Alastair Denniston
| Alastair Denniston | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alexander Guthrie Denniston 1 December 1881 Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland, UK |
| Died | 1 January 1961 (aged 79) Lymington, Hampshire, England, UK |
| Fields | Cryptologist |
| Alma mater |
University of Bonn University of Paris |
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's field hockey | ||
 |
1908 London | Team |
Commander Alexander "Alastair" Guthrie Denniston CMG CBE CB RNVR (1 December 1881 – 1 January 1961) was a British codebreaker in Room 40, first head of the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) and field hockey player. Denniston was appointed operational head of GC&CS in 1919 and remained so until February 1942.
Denniston was born in Greenock, Renfrewshire, the son of a medical practitioner. He studied at the University of Bonn and the University of Paris. Denniston was a member of the Scottish Olympic field hockey team in 1908 and won a bronze medal.
In 1914 Denniston helped form Room 40 in the Admiralty, an organisation responsible for intercepting and decrypting enemy messages. In 1917 he married a fellow Room 40 worker, Dorothy Mary Gilliat.
After First World War, Denniston, recognising the strategic importance of codebreaking, kept the Room 40 activity functioning. Room 40 was merged with its counterpart in the Army, MI1b in 1919, renamed the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) in 1920 and transferred from the Navy to the Foreign Office. Denniston was chosen to run the new organisation.
With the rise of Hitler, Denniston began making preparations. Following the practice of his superiors at Room 40, he contacted lecturers at Oxford and Cambridge (including Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman) asking if they would be willing to serve if war broke out. He chose Bletchley as the location for the codebreaking effort because it was at a rail junction on a main line 47 miles (76 km) north of London with good rail connections to Oxford and Cambridge and MI6 boss, Hugh Sinclair, acquired the Bletchley Park property. Denniston was involved in preparing the site and designing the huts to be built on the grounds. The GC&CS moved to the new location in August 1939, just before the Invasion of Poland and the start of the Second World War. Its name changed to Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).
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