Lilian Williams obituary

The Guardian
Wednesday 17 March 2010

Lilian Williams obituary
------------------------

Sian Hughes

Lilian Williams's headteacher was so excited when she won a scholarship 
that he gave the rest of the school a half-day holiday

My indomitable aunt Lilian Williams, who has died aged 92, lived an 
ordinary life - or so we believed until she was able to disclose her 
work at Bletchley Park during the second world war.

She worked with an inner circle of translators in Hut 3 - the German 
Book Room ( GBR ) - making sure that decoded messages were transcribed 
accurately before being dispatched to allied commanders. The most 
important went directly to Winston Churchill. Some of the messages, from 
the Nazi high command in Berlin to Erwin Rommel and other German generals, 
contained details of troop movements, providing the allies with advance 
warning of enemy plans.

Born in Aberystwyth, the second eldest of six children, to a poor family 
who valued education passionately, Lilian attended the local grammar 
school and won a state scholarship to attend the university of her choice. 
Her headteacher was so excited that he ran to the house to tell her family 
and gave the school a half-day holiday in celebration.

Lilian chose University College London and studied French and German. Her 
skill in languages and love of crosswords made her an ideal recruit for 
Bletchley. By the end of the war, she was deputy head of the GBR..../snip/


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