Marjorie Dodsworth: the Guernsey codebreaker who changed the course of the Second World War

  • ITV Channel's Kate Prout speaks to the family of a Bletchley Park codebreaker about her remarkable life - and secret...

A Guernsey woman who helped to crack German enemy codes during the Second World War has died.

Marjorie Dodsworth was a member of the elite team of codebreakers that cracked the infamous Enigma code.

As a young Royal Navy wren, Marjorie worked at Bletchley Park as an operator of a Bombe: the device used to decipher German Enigma machine-encrypted messages.

The operations were highly confidential, and for 50 years Marjorie didn't tell a soul what she'd done.

The Bombe machine was used by a team of codebreakers to crack German encrypted messages Credit: bletchleypark.org.uk

However, 50 years after she'd signed the Official Secrets Act, she finally told her husband and sons her story.

Ian Dodsworth, Marjorie's son, says he'll never forget that moment, recalling: "We were sat around for Sunday lunch, and she said 'Today is the day I can tell you what I did in the war. I worked at Bletchley.'

"Dad was beside himself because he never knew she was there. She kept that secret for 50 years. She kept it.

"She signed the Official Secrets Act with a gun on the table, so she felt she had to keep it. It was pretty serious stuff.

"Her parents never knew what she did in the war."

Marjorie's son Ian met with ITV Channel to tell the story of his mother's great legacy Credit: ITV Channel

Ian adds that Marjorie found it difficult to tell her story even after all that time had passed.

He furthers: "I think she still felt it should be kept secret. So she didn't speak an awful lot about it. She did interviews and she's spoken to us if we've asked about it.

"But you could always tell she wasn't really 100% comfortable talking about it."

Ian says she never felt what she did was worth celebrating, saying: "To her, it was just a job. It's what she did in the war."

This is not how history will remember Marjorie, however.

Winston Churchill believed the work of the team at Bletchley Park was so important that he nicknamed them 'the geese with the golden eggs'.

Historians have also estimated that decrypting German Enigma messages could have shortened the war by as much as two years.

Marjorie disclosed her story 50 years to the day after she'd signed the Official Secrets Act Credit: ITV Channel

Marjorie will also be remembered as a highly-regarded member of her island community, with countless messages of love having flooded in since her death.

Ian reflects: "We're gobsmacked by how many people have contacted us saying what a wonderful woman she was.

"We knew that. But to have it confirmed by so many people is quite incredible."

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