Joshua Edward Synge ('Josh') Cooper CB, CMG (3 April 1901 in

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

– 24 June 1981 in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

cryptographer. Josh was the eldest son of Richard Edward Synge Cooper and his wife Mary Eleanor Burke who were married in Dublin exactly a year before his birth. He was educated at

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13 –18) in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by Royal Charter, it was originally a boarding school for boys; girls have been admitted into the ...

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

, and

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. He joined the

Government Code and Cipher School Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Uni ...

as a Junior Assistant in October 1925 to specialise in Russian codes and ciphers. He was down from

with a First in Russian and was teaching at a preparatory school in

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

. Then a sister of the novelist Charles Morgan said that Russian linguists were needed "at a place in Queen’s Gate". He was assigned to Ernst Fetterlein to work on Soviet diplomatic ciphers, with an Army officer, Capt. A.C. Stuart Smith. The first message he read was from Moscow to the Soviet representative in Washington, about the repudiation of debts by American states. In late 1929 to 1930 he was in the Naval Section attacking Russian Naval Codes, and was sent to Sarafand for a fifteen-month investigation of Black Sea Fleet communications. In 1936 he was made Head of the new Air Section at GC&CS. At

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...

in World War II he was head of the Air Section. He was awarded a C.M.G. in 1943 and a C.B. in 1958. Postwar Joshua wrote what some considered ''the best Russian grammar ever published''. His brother Arthur (born 1916) was also a linguist (Chinese and Japanese) at the

FECB The Far East Combined Bureau, an outstation of the British Government Code and Cypher School, was set up in Hong Kong in March 1935, to monitor Japanese, and also Chinese and Russian (Soviet) intelligence and radio traffic. Later it moved to Singa ...

then

FRUMEL Fleet Radio Unit, Melbourne (FRUMEL) was a United States–Australian–British signals intelligence unit, founded in Melbourne, Australia, during World War II. It was one of two major Allied signals intelligence units called Fleet Radio Units in th ...

; ''a bit eccentric but said to be a model of sanity compared with Joshua''. Postwar Arthur translated ''Li Po and Tu Fu'', a book of Chinese lyric poems, for the Penguin Classics series.

References

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

*''Action this Day'' edited by Michael Smith & Ralph Erskine (2001, Bantam London) * 1901 births 1981 deaths People educated at Shrewsbury School Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Alumni of King's College London Pre-computer cryptographers British cryptographers Companions of the Order of the Bath Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Bletchley Park people Foreign Office personnel of World War II {{crypto-bio-stub