|
|
|
|
|
|
Keith was born in 1919 and initially went to Carlisle Grammar School.
He later went to Trinity College in Cambridge to study mathematics
under a state scholarship. There he met fellow mathematics
student Gordon Welchman.
In 1940, he was recruited by Gordon Welchman
who had been involved in setting
up a codebreaking centre at Bletchley Park
at the outbreak of war in 1939.
He was put to work in Hut 6 which was responsible for breaking the
Enigma ciphers
of the German Army and Air Force.
|
|
|
|
One day in 1941, whilst working on an evening shift in Hut 6,
he was consulted by Mavis Lever,
one of the leading female codebreakers of
Dilly Knox'
research unit ISK.
Just 19 years old,
Mavis had already broken the Italian Naval Enigma, which had helped
to win the Battle of Cape Matapan. Now she had a problem she
couldn't solve and asked for Keith's input as a mathematician.
|
Over many cups of ersatz coffee, he assisted her in
reconstructing one of the wheels of the new Italian Naval Enigma machine.
Despite the strict compartimentation at Bletchley Park,
the couple fell in love and got married in November 1942.
After a brief intermezzo as a pilot, he was called back to BP
where he was put to work at ISK, alongside his wife Mavis.
Knox had succeeded in reconstructing
the main Enigma G machine
used by the German Abwehr,
the German military intelligence service,
and his unit was to play a key role in the
Double-Cross System (XX).
|
|
|
The Double-Cross System turned German spies and used them to feed
fake intelligence to the Germans.
It helped convincing the Germans that the Allied invasion would take
place at the Pas de Calais rather at Normandy.
As a result, the Germans kept two units in the Calais area.
In 1943, Keith Batey broke the
Enigma ciphers
of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD),
the intelligence service of the German Nazi party, and also the ciphers
of the Italian military attachés in Berlin.
After the war, Keith worked with the Commonwealth Relations Office
and joined the High Commission in Ottawa (Canada) [2]. In 1951 he
became the private secretary to Philip Noel-Baker, Secretary of State
for Commonwealth Relations. He later became the financial officer of the
University of Oxford (Secretary of the Chest) and finally
Treasurer of Christ Church.
Unlike his wife Mavis,
Keith remained largely silent about his wartime work
at Bletchley Park, but visited the annual Enigma Reunion whenever possible.
The last time he visited Bletchley Park was at the special Enigma Reunion
on 5 and 6 September 2009 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the
WWII codebreaking centre. On this occasion, Mavis' latest book
Dilly, The Man Who Broke Enigmas was launched.
Keith Batey died a year later on 28 August 2010 at the age of 91.
|
|
|
|
Any links shown in red are currently unavailable.
If you like the information on this website, why not make a donation?
© Crypto Museum. Created: Sunday 26 January 2014. Last changed: Saturday, 24 September 2022 - 08:49 CET.
|
 |
|
|
|
