Code breaker Betty Webb celebrates 100th birthday

Much loved and respected Bletchley Park code breaker Betty Webb celebrated her 100th birthday just days after attending the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in Westminster Abbey.

Charlotte Elizabeth “Betty” Webb MBE was born on May 13th 1923 in South Shropshire. In 1941, at the age of 18, Betty was keen to help the war effort, and began work as a code breaker at Bletchley Park. She had to sign the Official Secrets Act and wasn’t allowed to tell anyone about the work she was doing.

Betty grew up with a German au pair and before the war visited Germany as an exchange student. She joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) and having impressed interviewers with her knowledge of German, was posted to Bletchley Park. She was tasked with cataloguing encrypted German radio messages intercepted by the British, contributing to the breaking of the German cipher “Enigma”.

During her time at Bletchley, she also worked on intercepted Japanese messages. When the war ended in Europe in 1945, Betty travelled to Washington D.C. and worked at the Pentagon to assist the Americans with the war in the Pacific.

Betty initially returned to work at Bletchley Park, but when it closed, she returned to Shropshire to work as a secretary at Ludlow Grammar School, alongside the headmaster who she had worked with at Bletchley. However, due to the Official Secrets Act they were not only prevented from talking about their past work, but they weren’t allowed to acknowledge they knew each other until restrictions were lifted in 1975.

In 2015 Betty was awarded an MBE for her contribution to the war effort, and in 2021 the French government awarded Betty with the Légion d’Honneur. Betty was given a front row seat in the nave at the Coronation and was seen on TV as the King and Queen processed out of the Abbey.

As a resident of Wythall for many years Betty has been an active member of the Bromsgrove community, giving regular talks about her life during World War II. She is a published author, with her most recent book No More Secrets: My part in code breaking at Bletchley Park and the Pentagon released on May 4th 2023.

Betty celebrated her landmark birthday with a party at Bletchley Park with family and friends, and a lunch at Grafton Manor where Bromsgrove’s Town Crier Kevin Ward acted as Master of Ceremony and Vintage Class entertained with songs from the 1940s.

Everyone at Completely Bromsgrove thanks Betty for her service and wishes her a very happy birthday.

by Jo Slade

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