Amy Elizabeth Thorpe
| Amy Elizabeth Thorpe | |
|---|---|
| Born |
22 November 1910 Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States |
| Died | 1 December 1963 (aged 53) France, Castelnou, Pyrénées-Orientales |
Amy Elizabeth "Betty" Thorpe (November 22, 1910 – December 1, 1963) was, according to William Stephenson of British Security Coordination, an American spy, codenamed "Cynthia," who worked for his agency during World War II. British Security Coordination was a cover organization that had been set up in New York City by the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in May 1940.
Amy Elizabeth Thorpe was born on November 22, 1910 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Her father was George C. Thorpe, a distinguished U.S. Marine Corps officer. Her mother, Cora Wells, was the daughter of a Minnesota state senator.
Thorpe was introduced at a young age by her parents to the Washington social scene and quickly became immersed in the world of diplomatic intrigue. By the time she was in her late teens, she had been romantically linked to foreign diplomats many years her senior. In 1936, Arthur Pack, second secretary at the British embassy in Washington, became Thorpe's choice for a husband; but in the 1930s, in the wake of two quick pregnancies and Pack's work-connected travels, the relationship became distant.
According to William Stevenson's A Man Called Intrepid, Thorpe traveled frequently to Europe, nominally to support Pack's work. In reality, according to Stevenson, she had embarked upon secret intrigues, working for both sides in the Spanish Civil War.
According to William Stephenson (no relation to the author cited above), Amy Elizabeth Thorpe came to his attention in winter 1937, after joining her husband on assignment in Warsaw. Stephenson, Churchill's wartime head of British Security Coordination from May 1940, says that Thorpe was especially useful to Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in 1938 for her work in helping the Allies understand how the Enigma machine was used and that Polish mathematicians were breaking Enigma ciphers. Enigma machines would be used throughout the coming war by the Axis Powers, whose enciphered messages would routinely be read at Britain's Bletchley Park.
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