Joyce Ethel Aylard ( Baker, 1925 – 16 October 2022) was a British

codebreaker Cryptanalysis (from the Greek ''kryptós'', "hidden", and ''analýein'', "to analyze") refers to the process of analyzing information systems in order to understand hidden aspects of the systems. Cryptanalysis is used to breach cryptographic se ...

at Eastcote, an outstation of

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 following ...

, during

World War II 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 opposin ...

. Aylard was born in 1925, and grew up in

Canning Town Canning Town is a district in the London Borough of Newham, East London. The district is located to the north of the Royal Victoria Dock, and has been described as the "Child of the Victoria Docks" as the timing and nature of its urbanisation ...

and Ilford. She was evacuated from London to

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

and later

Blaengarw Blaengarw is the uppermost village in the river valley (Cwm Garw) of the River Garw, in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales. In the English language Blaengarw means the rugged 'front' or 'head' of the valley. The population of Blaengarw ward ...

, Wales, during Operation Pied Piper in 1939–1940. She joined the

Women's Royal Naval Service The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) was the women's branch of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. First formed in 1917 for the First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in 1939 at the ...

whose members were known as Wrens, in 1943, and was assigned to work at Eastcote. At Eastcote, Aylard was one of operators of the Bombe cryptography machine, designed by codebreaker

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 com ...

. Her role was to work during one of three shifts of operators (many women) who systematically tested different combinations to attempt to break the code used in the

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 ...

. The machines were loud, and may have led to

hearing loss Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to Hearing, hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to Language ...

in one of her ears. According to the Guardian, the Wrens had a big impact.

When a code was broken, someone senior would come into the room and shout 'job up' ... So you’d stop and try another code. When successful, their codebreaking efforts could have a monumental impact on the war effort. The decoding of one message led to the location of the Scharnhorst, one of Germany’s most famous battleships, being revealed. Allied forces were then able to attack and defeat the ship in the Battle of the North Cape, off Norway.

At the

end of World War II in Europe The final battle of the European Theatre of World War II continued after the definitive overall surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allies, signed by Field marshal Wilhelm Keitel on 8 May 1945 in Karlshorst, Berlin. After German dictator Adolf H ...

, she was reassigned to continue her code-breaking work on Japanese encrypted messages. After the war, she studied at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

and became an economics teacher at Queen Elizabeth's Girls School, Barnet. Aylard was the mother of Royal Navy officer Richard Aylard, the former Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales. She was honoured with two medals for her war work. Aylard died on 16 October 2022, at the age of 97.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aylard, Joyce 1925 births 2022 deaths Bletchley Park people Bletchley Park women British women computer scientists Alumni of the London School of Economics Women's Royal Naval Service ratings Women's Royal Naval Service personnel of World War II