Betty Webb (code breaker)
{{Short description|English code breaker (1923–2025)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE|size=100%}}
| birth_name = Charlotte Elizabeth Vine-Stevens
| image = Betty Webb ATS.png
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|5|13|df=y}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|3|31|1923|5|13|df=y}}
| death_place =
| allegiance = United Kingdom
| branch = Auxiliary Territorial Service
| branch_label = Service
| serviceyears = 1941–1945
| serviceyears_label = Service years
| awards = {{ubl|Legion d'Honneur|MBE
}}
}}
Charlotte Elizabeth Webb ({{née}} Vine-Stevens; 13 May 1923 – 31 March 2025) was an English code breaker{{cite web |url=http://www.information-age.com/industry/uk-industry/123458924/women-it-awards-winners-revealed-glitzy-ceremony |title=Women in IT Awards winners revealed at glitzy ceremony |access-date=30 January 2015 |date=29 January 2012 |website=Information Age}} who worked at Bletchley Park during World War II from the age of 18.{{Cite web|url=https://bletchleypark.org.uk/roll-of-honour/9337/|title=Roll of Honour|website=Bletchley Park}}{{cite web |url=http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/news/v.rhtm/Michael_Portillo_hails_Bletchley_Parks_secret_heroes-752758.html |title=Michael Portillo hails Bletchley Park's secret heroes |access-date=30 January 2015 |date=14 January 2012 |website=Bletchley Park |archive-date=2 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102205734/http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/news/v.rhtm/Michael_Portillo_hails_Bletchley_Parks_secret_heroes-752758.html |url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|date=6 May 2020|title='I wanted to do something more for the war effort than bake sausage rolls.' |first=Roff |last=Smith |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2020/06/world-war-ii-profile-betty-webb-feature/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200518095842/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2020/06/world-war-ii-profile-betty-webb-feature/|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 May 2020|access-date=22 June 2020|website=National Geographic}} In 1941 she joined the British Auxiliary Territorial Service.{{Cite web|title=Portrait painting: Betty Webb MBE {{!}} National Army Museum|url=https://www.nam.ac.uk/whats-on/portrait-painting-betty-webb-mbe|access-date=28 February 2021|website=Nam.ac.uk}} She said, of joining the top-secret mission at Bletchley, "I wanted to do something more for the war effort than bake sausage rolls."
Early life
Webb was born on 13 May 1923.{{cite web |url=http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/wythall-womans-role-as-a-wwii-enigma-191699 |title=Wythall woman's role as a WWII Enigma codebreaker at Bletchley Park |access-date=30 January 2015 |last=Keogh |first=Kat |date=5 September 2012 |website=Birmingham Mail}} She was named after her mother, Charlotte, but was commonly referred to as "Betty".{{Cite book |last=Webb |first=Betty |title=No More Secrets: My part in codebreaking at Bletchley Park and the Pentagon |date=8 August 2023 |publisher=Mardle Books |isbn=978-1837700219 |location=United Kingdom |pages=1–256 |language=en}} She described her childhood as 'idyllic', having grown up on the Herefordshire side of Richard's Castle, in Ryeford. She was home-schooled for a significant portion of her youth. Her mother gave her and her brother home-school lessons. She was studying Domestic Science at Radbrook College in Shrewsbury at the start of World War II.{{Cite news |last=Webb |first=Betty |date=18 November 2024 |title=Being a Bletchley Park codebreaker was the best time of my life |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/christmas/2024/11/18/my-secret-life-as-a-bletchley-park-codebreaker/ |access-date=20 November 2024 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |issn=0307-1235}} She signed up to join the Auxiliary Territorial Service as soon as she turned 18 in May 1941, and did basic training at the Royal Welch Fusiliers' Hightown Barracks in Wrexham. From there she was taken to an interview in London at Devonshire House and then sent immediately to Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire.
World War II and Bletchley Park
Upon arrival at Bletchley Park, she was tasked with cataloguing encrypted German radio messages intercepted by the British, contributing to the breaking of the German cipher Enigma. While a bulk of Bletchley Park workers were assigned to one of the huts, such as Hut 3, Hut 11, Webb was mainly situated in the Mansion belonging to Major Tester's department and Block F, the Japanese section.{{Cite web |last=Webb |first=Betty |date=February 2012 |title=Charlotte Elizabeth "Betty" Webb, née Vine-Stevens |url=https://bletchleypark.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/record_attachments/2416.pdf |publisher=Bletchley Park}} In Major Tester's department, some tasks performed include registering messages on little cards, which Webb believes totalled 10,000 a day in the whole park, and organizing the cards into shoeboxes according to a strict order so they could be retrieved efficiently when called for. In Block F, she worked on intercepted Japanese messages, something she excelled at so much that she was later sent to Washington to support the American war effort.
