My mother, Jean Kerlogue, who has died aged 99, undertook codebreaking work in Hut 6 at Bletchley Park between 1942 and 1945. Like most other workers at the wartime codebreaking centre in Buckinghamshire, Jean kept silent about her contribution until the 1970s, and her parents never knew about it. Once the secret had been revealed to the public, she told her family (and later the Bletchley Park Trust) all about her life working in Hut 6.
She and I went together to many Bletchley Park reunions, and a few years ago she met the Duchess of Cambridge and talked with her about her memories. She is also mentioned in A Grand Gossip, The Bletchley Park Diary of Basil Cottle (2017), a rare contemporary account of the period.
Jean was born in London, to Meta (nee McKie) and Jack Kerslake, both teachers. During the 1920s Meta set up her own school, St Christopher’s, in Wembley, which Jean attended before winning a scholarship to St Paul’s girls’ school in Hammersmith. She loved her time there and won a scholarship to Newnham College, Cambridge, where she studied classics.
Jean’s close friendship with Rosalind Franklin, who was later at the forefront of the discovery of the structure of DNA, started at St Paul’s, where they both worked extremely hard (Jean’s father said that Rosalind’s influence had helped her win the scholarship). While still at school, Jean helped the Franklin family in their work helping German Jewish refugees in the late 1930s. The friendship continued during and after the war, when the two friends spent holidays climbing together in Wales and later in the French Alps. There are several references to Jean in Rosalind Franklin, The Dark Lady of DNA, the 2002 biography by Brenda Maddox.
After the war Jean went straight into secondary school teaching. In 1946 she married Dudley Kerlogue, also a teacher, and they had three children. Her long career included a two-year stay in Penang, Malaya, during its move to independence in the 1950s. On return to the UK Jean continued teaching and later became a lecturer at Matlock College of Education. In 1976, having gained a diploma in counselling, she moved to London to manage the citizens’ advice bureau in Wembley.
Jean and Dudley were divorced in 1978, and Jean met Dr Keith Lynn while walking in Derbyshire. After Jean’s retirement in 1986, they lived near Cerne Abbas in Dorset. They spent many holidays travelling in France, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Scotland. At home she applied her talent for meticulous study towards researching family history, leading a study of the name Kerslake – thought to originate in Brittany and now common around Tiverton, north Devon – for the Royal Geneaological Society. She enjoyed crosswords, music, walking with dogs and spending time with her family.
Jean was a modest person, kind, thoughtful and caring. She is survived by Keith, her children, Martin, Fiona and me, and grandchildren, Michael, Richard and Louie.
