One of Galway’s best kept secrets was the extraordinary double life led by a quiet, well brought up girl, who became the first and youngest professor of German at Galway University, only to abruptly resign her post to accept a challenge from the British Secret Service to enter the strange world of silently listening to the enemy’s conversations.
Emily Anderson, born on St Patrick’s Day 1891, the daughter of the president of Queen’s College, Galway, Alexander Anderson and his wife Emily Gertrude (nee Binns ). She had a surprisingly liberal education at a time when middle-class girls were just taught enough to equip them with the necessities for marriage and socialising.
Emily and her two sisters, and their brother, were home schooled by a Swiss tutor who ensured the children were proficient in French and German, and the piano. Their mother was a committed suffragist supporting the cause that women should have the vote.
Her daughters, Emily and Elsie, accompanied her to meetings. These could be lively affairs. In the summer 1911 Christabel Pankhurst, a radical socialist, addressed a crowded Galway Town Hall.
As a student at her father’s university, Emily excelled at French and German receiving first class honours, ‘with special distinction’. She continued her studies at Berlin University and at Marburg, and spent two years teaching languages at a girl’s college in Barbados. At the outbreak of World War I, she returned to University College Galway, where at the young age of 26 years, she was appointed its first professor of German.
In the meantime her brother Alexander, who had joined the Connaught Rangers, changed to the Royal Flying Corps, only to have been shot down and taken prisoner.
Somehow, at this worrying time in the Anderson household, and only months after Emily was appointed professor of German, she was approached (probably by an acquaintance at Cambridge ), and asked would she help the newly established codebreaking bureau at St Omer which was contributing vital intelligence for the British and French military.
Emily resigned her post at Galway University and went to France immediately, joining a group of largely bright, intelligent women, providing speedy and accurate interpretations of diplomatic and military messages which proved invaluable in bringing the war to a conclusion.
Back in London, Emily’s quite exceptional skills as a codebreaker had been noticed by her superiors. It was now clear that a new kind of war was emerging. It was of inestimable value to be able to read secret messages relayed in code among enemy planners, and diplomats.
Britain was about to establish its own cryptographic bureau, within its secret service, at Bletchley Park, and in Cairo where the signals intelligence centre for the Middle East was located. Emily and her colleagues would play a significant role in cracking the Italian and German diplomatic codes. This spectacular success enabled the Allies to read ‘messages meant for Hitler before he read them.’
Emily enjoyed same sex relationships which were respected by her team. She could be a hard task-master when the pressure was on. Unusually, as there was little recognition for the people who worked in signals intelligence, Emily was awarded an OBE, and her co-worker, Dorothy Brooks an MBE, for their significant contribution to the war effort.
Unknown to her family and friends (except those in her intimate circle ) Emily Anderson was a leading member of British intelligence for over three decades.
As well as playing key roles in both World Wars, she had time, either as a stratagem to disguise her real work, or as a relief from its intellectual challenges, she edited and translated three volumes each on the Letters and Diaries of Mozart and his family (published 1938 ), and the Letters of Beethoven (Published 1961 ).
The Mozart family, knoswing that their letters to each other were intercepted and read by the local Archbishop of Salzburg, used a simple substitution cipher (certain letters of the alphabet being replaced by others ), and probably laughed with glee that no one but themselves could read them. As a result they remained unread for two centuries, until Emily came along, and published them to international acclaim.
For her Beethoven letters, acknowledged as a work of great scholarship, the German Government presented her with its highest honour: the Order of Merit First Class.
Emily’s extraordinary story, is told at last, with fascinating and insightful research, by historian and University of Galway lecturer Jackie Uí Chionna. It is very satisfying that this brilliant woman is now brought in from the shadows to take a well deserved bow.
Queen of Codes - The Secret Life of Emily Anderson - Britain’s Greatest Codebreaker, by Dr Jackie Ui Chionna on sale €18.00 ) It will be launched at an event in the Irish Embassy in London this evening.
