Keith Batey (4 July 1919 – 28 August 2010) was a codebreaker who, with his wife,

Mavis Batey Mavis Lilian Batey, MBE (née Lever; 5 May 1921 – 12 November 2013), was a British code-breaker during World War II. She was one of the leading female codebreakers at Bletchley Park. She later became a historian of gardening, who campaign ...

(5 May 1921 – 12 November 2013), worked on the German

Enigma machine The Enigma machine is a cipher device developed and used in the early- to mid-20th century to protect commercial, diplomatic, and military communication. It was employed extensively by Nazi Germany during World War II, in all branches of the W ...

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 ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Education

Keith Batey was at Carlisle Grammar School and went on to study mathematics at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, under a state

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

, where he met

Gordon Welchman William Gordon Welchman OBE (15 June 1906 – 8 October 1985) was an English mathematician. During World War II, he worked at Britain's secret decryption centre at Bletchley Park, where he was one of the most important contributors. In 1948, a ...

, who would later assemble a group of code-breakers for Bletchley Park at the outbreak of the war.

Bletchley Park years

Batey was recruited by Welchman in 1940 and worked in Hut Six, which was responsible for breaking the German Army and Air Force Enigma ciphers. While there he met fellow code-breaker, Mavis Lever, who worked with

Dilly Knox Alfred Dillwyn "Dilly" Knox, CMG (23 July 1884 – 27 February 1943) was an English classics scholar and papyrologist at King's College, Cambridge and a codebreaker. As a member of the Room 40 codebreaking unit he helped decrypt the Zimme ...

's research section, reconstructing new Enigma machines as they were introduced. Batey assisted Lever in reconstructing one of the rotors of a new Italian Enigma machine. They married in 1942. In 1942, Batey wished for a more physically active role in the war as a pilot in the RAF, but was rejected due to his knowledge of Ultra and the risk of getting captured. Instead, he persuaded the authorities to allow him to train as a pilot with the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

for the defence of

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

waters. However, he was recalled to work in a newly created section known as ISK, standing for Intelligence Services (Knox) alongside his wife.

had just reconstructed the main Enigma cipher machine used by the Abwehr, German military intelligence, and the ISK section was to play a key role in the Double Cross System which "turned" German agents sent to Britain and elsewhere in the world and used them to feed false intelligence back to the Germans. During 1943, Batey broke the Enigma ciphers of the

Sicherheitsdienst ' (, "Security Service"), full title ' ("Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''"), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the Schutzstaffel, SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence ...

, the Nazi party's intelligence service, along with the cipher used by

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

military attachés in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Post war work

After the war, Batey worked with the Commonwealth Relations Office and joined the High Commission in

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, Canada. He worked there until 1951 when he transferred to become the private secretary to Philip Noel-Baker,

Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations The secretary of state for Commonwealth relations was a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for dealing with the United Kingdom's relations with members of the Commonwealth o ...

. Batey subsequently worked as the Secretary of the Chest, the official title for the chief financial officer of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, before becoming Treasurer of Christ Church in which role he played a key part in refurbishment of the Oxford college's historic buildings.

History of Bletchley Park

Batey remained largely silent on his war work while his wife Mavis became much better known, cooperating with a number of books and television series, including ''Station X'', the book of which went on to become a UK number-one bestseller. They advised actors Kate Winslet and Dougray Scott on what it was like to be a codebreaker at Bletchley for the

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

film '' Enigma'' (2001). The Bateys demonstrated how the Abwehr Enigma machine worked during a visit by

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

and the

Duchess of Cornwall The Duchess of Cornwall is a title held by the wife of the heir apparent to the British throne. The Duchess of Cornwall is usually also the Princess of Wales, and she uses that title. The current title-holder is Catherine, Princess of Wales, Ca ...

to Bletchley Park in 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Batey, Keith 1919 births 2010 deaths People educated at Carlisle Grammar School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British cryptographers British diplomats Bletchley Park people Civil servants in the Commonwealth Relations Office