Alfred Dillwyn "Dilly" Knox,
CMG (23 July 1884 – 27 February 1943) was a British
classics scholar and
papyrologist
Papyrology is the study of manuscripts of ancient literature, correspondence, legal archives, etc., preserved on portable media from antiquity, the most common form of which is papyrus, the principal writing material in the ancient civilizations ...
at
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...
and a
codebreaker. As a member of the
Room 40
Room 40, also known as 40 O.B. (old building; officially part of NID25), was the cryptanalysis section of the British Admiralty during the First World War.
The group, which was formed in October 1914, began when Rear-Admiral Henry Oliver, the ...
codebreaking unit he helped decrypt the
Zimmermann Telegram which brought the USA into the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
He then joined the
Government Code and Cypher School
Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Uni ...
(GC&CS).
As Chief Cryptographer,
Knox played an important role in the Polish-French-British meetings on the eve of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
which disclosed
Polish cryptanalysis of the
Axis
An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis
* Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
Enigma to the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
.
At
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...
he worked on the cryptanalysis of
Enigma ciphers until his death in 1943. He built the team and discovered the method that broke the Italian Naval Enigma, producing the intelligence credited with Allied victory at the
Battle of Cape Matapan
The Battle of Cape Matapan ( el, Ναυμαχία του Ταινάρου) was a naval battle during the Second World War between the Allies, represented by the navies of the United Kingdom and Australia, and the Royal Italian navy, from 27 t ...
. In 1941 Knox broke the
Abwehr Enigma.
By the end of the war, Intelligence Service Knox had disseminated 140,800
Abwehr decrypts,
including intelligence important for
D-Day.
Personal life and family
Dillwyn Knox, the fourth of six children,
was the son of
Edmund Knox, tutor at
Merton College and later
Bishop of Manchester
The Bishop of Manchester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Manchester in the Province of York.'' Crockford's Clerical Directory 2008/2009 (100th edition)'', Church House Publishing ().
The current bishop is David Walker w ...
; he was the brother of
E. V. Knox
Edmund George Valpy Knox (10 May 1881 – 2 January 1971) was a poet and satirist who wrote under the pseudonym Evoe. He was editor of ''Punch'' 1932–1949, having been a regular contributor in verse and prose for many years.
Life
Knox was ...
,
Wilfred Knox
Wilfred Lawrence Knox (1886–1950) was an English Anglicanism, Anglican priest and theologian, one of four brothers who distinguished themselves. After leaving University of Oxford, Oxford with a first-class honours degree in classics, Knox soon ...
,
Ronald Knox
Ronald Arbuthnott Knox (17 February 1888 – 24 August 1957) was an English Catholic priest, theologian, author, and radio broadcaster. Educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, where he earned a high reputation as a classicist, Knox wa ...
,
Ethel Knox, and
Winifred Peck
Winifred Peck, née Knox, (1882–1962) was an English novelist and biographer.
Biography
Winifred Frances Knox was born in Headington, England in 1882. Her father was Edmund Arbuthnott Knox, the fourth Bishop of Manchester. Knox was one of ...
,
["Peck, Winifred Frances, (Lady Peck)"]
''Who Was Who'', online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014, retrieved 9 May 2014 and uncle of the novelist
Penelope Fitzgerald
Penelope Mary Fitzgerald (17 December 1916 – 28 April 2000) was a Booker Prize-winning novelist, poet, essayist and biographer from Lincoln, England. In 2008 ''The Times'' listed her among "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945". ''The Ob ...
.
His father was a descendant of
John Arbuthnott, 8th Viscount of Arbuthnott
John Arbuthnott, 8th Viscount of Arbuthnott DL FRSE (16 January 1778 – 10 January 1860) was a Scottish peer and soldier. Known as "the rich Lord" he built the bridge in front of Arbuthnott House, Kincardineshire. He was the first member of t ...
.
Dillwyn—known as "Dilly"—Knox was educated at
Summer Fields School
Summer Fields is a fee-paying boys' independent day and boarding preparatory school in Summertown, Oxford. It was originally called Summerfield and used to have a subsidiary school, Summerfields, St Leonards-on-Sea (known as "Summers mi").
H ...
, Oxford, and then
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...