All recruits to Bletchley Park were taken into a room and asked to read and then sign the Official Secrets Act before they could begin their work. The strict secrecy meant workers could not share what they did at work with their families, friends, or even with their fellow Bletchley workers. Only after the veil of secrecy was partially lifted, in the late 1970s, were Betty Webb and others who had worked at Bletchley, finally able to understand what had really been going on at the site.
Later life, honours and death
Webb was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2015 Birthday Honours "for services to remembering and promoting the work of Bletchley Park".United Kingdom: {{London Gazette |issue=61256 |date=12 June 2015 |pages=B27| supp=y}}{{cite web |last=Lusher |first=Adam |title=94-year-old Bletchley Park veteran: I helped defeat the Nazis in 1941 and I'm ready to fight fascism again now |newspaper=The Independent |date=1 January 2018 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/fascism-neo-nazis-bletchley-park-codebreaking-veteran-betty-webb-antifa-anti-fascists-white-supremacists-national-action-enigma-a7936616.html |access-date=5 July 2021}} In 2021 Webb's work at Bletchley Park was recognized by the Government of France, with her appointment as Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour).{{cite web |last=Harris |first=Tristan |title=Wythall's Bletchley Park veteran Betty Webb MBE is officially presented with the Légion d'Honneur by the French government |newspaper=Bromsgrove Standard |date=3 July 2021 |url=https://bromsgrovestandard.co.uk/news/video-wythalls-bletchley-park-veteran-betty-webb-mbe-is-officially-presented-with-the-legion-dhonneur-by-the-french-government-30680/ |access-date=5 July 2021}}
From 2020, she was an ambassador of Operation Bletchley, a series of walking and codebreaking challenges, raising money for the Army Benevolent Fund. As of February 2021, Webb lived in Worcestershire, England.{{Cite news |last=Wright |first=John |date=28 February 2021 |title=WW2 codebreaker Betty Webb: 'It horrifies me when people talk about money' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/fame-fortune/ww2-codebreaker-betty-webb-horrifies-people-talk-money/ |access-date=28 February 2021 |work=The Telegraph |issn=0307-1235 |url-access=subscription}} In 2023, she was invited to King Charles's coronation on 6 May and sat in the front row.{{Cite web |url=https://www.bromsgroveadvertiser.co.uk/news/25054251.world-war-ii-hero-betty-webb-mbe-wythall-dies-aged-101/|title='Her story will live on' − WWII codebreaker Betty Webb dies aged 101|date=1 April 2025|website=Bromsgrove Advertiser|access-date=1 April 2025}} She turned 100 in May 2023 and celebrated her birthday with a party at Bletchley Park, which involved a flypast by an Avro Lancaster bomber.{{cite news |title=Betty Webb: Thousands wish codebreaker, 100, happy birthday |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-65599292 |access-date=18 May 2023 |publisher=BBC News |date=16 May 2023}}
Webb died on 31 March 2025, aged 101.{{cite news|last1=Fofana|first1=Aida|title=Bletchley Park code breaker Betty Webb dead at 101|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78jd30ywv8o|publisher=BBC|date=1 April 2025}}
Works
- {{cite book |last=Webb |first=Betty |title=No More Secrets: My Part in Codebreaking at Bletchley Park and the Pentagon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KP_jrQEACAAJ |year=2023 |publisher=Ad Lib Publishers Limited |isbn=978-1837-7002-19}}
- {{cite book |last=Webb |first=Charlotte |title=Secret Postings: Bletchley Park to the Pentagon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_6GYzwEACAAJ |year=2014 |publisher=BookTower Publishing |isbn=978-0955-7164-78}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite web |url=https://hackaday.com/2025/04/03/remembering-betty-webb-bletchley-park-pentagon-code-breaker/ |title=Remembering Betty Webb: Bletchley Park & Pentagon Code Breaker |first=Maya |last=Posch |website=Hackaday |date=April 3, 2025 |accessdate=April 9, 2025}}
External links
- {{IMDb name| 12544318}}
- [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1112810/5754517-walk-among-heroes-podcast-episode-12-betty-webb-code-breaker-at-bletchley-park "Episode 12—Betty Webb (Code-Breaker at Bletchley Park)"] at Walk Among Heroes podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Betty}}
Category:Auxiliary Territorial Service soldiers
Category:Bletchley Park people
Category:English women centenarians
Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour
Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Military personnel from Herefordshire