Kathleen Godfrey Explained

Kathleen Margaret Godfrey (married names Kinmonth and Warren; 30 October 1922 – 19 October 2015) 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.^[1]

Family

Her father was John Henry Godfrey, a Royal Navy officer on whom Ian Fleming is said to have based James Bond's boss "M".^[2] Godfrey kept her war work secret from her father, even though he was the Director of Naval Intelligence.^[3] Her mother was Bertha Margaret Godfrey (Hope), one of the first women to go to Cambridge University and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's niece.^{[4] [5] [6]}

Notes and References

1. Book: Fry, Helen . Women in Intelligence: The Hidden History of Two World Wars . 2023-01-01 . Yale University Press . 978-0-300-26077-9 . 110 . en.
2. 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.
3. Book: Miller, Sarah-Louise . The Women Behind the Few: The Women's Auxiliary Air Force and British Intelligence during the Second World War . 2023-03-09 . Biteback Publishing . 978-1-78590-798-2 . 27 . en.
4. Patrick. Beesly. Kathleen Margaret Godfrey [married names Kinmonth, Warren] (1922–2015)]. 11 August 2022.
5. News: Kathleen Kinmonth Warren . 1 October 2023 . The Times . 7 November 2015 . en.
6. Web site: WW2 People's War - Breaking the Code: A WAAF at Bletchley . www.bbc.co.uk . BBC . 1 October 2023 . 16 March 2004.