireless vans in the London area. Assisted by Lambert he tracked a suspicious transmission down to a Fleet Street office of the Daily Mail. This paper was concerned that during the General Strike it may need rapid news reporting and could, by using radio, score over its rivals. The matter was hushed up until Pat found it released in the PRO files. However it must have alerted the Censorship Committee to the matter of illicit, subversive radio communication and in July 1928 a report was made to the Deputy Director of Military Intelligence recommending that the War Office should develop an organisation for the detection of illicit transmissions, using enthusiastic amateurs of unimpeachable discretion. But initial attempts failed and it was put on hold. Pat continued with details of all the many attempts to get the identification of illicit put on a regular footing including the Cabinet approval of the “Illicit Wireless Interception Organisation” to be set up by the War Office with the GPO as its agent. Not until 1938 did Lt Col Adrian Simpson, as advisor to MI5, get the IWIO operational and it was named the less obvious RSS in September 1939.
Fuller details of Pat’s talk and his comprehensive paper on the subject may be published. When he lets me know the details I will circulate them so that the complete report can be enjoyed.
The talks were followed by the usual get-together after lunch and we had yet another case of two members meeting after having lost contact for 60 years. A photograph was produced with the two together in 194#. I am looking for material and suggestions for Newsletters and the reunion in 2006
Bob King 01480 463129 (g3ase @ onetel. com)