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Blue plaque for 'unsung' Bletchley codebreaker

Danielle HuntGloucestershire
News imageHandout A grainy scan of a portrait photo of Mary Body sitting on a bench. She has grey shoulder-length hair and is wearing a light grey jacket and medium grey skirt along with a black, red and green floral scarf. She is also wearing glasses on a chain around her neck. She is looking off to the right of the camera, is smiling and has her left cheek propped up on her left knuckles. It can just about be made out that the wooden bench in directly in front of a stone building. Handout
Mary Margery Body kept her career in intelligence "strictly confidential", even from close acquaintances

A blue plaque has been unveiled on a house in Cheltenham to commemorate a female codebreaker whose efforts were not recognised during her lifetime.

Mary Margery Body was recruited to work at Bletchley Park in 1940 and she helped break the German Enigma codes.

In 1957 Body settled in Swindon Village where she continued her intelligence work with GCHQ, including periods working in Australia and Washington DC. She is said to have kept strict confidentiality about her work, even with close acquaintances.

Cheltenham Civic Society installed the plaque on Body's former home, the Homestead. Chairman Andrew Booton said the organisation was honoured to play its part in remembering an "unsung hero".

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Body was recruited to Bletchley Park for cypher work by renowned codebreaker Dilwyn Knox.

She started working there in 1940, contributing to breaking the German Enigma codes which helped to shorten World War Two.

The codebreaker's work involved long, repetitive tasks that were vital to intercepting enemy communications, including those about German submarine movements.

The work played a key role in the Battle of the Atlantic.

Body could also speak Italian and was likely to have also worked on intercepting Italian communications during the course of her work.

News imageCheltenham Civic Society A blue plaque on a white exterior wall. It reads "Cheltenham Civic Society. Mary Body. 1912 to 2001. Codebreaker. Lived here 1957 to 2001. Bletchley Park and GCHQ"Cheltenham Civic Society
Cheltenham Civic Society said it was the town's first plaque to mark the contributions made by those who worked at Bletchley Park and GCHQ

Booton said the blue plaque was the first in the town to mark contributions made by those who worked at Bletchley Park and GCHQ.

"Mary Body was one of our town's many unsung heroes who worked in complete secrecy and we are honoured to commemorate her life's work," he said.

Body died in 2001 and is buried in St. Lawrence Churchyard in Swindon Village.

Cheltenham Mayor Martin Horwood, who unveiled the plaque on the Homestead, said it was "wonderful" that Body's contribution had been recognised despite her keeping it "dutifully secret for so long".

He said: "Mary's story is typical of so many that bind Cheltenham to the history of both Bletchley Park and its successor GCHQ, so important both to our town and our country."

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