Recalling Memorable Life of John Kenneth Ronald Murray

The son of Kenneth George Veitch Murray and Muriel Harriott Herapeth Bott, John Kenneth Ronald Murray was born on June 29, 1910. When he first met his wife, he was a Lieutenant-Colonel. John was a former army officer who had fought for freedom in India. He was the one who, however, had presented the research on Scottish coinage in the 16th and 17th centuries.

John’s Wife

One such person was Joan Elisabeth Lowther Murray, better known by her stage name Joan Clarke, who had a very clear understanding of cryptographic techniques. She was conceived on June 24, 1917. She is Dorothy and William Kemp Lowther Clarke’s youngest child.

The work of English cryptanalyst and numismatist Joan Elisabeth Lowther Murray at Bletchley Park during World War II is what made her famous. She didn’t want attention, but her work on the Enigma project, which deciphered Nazi Germany’s encrypted communications, brought her accolades and recognition, including the 1946 designation as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

In a Cambridge University Undergraduate Geometry course, Gordon Welchman made the initial discovery of Clarke’s mathematical prowess. One of the top four mathematicians chosen to oversee decoding activities at Bletchley Park in 1939 was Welchman. He invited Clarke to join him at Bletchley Park to be a part of the “Government Code and Cypher School” after recognising her aptitude for mathematics (GCCS).

The Achievements

Gordon Welchman, who had previously served as Clarke’s academic adviser, recruited her to the Government Code and Cypher School in June 1940. (GC&CS). She worked in the Hut 8 area of Bletchley Park and quickly rose to the position of being the only female practitioner of Banburismus, an Alan Turing cryptanalytic technique that eliminated the need for bombes, the electromechanical devices used by British cryptologists Welchman and Turing to decipher German encrypted messages during World War II. Despite not knowing another language, Clarke’s first job promotion was to Linguist Grade to provide her the opportunity to make more money. Her workload and team contributions were recognised by this promotion.
Trawlers were taken in 1941, along with their encryption gear and codes. From March to June 1941, wolf packs sank 282,000 tonnes of freight before this information was discovered. By the end of November, Clarke and her group had managed to lower this figure to 62,000 tonnes. She was referred to as “one of the best Banburists in the section” by Hugh Alexander, Hut 8’s commander from 1943 to 1944. Alexander was thought to be the greatest Banburist.

John Kenneth’s Death

At the age of 76, John Kenneth Ronald Murray passed away on November 8, 1986, in Uckington, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom. After her husband passed away in 1986, Clarke relocated to Headington, Oxfordshire, where she carried on her study of coins. She worked with Sir Harry Hinsley on the volume 3, part 2 appendix of British Intelligence in the Second World War during the 1980s. She also helped researchers at Bletchley Park who were studying codebreaking during the war. The depth of her efforts is still unknown because cryptanalysts continue to maintain a culture of secrecy.