Northlander Lady Ellen Elizabeth Reed, was a World War II code-cracker who held a senior role at the famous Bletchley Park military intelligence centre.
A Northland woman who played a crucial wartime role in cracking German secrets has died at the age of 104.
Lady Ellen Elizabeth Reed died at her home in Paihia on August 30 after an extraordinary life which included deciphering Nazi secret codes and living for decades in Nigeria.
Lady Elizabeth, as she was usually known, was part of the famous Bletchley Park code cracking team which broke the Germans’ Enigma code during World War II.
Their success, which built on the work of earlier Polish code crackers, allowed Britain to eavesdrop on secret Nazi communications and helped swing the war in the Allies’ favour.
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