Jerry Roberts

Jerry Roberts MBE
Capt. Jerry Roberts MBE photographed at Bletchley Park where he worked from 1941–45. He was a linguist and leading codebreaker on the Cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher.
Born	(1920-11-18)18 November 1920 Wembley, London, England, UK
Died	25 March 2014(2014-03-25) (aged 93) Hampshire, England, UK
Nationality	British
Education	University College London 1939-1941 in German and French
Occupation	Business owner. Wartime codebreaker and linguist on the Lorenz cipher system

Captain Raymond C. "Jerry" Roberts, MBE (18 November 1920 – 25 March 2014) was a British wartime codebreaker and businessman. During the Second World War, Roberts worked at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park from 1941-45. He was a leading codebreaker and linguist, who worked on the Lorenz cipher system — Hitler's most top-level code.

Jerry Roberts was born in Wembley, London. His father Herbert, had trained as a pharmacist, but worked for Lloyds Bank head office in the City for the rest of his 40-year career (since coming to London from Wales in 1915). His mother Leticia was a pianist and an organist who played in the local chapel. He was educated at Latymer Upper School, Hammersmith in London 1933-39 and University College London 1939-41. He gained a degree in German and French.

Early in the Second World War, his tutor at University College London, Prof. Leonard Willoughby, who had worked during the First World War in Room 40 the main cipher-breaking unit of that time, recommended the twenty-year-old Jerry Roberts as a German linguist to the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park where he was interviewed and accepted by Colonel John Tiltman as a codebreaker and linguist.