High Barnet’s World War Two codebreaker Ruth Bourne dies at 98

A World War Two codebreaker who worked at Bletchley Park as a Bombe machine operator and checker has died at the age of 98.

Ruth Bourne, a Jewish veteran from High Barnet, north London, joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service at 18 before she was chosen to work at the secret site in Buckinghamshire decoding intercepted messages.

The Bombe machine was an electromechanical device built by Alan Turing to crack Germany’s Enigma code, quickly finding daily settings to decode enemy messages – a breakthrough that changed the course of the war and saved millions of lives.

In 2018, she was awarded the Légion d’honneur – France’s highest military honour – in recognition of her service.

Ms Bourne said she gained “a little bit of personal satisfaction” from her role in anti-Nazi operations.

She remained unaware of Bletchley Park’s wider mission: “I only knew my bit,” she recalled, having been sworn to secrecy.

The Taxi Charity for Military Veterans wrote on Facebook: “Ruth’s contribution to the monumental task of breaking the Enigma cypher was truly historic.

“Ruth was a remarkable woman with immense charm and charisma, and she will be dearly missed by all who had the privilege of knowing her.”

The work of Bletchley Park codebreakers allowed British intelligence to act quickly on decrypted information, contributing to key military victories.

Their efforts also paved the way for the industrialisation of codebreaking and the development of early computers.