John Tiltman
| John Hessell Tiltman | |
|---|---|
Photograph of British cryptoanalysts Harry Hinsley, Sir Edward Travis, and John Tiltman in Washington, November 1945.
|
|
| Nickname(s) | "The Brig" |
| Born |
25 May 1894 London, England |
| Died | 10 August 1982 (aged 88) Hawaii, United States |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch | British Army |
| Years of service | 1914–1946 |
| Rank | Brigadier |
| Unit | King's Own Scottish Borderers |
| Battles/wars |
World War I World War II |
| Awards |
Military Cross (1917) OBE (1930) CBE (1944) CMG (1954) Legion of Merit (1946) |
Brigadier John Hessell Tiltman CMG CBE MC (25 May 1894 – 10 August 1982) was a British Army officer who worked in intelligence, often at or with the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) starting in the 1920s. His intelligence work was largely connected with cryptography, and he showed exceptional skill at cryptanalysis. His work in association with Bill Tutte on the cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher, the German teleprinter cipher, called "Tunny" at Bletchley Park, led to successful attack methods. It was to exploit those methods that Colossus, the first digital programmable electronic computer, was designed and built.
Tiltman's parents were from Scotland, though he was born in London. He joined the British Army in 1914, and saw service at the front during World War I with the King's Own Scottish Borderers. He was wounded in France, and won the Military Cross for bravery. He was seconded to MI1 shortly before it merged with Room 40.
From 1921–1929, he was a cryptanalyst with the Indian Army at Army Headquarters, Simla. The analysts were reading Russian diplomatic cypher traffic from Moscow to Kabul, Afghanistan and Tashkent, Turkestan. Tiltman worked with a modest group of people and was involved in directing interception and traffic analysis as well as working on cyphers; he said he was exceptionally lucky to have this experience in other branches of Signals Intelligence.
...
Wikipedia