Sir Arthur Wilfred "Bill" Bonsall (25 June 1917 – 26 November 2014) was director of the British

signals intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is the act and field of intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly u ...

agency,

GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters (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 United Kingdom. Primar ...

—a post he held from 1973 to 1978.

Early life

Bonsall was born in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

on 25 June 1917, the eldest son of Wilfred C Bonsall and Sarah Frank.

Career

Educated at Bishop's Stortford College, Bonsall went on to study modern languages at St Catharine's College, Cambridge before joining the

Government Code and Cypher School The Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) was a British signals intelligence agency set up in 1919. During the First World War, the British Army and Royal Navy had separate signals intelligence agencies, MI1b and NID25 (initially known as R ...

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and Bletchley Park estate, estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), that became the principal centre of Allies of World War II, Allied World War II cryptography, code-breaking during the S ...

.James Bamford, ''The Puzzle Palace: A Report on America's Most Secret Agency'', Penguin, 1983 From 1940, Bonsall served in the German Air Section under Josh Cooper, studying the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

. In 1942 he helped to create a series of daily reports known as the BMP (from the initials of its three co-creators, Bonsall, Moyes and Prior). They were based primarily on Luftwaffe radio-telephony and low-grade codes and were issued at Secret Pearl level. Later reports included information from Luftwaffe Enigma traffic and were issued at Top Secret Ultra level. They dealt with the operations of the Luftwaffe defensive organisation and assisted the Allied Air Commands to design their tactics. Bonsall stayed on with the organisation, which became

after the war, and served as its director from December 1973 to 1978. He was knighted in 1977. After retirement he served for a period as a tax commissioner. In later retirement he was concerned to preserve a more accurate record of the non-Enigma side of Bletchley Park, especially the work of the German Air Section. The first outcome was a talk given to a Cheltenham

Probus Probus may refer to: People * Marcus Valerius Probus (c. 20/30–105 AD), Roman grammarian * Marcus Pomponius Maecius Probus, consul in 228 * Probus (emperor), Roman Emperor (276–282) * Probus of Byzantium (–306), Bishop of Byzantium from 293 t ...

club, later developed into a privately printed family memoir entitled 'Another Bit of Bletchley'. In 2007 he presented a paper to a research group in Oxford on ''

and the RAF Y Service, some recollections.'' A more formal version of 'Another Bit of Bletchley' was published as no. 17 in the Bletchley Park Trust Report series. This was followed in 2011 by another report, no. 21 in the same series, entitled 'An Uphill Struggle', dealing with the internal battle to overcome Air Ministry failure to understand the value to RAF Commands of tactically derived signals intelligence. He collaborated closely with Wg Cdr John Stubbington in the latter's 2012 account of BMP reports by the German Air Section.BP Trust Report No 29, March 2012, In September 2013, he gave an interview about his career to the BBC.

Personal life

At Bletchley Park he met (and on 17 November 1941 married) Joan Wingfield, who was working in the Italian Naval Section. They had seven children. He died on 26 November 2014, in

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

. His younger brother was Frank Bonsall.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonsall, Bill 1917 births 2014 deaths Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Directors of the Government Communications Headquarters Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Bletchley Park people People educated at Bishop's Stortford College People from Cheltenham People from Middlesbrough