.
He studied classics at
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...
from 1903,
and in 1909 was elected a Fellow
following the death of
Walter Headlam
Walter George Headlam (15 February 1866 – 20 June 1908) was a British classical scholar and poet, perhaps best remembered for his work on the ''Mimes'' of Herodas. He was described as "one of the leading Greek scholars of his time."
Early ye ...
, from whom he inherited extensive research into the works of
Herodas
The first column of the Herodas papyrus, showing ''Mimiamb'' 1. 1–15.
Herodas or Herondas (Greek: or - the name is spelt differently in the few places where he is mentioned), was a Greek poet and the author of short humorous dramatic sc ...
. While an
undergraduate
Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...
he was friends with
Lytton Strachey
Giles Lytton Strachey (; 1 March 1880 – 21 January 1932) was an English writer and critic. A founding member of the Bloomsbury Group and author of '' Eminent Victorians'', he established a new form of biography in which psychological insight ...
and
John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...
. He and Keynes were lovers at Eton.
Knox privately coached
Harold Macmillan, the future
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
at King's for a few weeks in 1910, but Macmillan found him "austere and uncongenial".
[
He married Olive Rodman in 1920, forgetting to invite two of his three brothers to his wedding.] The couple had two sons, Oliver and Christopher.
He was an atheist.
Academic scholarship
Between the two World Wars Knox worked on the great commentary on Herodas
The first column of the Herodas papyrus, showing ''Mimiamb'' 1. 1–15.
Herodas or Herondas (Greek: or - the name is spelt differently in the few places where he is mentioned), was a Greek poet and the author of short humorous dramatic sc ...
that had been started by Walter Headlam
Walter George Headlam (15 February 1866 – 20 June 1908) was a British classical scholar and poet, perhaps best remembered for his work on the ''Mimes'' of Herodas. He was described as "one of the leading Greek scholars of his time."
Early ye ...
, damaging his eyesight while studying the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
's collection of papyrus
Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...
fragments, but finally managing to decipher the text of the Herodas papyri. The Knox-Headlam edition of Herodas finally appeared in 1922.
Codebreaking
First World War
Soon after war broke out in 1914, Knox was recruited to the Royal Navy's cryptological effort in Room 40
Room 40, also known as 40 O.B. (old building; officially part of NID25), was the cryptanalysis section of the British Admiralty during the First World War.
The group, which was formed in October 1914, began when Rear-Admiral Henry Oliver, the ...
of the Admiralty Old Building, where some of his work was done in the bath. He persuaded his superiors to have a bathtub installed in his office in the cryptanalysis section of the British Admiralty (in Room 53). In 1917, Knox followed Room 40 with its expansion into ID25.
Among other tasks, he was involved in breaking:
* the Zimmermann Telegram which brought the USA into the war.
* much of the German admiral's flag code by exploiting an operator's love of romantic poetry.
Between the wars
Government Code and Cypher School
During the First World War he had been elected Librarian at King's College, but never took up the appointment. After the war Knox intended to resume his research at King's, but was persuaded by his wife to remain at his secret work; indeed, so secret was this work that his own children had no idea, until many years after his death, what he did for a living, and his contribution to the war effort.[
]
Commercial Enigma
The Enigma machine became available commercially in the 1920s. In Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
in 1925, Knox bought the Enigma 'C' machine evaluated by Hugh Foss
Hugh Rose Foss (13 May 1902 – 23 December 1971) was a British cryptanalyst. At Bletchley Park during World War II he made significant contributions both to the breaking of the German Enigma code and headed the section tasked with breaking Japan ...
in 1927 on behalf of GC&CS. Foss found "a high degree of security" but wrote a secret paper describing how to attack the machine if ''cribs'' — short sections of plain text — could be guessed. When — a decade later — Knox picked up this work, he developed a more effective algebraic system (''rodding'') based on the principles described by Foss.
Spanish Enigma
Germany's Navy adopted Enigma in 1926, adding a plug-board ('stecker') to improve security. Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
supplied non-steckered machines to Franco's Nationalists
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
in the Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
. On 24 April 1937, Knox broke Franco's Enigma but knowledge of this breakthrough was not shared with the Republicans. Soon afterwards, Knox began to attack signals between Spain and Germany encrypted using steckered Enigma machines.
