Kathleen Margaret Godfrey (married names Kinmonth and Warren; 30 October 1922 – 19 October 2015)[1] was a British Women's Auxiliary Air Force officer who served in two highly secretive roles during the Second World War. She worked firstly as a radio operator for radar at Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, and secondly at Hut 3 of Bletchley Park working to extract intelligence from cracked Enigma ciphers.[2]
Family
editHer father was John Henry Godfrey, a Royal Navy officer on whom Ian Fleming is said to have based James Bond's boss "M".[3] Godfrey kept her war work secret from her father, even though he was the Director of Naval Intelligence.[4] Her mother was Bertha Margaret Godfrey (née Hope), one of the first women to go to Cambridge University and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's niece.[1][5][6]
References
edit- ^ a b Beesly, Patrick (11 August 2022). "Kathleen Margaret Godfrey [married names Kinmonth, Warren] (1922–2015)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Fry, Helen (2023-01-01). Women in Intelligence: The Hidden History of Two World Wars. Yale University Press. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-300-26077-9.
- ^ Macintyre, Ben (5 April 2008). "Was Ian Fleming the real 007?". The Times. Archived from the original on 31 May 2010. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
- ^ Miller, Sarah-Louise (2023-03-09). The Women Behind the Few: The Women's Auxiliary Air Force and British Intelligence during the Second World War. Biteback Publishing. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-78590-798-2.
- ^ "Kathleen Kinmonth Warren". The Times. 7 November 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
- ^ "WW2 People's War - Breaking the Code: A WAAF at Bletchley". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC. 16 March 2004. Retrieved 1 October 2023.