Commander Denniston's Office
Commander Alexander (Alastair) Guthie Denniston was appointed Head of the Government Code & Cypher School (GC&CS) in 1919 after serving in its predecessor Room 40 at the Admiralty, during WWI. In 1919 Room 40 was merged with the War Office team to form GC&CS, and in 1923 the Secret Intelligence service (MI6) took over responsibility. However, the daily running of GC&CS fell to Denniston.
In June 1938 Bletchley Park had been acquired to provide a wartime home for GC&CS. In the months before the war, Denniston toured the universities recruiting 'men of professor type'. having seen the success of the Polish mathematicians in breaking the German Enigma cipher he made the crucial decision to bring in the British mathematicians, like Alan Turing, who were so vital to the Codebreakers' success.
Denniston's management style was 'light touch'; he had the ability to motivate and encourage people to get the best out of them whatever thier age or background and he was patient which was an important skill when managing his often short-tempered and quirky colleagues. Denniston also realised that the cerebral and painstaking Codebreaking work needed to be offset with relaxation and recreation. During Denniston's time as head of GC&CS, the vital cryptographic information the Poles and the French had painstakingly compiled about Enigma was passed to the Britsh and the beginning of the "special relationship" with the USA was formed.
In 1942 Denniston left Bletchley Park returning to Berkley Street in London where, as Deputy Director (Civil), he led the Diplomatic Section with great success. He remained with the Diplomatic Section past retirement age but he had been suffering from the effects of ill-health and resigned on May 1st 1945. In his retirement he taught languages at a school in Leatherhead and enjoyed time with his extended family, of which he was a well-loved and vibrant member. Denniston passed away, aged 79, on 1st January 1961; he did not survive to see the Codebreakers recieve the recognition they deserved for the vital work they had undertaken.
The Mansion at Bletchley Park houses a number of temporary and permanent exhibitions including: The Office of Alastair Denniston, Head of the Government Code and Cypher School, and the room where the US Special Relationship was born; The Library, atmospherically dressed as it would have looked during WW2 as a Naval Intelligence office and Wartime Garages, complete with WW2 vehicles.
Bletchley Park was the central site for British (and subsequently, Allied) codebreakers during World War II. It housed the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), which regularly penetrated the secret communications of the Axis Powers – most importantly the German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers. According to the official historian of British Intelligence, the "Ultra" intelligence produced at Bletchley shortened the war by two to four years, and that without it the outcome of the war would have been uncertain.
Located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Bletchley Park is open to the public, and receives hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.
bletchleypark.org.uk/visit-us/what-to-see/the-mansion
Commander Denniston's Office
Commander Alexander (Alastair) Guthie Denniston was appointed Head of the Government Code & Cypher School (GC&CS) in 1919 after serving in its predecessor Room 40 at the Admiralty, during WWI. In 1919 Room 40 was merged with the War Office team to form GC&CS, and in 1923 the Secret Intelligence service (MI6) took over responsibility. However, the daily running of GC&CS fell to Denniston.
In June 1938 Bletchley Park had been acquired to provide a wartime home for GC&CS. In the months before the war, Denniston toured the universities recruiting 'men of professor type'. having seen the success of the Polish mathematicians in breaking the German Enigma cipher he made the crucial decision to bring in the British mathematicians, like Alan Turing, who were so vital to the Codebreakers' success.
Denniston's management style was 'light touch'; he had the ability to motivate and encourage people to get the best out of them whatever thier age or background and he was patient which was an important skill when managing his often short-tempered and quirky colleagues. Denniston also realised that the cerebral and painstaking Codebreaking work needed to be offset with relaxation and recreation. During Denniston's time as head of GC&CS, the vital cryptographic information the Poles and the French had painstakingly compiled about Enigma was passed to the Britsh and the beginning of the "special relationship" with the USA was formed.
In 1942 Denniston left Bletchley Park returning to Berkley Street in London where, as Deputy Director (Civil), he led the Diplomatic Section with great success. He remained with the Diplomatic Section past retirement age but he had been suffering from the effects of ill-health and resigned on May 1st 1945. In his retirement he taught languages at a school in Leatherhead and enjoyed time with his extended family, of which he was a well-loved and vibrant member. Denniston passed away, aged 79, on 1st January 1961; he did not survive to see the Codebreakers recieve the recognition they deserved for the vital work they had undertaken.
The Mansion at Bletchley Park houses a number of temporary and permanent exhibitions including: The Office of Alastair Denniston, Head of the Government Code and Cypher School, and the room where the US Special Relationship was born; The Library, atmospherically dressed as it would have looked during WW2 as a Naval Intelligence office and Wartime Garages, complete with WW2 vehicles.
Bletchley Park was the central site for British (and subsequently, Allied) codebreakers during World War II. It housed the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), which regularly penetrated the secret communications of the Axis Powers – most importantly the German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers. According to the official historian of British Intelligence, the "Ultra" intelligence produced at Bletchley shortened the war by two to four years, and that without it the outcome of the war would have been uncertain.
Located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Bletchley Park is open to the public, and receives hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.
bletchleypark.org.uk/visit-us/what-to-see/the-mansion