On the eve of the Second World War
=Polish-French-British meetings
=
GC&CS began to discuss Enigma with France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
's Deuxième Bureau
The Deuxième Bureau de l'État-major général ("Second Bureau of the General Staff") was France's external military intelligence agency from 1871 to 1940. It was dissolved together with the Third Republic upon the armistice with Germany. Howeve ...
in 1938, obtaining from the Bureau details of Wehrmacht Enigma supplied by Asché and signal intercepts, some of which must have been made in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...
. This led the French to disclose their links with Polish cryptographers
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
. Knox, Hugh Foss
Hugh Rose Foss (13 May 1902 – 23 December 1971) was a British cryptanalyst. At Bletchley Park during World War II he made significant contributions both to the breaking of the German Enigma code and headed the section tasked with breaking Japan ...
and Alastair Denniston
Commander Alexander "Alastair" Guthrie Denniston (1 December 1881 – 1 January 1961) was a Scottish codebreaker in Room 40, deputy head of the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) and hockey player. Denniston was appointed operational he ...
represented GC&CS
Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Un ...
at the first Polish-French-British meeting at Paris in January 1939. The Poles were under order to disclose nothing of importance at this time, leaving the British codebreakers disappointed. However Knox's description of his system of rodding impressed the Polish codebreakers, and they requested his presence at a second meeting.
Knox attended the second Polish-French-British conference, held on 25–26 July 1939 at the Polish Cipher Bureau facility (at Pyry, south of Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
, Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
). Here, the Poles began to disclose to their French and British allies their achievements in solving Enigma
Enigma may refer to:
*Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling
Biology
*ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain
Computing and technology
* Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup
* Enigma machine, a family ...
decryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can deci ...
.
Although Marian Rejewski, the Polish cryptographer
Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...
and mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
who solved the plugboard-equipped Enigma
Enigma may refer to:
*Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling
Biology
*ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain
Computing and technology
* Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup
* Enigma machine, a family ...
used by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, approached the problem through permutation theory (whereas Knox applied linguistics
Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...
), a good personal relationship was quickly established at the conference. The good impression made by Rejewski on Knox played an important role in increasing recruitment of mathematicians to Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...
. Knox was chagrined — but grateful — to learn how simple was the solution of the Enigma's entry ring (standard alphabetical order
Alphabetical order is a system whereby character strings are placed in order based on the position of the characters in the conventional ordering of an alphabet. It is one of the methods of collation. In mathematics, a lexicographical order is t ...
).
After the meeting, he sent the Polish cryptologists a very gracious note in Polish, on official British government stationery, thanking them for their assistance and sending "sincere thanks for your cooperation and patience". Enclosed were a beautiful scarf featuring a picture of a Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
winner and a set of paper 'batons'.
These 'batons' were known as rods to the British and had been used to solve the Spanish Enigma. Knox's rodding method was later used to break the Italian Naval Enigma.
=Turing's bombe
=
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical co ...
worked on Enigma during the months leading to the outbreak of the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
in September 1939, and occasionally visited GC&CS's London HQ to discuss this problem with Knox.
In the 1939 register
The National Registration Act 1939 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. The initial National Registration Bill was introduced to Parliament as an emergency measure at the start of the Second World War.
The Act provided for the estab ...
Turing was recorded in Naphill
Naphill is a village in the parish of Hughenden Valley, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is north-west of Hughenden, on the ridge of one of the Chiltern Hills, and is adjacent to the village of Walter's Ash.
The origin of its name is obscure. It ...
, staying with Knox and his wife.
By November 1939 Turing had completed the design of the bombe
The bombe () was an electro-mechanical device used by British cryptologists to help decipher German Enigma-machine-encrypted secret messages during World War II. The US Navy and US Army later produced their own machines to the same functi ...
— a radical improvement of the Polish bomba.
Second World War
Knox's rodding method
To break non-steckered Enigma machines (those without a plugboard), Knox (building on earlier research by Hugh Foss
Hugh Rose Foss (13 May 1902 – 23 December 1971) was a British cryptanalyst. At Bletchley Park during World War II he made significant contributions both to the breaking of the German Enigma code and headed the section tasked with breaking Japan ...
