20 Facts About Harry Hinsley

Harry Hinsley worked at Bletchley Park during the Second World War and wrote widely on the history of international relations and British Intelligence during the Second World War.

Harry Hinsley's mother Emma Hinsley was a school caretaker and they lived in Birchills, in the parish of St Andrew's, Walsall.

Harry Hinsley was educated at Queen Mary's Grammar School, Walsall and, in 1937, won a scholarship to read history at St John's College, Cambridge.

Harry Hinsley went on to be awarded a first in part one of the Historical Tripos.

Harry Hinsley made the crossing at the bridge between Kehl and Strasbourg.

Harry Hinsley hitch-hiked to Switzerland from where he returned to the United Kingdom.

Harry Hinsley made his return just before Britain declared war on Germany.

Harry Hinsley abandoned his degree course and thereafter never completed it.

At Bletchley Park, Harry Hinsley studied the external characteristics of intercepted German messages, a process sometimes termed "traffic analysis": from call signs, frequencies, times of interception and so forth, he was able to deduce a great deal of information about the structure of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarines communication networks and even about the structure of the German navy itself.

Harry Hinsley helped initiate a programme of seizing Enigma machines and keys from German weather ships, such as the Lauenburg, thereby facilitating Bletchley Park's resumption of interrupted breaking of German Naval Enigma.

Harry Hinsley realised that, as the ships were on station for long periods, they would have to carry the code books for subsequent months; these would likely be in a locked safe and might be overlooked when the crew threw Enigma materials overboard if the ship was boarded, an assumption which proved correct.

In late 1943, Harry Hinsley was sent to liaise with the US Navy in Washington, with the result that an agreement was reached in January 1944 to co-operate in exchanging results on Japanese Naval signals.

On 6 April 1946, Harry Hinsley married Hilary Brett-Smith, a graduate from Somerville College, Oxford, who had worked at Bletchley Park, in Hut 8.

Harry Hinsley was awarded the OBE in 1946 and was knighted in 1985.

On his death, Sir Harry Hinsley was cremated and his family buried the ashes privately in Cambridge.

In 1962, Harry Hinsley published Power and the Pursuit of Peace, which is important as a study of early idealist thought about international relations.

Harry Hinsley edited the multi-volume official history British Intelligence in the Second World War and argued that Enigma decryption had speeded Allied victory by one to four years but had not fundamentally altered the war's outcome.

Harry Hinsley was criticised by Marian Rejewski and Gordon Welchman, who took exception to inaccuracies in Hinsley's accounts of the history of Enigma decryption in the early volumes of his official history, including crucial errors in chronology.

Harry Hinsley co-edited and contributed to Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park, which contains personal accounts from those who worked at Bletchley Park.

Harry Hinsley is commemorated by a blue plaque on his birthplace in Walsall.