The Y Service 1939-1945

http://rollofhonour.bletchleypark.org.uk/

Roll of Honour explanatory notes

The Roll of Honour is compiled from wartime documents held in the National Archives and from material in the Bletchley Park (BP) Archive, in particular Historical Survey forms from veterans and their friends and families.
COLUMN 1 - Surname while serving. Normally the name at birth or the married name for a woman alreadymarried before serving.
COLUMN 2 – Forenames or Initials. The war-time staff lists usually give initials and rarely full forenames. Forenames are shown if known from later sources, e.g. Historical Survey forms or publications.
COLUMN 3 – Post-war Surname, if different. Includes married names of women, where known.
COLUMN 4 – Service, Rank or Grade, Title. Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force, Women’s Services, foreign and Commonwealth armed forces or civilian government department or organisation. Corps or Regiment for Army personnel, if known. Highest military rank or civilian grade achieved, where known. Military noncommissioned and male officer ranks are shown with modern-day abbreviations, female commissioned ones in full. Titles for civilians, eg Mr, Miss, are those used during the war, and do not reflect any academic or social titles gained in post-war years, such as Professor, Sir or Lady.

Civil Service Grades
Grade and Explanation
TJAO Temporary Junior Assistant (possibly Administrative) Officer. Graduate, or equivalent, entrygrade.
TSAO Temporary Senior Assistant (possibly Administrative) Officer. TJAOs were often promoted toTSAO after a few years. A few with relevant pre-war experience were recruited as TSAOs. SomeTSAOs have a letter in brackets after their grade, e.g. TSAO(D); it is not clear what theseindicated, possibly specialist qualifications or sub-grades within the TSAO grade.
TA Temporary Assistant. A grade for both graduate and non-graduate personnel. After 1943 most
graduates were recruited in this grade.
TJSO Temporary Junior Scientific Officer. Very rare.
C Grades A large number of Foreign Office civilian staff were graded from C II to C VI. These may have
been junior to TAs, but any clarification of this would be welcome.
Linguist Specialist translators.
Others Various other grade titles appear occasionally in the Roll of Honour. These include Senior (E).Chief Assistant and Deputy Supervisor. They appear to be senior grades, probably of staffalready employed by the Civil Service before the war.
The employing government department is shown as follows: FO = Foreign Office, WO = War Office, GPO = General Post Office

COLUMN 5 – Summary of Service Shows as much as is known about the dates of an individual’s service in signals intelligence, their location and their duties. For those who served at BP, the huts or blocks theyworked in, and the sections to which they were attached, are shown, where known.

Sections The organisation at Bletchley Park was made up of a number of sections. You will find a table on a seperate page of the site.

Huts and Blocks at Bletchley Park – brief details can be found on a seperate page of the site.

Locations As well as Bletchley Park, a large number of locations were involved in signals intelligence. Some places mentioned in the Roll of Honour can be found on a seperate page of the site.

COLUMN 6 - Sources
1 Summer 1939. Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS) staff who came to BP in July 1939, and the War Reserve Staff who joined at the outbreak of war in September 1939. (From National Archive documents: HW3/11, HW14/1, HW14/6, HW50/62 and HW64/45)
2 December 1940. Complete list of BP personnel at that date, compiled by the Director’s Office. HW14/9)
3A October 1942. List of Air Section staff personnel at that date, compiled by Air Section directorate. (HW14/57)
3N 1944 and 1945. List of Naval Section personnel, compiled from duties lists, telephone directories, etc. (HW3/28)
4 1939 – 1945. Civilian List. This list, produced in December 1948, contains over 2000 names of civilian staff, most at Bletchley Park. It is not comprehensive, as many staff are known only through information atsource 7. It shows only sections or locations, and does not give dates. (HW14/156)
5 1939 -1945. Service Lists – Officers. Similar to source 4 for RN, Army, RAF, WRNS, ATS and WAAF commissioned personnel. (HW3/82)
6 Publications. Names found in the various publications about the work of BP. Not yet fully exploited.
7 Historical Survey, Posthumous and Freedom Nomination Forms. Information from veterans and their relatives and colleagues, including that collected by Margaret and Tony Sale.
9 National Archive Documents. Currently under review.
10 Director’s Orders and Foreign Office documents. Held in the BP Archives.
11 Naval Section documents. A compilation of Naval Section telephone directories from between March 1942 and August 1945.
12 Key Personalities. Notes on individuals at BP, compiled from war-time papers & the published literature.
14 Miscellaneous Documents. Held in the BP archive. To be reviewed.
15 Mark Baldwin. Obituaries and information from veterans provided by historian Dr Mark Baldwin.

Below is a table showing some of the 10,000+ people on the BP Roll of Honour.The compiler's intention is to show variety. Surnames are deliberately omitted.

Surname while serving Forenames or Initials Post-War surname, if
different
Service, Rank or
Grade, Title
Summary of Service Sources
  Pamela E J   ATS, Royal Signals Shenley December 1942 - August 1945. Intercept operator against
German-occupied countries, including Yugoslavia and Latvia.
7
  Freda   WRNS Eastcote, bombe operator 7
  G   FO Civilian, Miss.   7
  Gwynneth Nerissa   FO Civilian, TA, Miss. Bletchley Park. Block F, Air Section. 4,7
  Irene Joan   ATS, Subaltern. Bletchley Park 1942 - 1945. Hut 3 and Block D(3). Fusion Room,
analysis of Luftwaffe units and activities from decrypted signals.
7,9
  Jon   RAF, FS Bletchley Park. Probably Block E, Commcen. 7
  V   ATS, Int Corps, Cpl. Bletchley Park. Military Section, SIXTA. 9
  W K   RAF, Flt Lt Bletchley Park. Block F, Air Section. 5
  Katherine Agnes   WRNS, 3rd Officer Bletchley Park January - February 1944. Colombo April - 1944 - c.1945 7
  Bob   FO Civilian, Mr. Bletchley Park. Carpenter.  
  W   Army, Int Corps, Capt. Bletchley Park. Office of Deputy Director (Service), Cdr Travis. 5
  Harold Ernest   RN, Ldg Tel (SO) Colombo 1944 - 1946. Intercept operator. 7
  G Ridley   RN, Capt. Hong Kong c. 1939 - 1942. FECB. Admiralty from early 1943. Deputy
Director Signals Division, Y Service (DDSD(Y)).
12
  Jessie May   WAAF Chicksands. Intercept operator 7
  Lilian   WAAF Bletchley Park August 1944 - March 1946. Probably Block E,
Commcen. Wireless operator/Morse slip reader.
7
  Mina ("Major") Shelton   FO Civilian, Mrs. Bletchley Park October 1940 - July 1945. Mansion and probably Hut 9.
Administration Section. Clerk to quartermaster, dealing with stores,
wages, drivers and transport arrangements.
7


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