) developed a system known as 'rodding', a linguistic as opposed to mathematical way of breaking codes. This technique worked on the Enigma used by the Italian Navy and the German Abwehr. Knox worked in 'the Cottage', next door to the Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...
mansion, as head of a research section, which contributed significantly to cryptanalysis of the Enigma
Cryptanalysis of the Enigma ciphering system enabled the western Allies in World War II to read substantial amounts of Morse-coded radio communications of the Axis powers that had been enciphered using Enigma machines. This yielded military in ...
.
Knox's team at ''The Cottage'' used rodding to decrypt intercepted Italian naval signals describing the sailing of an Italian battle fleet, leading to the Battle of Cape Matapan
The Battle of Cape Matapan ( el, Ναυμαχία του Ταινάρου) was a naval battle during the Second World War between the Allies, represented by the navies of the United Kingdom and Australia, and the Royal Italian navy, from 27 t ...
in March 1941. Admiral John Godfrey, Director of Naval Intelligence credited the Allied victory at Matapan to this intelligence; Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, who had commanded the victorious fleet at Matapan, went to Bletchley to personally congratulate 'Dilly and his girls'.
Intelligence Services Knox
In October 1941, Knox solved the Abwehr Enigma. Intelligence Services Knox (ISK) was established to decrypt Abwehr communications. In early 1942, with Knox seriously ill, Peter Twinn
Peter Frank George Twinn (9 January 1916 – 29 October 2004Dan van der Vat, "Obituary: Peter Twinn", ''The Guardian'', 20 November 2004) was a British mathematician, Second World War Cryptanalysis, codebreaker and entomologist. The first prof ...
took charge of running ISK and was appointed head after Knox's death. By the end of the war, ISK had decrypted and disseminated 140,800 messages.
Intelligence gained from these Abwehr decrypts played an important part in ensuring the success of Double-Cross operations by MI5 and MI6, and in Operation Fortitude
Operation Fortitude was the code name for a World War II military deception employed by the Allied nations as part of an overall deception strategy (code named ''Bodyguard'') during the build-up to the 1944 Normandy landings. Fortitude was di ...
, the Allied campaign to deceive the Germans about D-Day.
Death
Knox's work was cut short when he fell ill with lymphoma
Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enla ...
. When he became unable to travel to Bletchley Park, he continued his cryptographic work from his home in Hughenden, Buckinghamshire, where he received the CMG. He died on 27 February 1943. A biography of Knox, written by Mavis Batey
Mavis Lilian Batey, MBE (née Lever; 5 May 1921 – 12 November 2013), was a British code-breaker during World War II. She was one of the leading female codebreakers at Bletchley Park.
She later became a historian of gardening who campaign ...
, one of 'Dilly's girls', the female codebreakers who worked with him, was published in September 2009.
Classified poetry
Knox celebrated the victory at Battle of Cape Matapan
The Battle of Cape Matapan ( el, Ναυμαχία του Ταινάρου) was a naval battle during the Second World War between the Allies, represented by the navies of the United Kingdom and Australia, and the Royal Italian navy, from 27 t ...
with poetry, which remained classified until 1978.
References
Notes
Citations
Works cited
* (Updated and extended version of ''Action This Day: From Breaking of the Enigma Code to the Birth of the Modern Computer'' Bantam Press 2001)
*
*
*
* (Updated and extended version of ''Action This Day: From Breaking of the Enigma Code to the Birth of the Modern Computer'' Bantam Press 2001)
*
*
* (Updated and extended version of ''Action This Day: From Breaking of the Enigma Code to the Birth of the Modern Computer'' Bantam Press 2001)
* (Updated and extended version of ''Action This Day: From Breaking of the Enigma Code to the Birth of the Modern Computer'' Bantam Press 2001)
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Description of rodding
at Frode Weierud’s CryptoCellar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knox, Dilly
1884 births
1943 deaths
Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
British cryptographers
Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
People educated at Eton College
People educated at Summer Fields School
British papyrologists
Pre-computer cryptographers
Bletchley Park people
Fellows of King's College, Cambridge
Deaths from lymphoma
Deaths from cancer in England
Foreign Office personnel of World War II
People from Headington