looking forward to it and reading snippets about things that were happening and thinking, gosh, this is going to be interesting, being in a port and big ships and all that kind of
excitement – that’s what I was looking forward to.’
The Women’s Royal Naval Service was initially set up during the First World War and disbanded when the war came to an end. But as the prospects of another war with Germany increased in
1938, the Wrens were re-formed, with advertisements for volunteers drawing in large numbers of women, including some who had served during the First World War and had persuaded their daughters to
join as well. Like the other women’s services, the WAAF and the ATS, the Wrens really took off after conscription for women was introduced in 1941.
There were three separate sites where all Wrens received their basic training: Mill Hill in north London, Wesley College at Headingley in Leeds, and Tullichewan Castle by Loch Lomond in
Scotland. There were only three weeks to train each ‘draft’ so the instructors concentrated on testing the girls’ ability to obey orders and making them feel that even though they
weren’t allowed to go to sea they were still part of the Royal Navy. As at Bletchley, everything had a naval term, based on the concept of being on a ship. The Wrens slept in
‘cabins’ on ‘bunks’ not beds. The floorwas the ‘deck’. The kitchen was the ‘galley’, the dining room the ‘mess’,
or for officers the ‘wardroom’. Time off was ‘shore leave’.
Morag was told to report to the railway station and only then to open her travel warrant to find out where she was going.
‘I was hoping it would be Portsmouth or Plymouth or somewhere, so to find that it said Bletchley was a terrible disappointment. We got off at the station and somebody met us. We went up a
little gravel path straight into Hut 11 and there were all these machines there and we were told what we were going to do, and it was quite obvious that there was no escape.’
The Bombes were built by the British Tabulating Machine Company (BTM). There were only four Bombes in Hut 11 when Morag arrived and up until that point they had been operated by BTM staff
co-opted into the RAF. But the codebreakers knew they would need many more and had ordered an initial batch of seventy. That would need around 700 people to run them and BTM didn’t have that
many men to spare. They needed them to build the machines, which is why Bletchley Park had been forced to call in the Wrens.
Initially, Morag and the other Wrens were allowed to wear civilian clothes to blend in with the rest of the staff at Bletchley, most of whom were civilians, a lot of them young academics or
former students who wore very casual clothes. So all the members of the armed forces who worked at Bletchley wore civilian clothes, whatever rank they were. Rank meant very little among the
codebreakers in any case. Everyone was treated on the basis of the jobregardless of whether they were an officer, a sergeant or just a basic airman, sailor or soldier. Then
an admiral came to visit Bletchley and wanted to know where all his Wrens were. When a number of young women in civilian clothes were pointed out to him, he blew his top. ‘It’s
disgraceful,’ he said. ‘My Wrens should be jumping up, hands down seams of skirts.’ He went back to London on a mission, determined to sort out the lax discipline at Bletchley,
and from then on everyone in the armed forces was forced to wear uniform to work.
The Bombes were proving their worth and more and more were needed, along with more and more Wrens to operate them. Dozens of Bombes were installed in country houses around Bletchley Park which
were specially requisitioned as bases for the machines themselves and as accommodation for the hundreds of Wrens who would be operating them. Some of these country mansions were very beautiful,
others were close to derelict. The first five, at Steeple Claydon, Walton
excitement – that’s what I was looking forward to.’
The Women’s Royal Naval Service was initially set up during the First World War and disbanded when the war came to an end. But as the prospects of another war with Germany increased in
1938, the Wrens were re-formed, with advertisements for volunteers drawing in large numbers of women, including some who had served during the First World War and had persuaded their daughters to
join as well. Like the other women’s services, the WAAF and the ATS, the Wrens really took off after conscription for women was introduced in 1941.
There were three separate sites where all Wrens received their basic training: Mill Hill in north London, Wesley College at Headingley in Leeds, and Tullichewan Castle by Loch Lomond in
Scotland. There were only three weeks to train each ‘draft’ so the instructors concentrated on testing the girls’ ability to obey orders and making them feel that even though they
weren’t allowed to go to sea they were still part of the Royal Navy. As at Bletchley, everything had a naval term, based on the concept of being on a ship. The Wrens slept in
‘cabins’ on ‘bunks’ not beds. The floorwas the ‘deck’. The kitchen was the ‘galley’, the dining room the ‘mess’,
or for officers the ‘wardroom’. Time off was ‘shore leave’.
Morag was told to report to the railway station and only then to open her travel warrant to find out where she was going.
‘I was hoping it would be Portsmouth or Plymouth or somewhere, so to find that it said Bletchley was a terrible disappointment. We got off at the station and somebody met us. We went up a
little gravel path straight into Hut 11 and there were all these machines there and we were told what we were going to do, and it was quite obvious that there was no escape.’
The Bombes were built by the British Tabulating Machine Company (BTM). There were only four Bombes in Hut 11 when Morag arrived and up until that point they had been operated by BTM staff
co-opted into the RAF. But the codebreakers knew they would need many more and had ordered an initial batch of seventy. That would need around 700 people to run them and BTM didn’t have that
many men to spare. They needed them to build the machines, which is why Bletchley Park had been forced to call in the Wrens.
Initially, Morag and the other Wrens were allowed to wear civilian clothes to blend in with the rest of the staff at Bletchley, most of whom were civilians, a lot of them young academics or
former students who wore very casual clothes. So all the members of the armed forces who worked at Bletchley wore civilian clothes, whatever rank they were. Rank meant very little among the
codebreakers in any case. Everyone was treated on the basis of the jobregardless of whether they were an officer, a sergeant or just a basic airman, sailor or soldier. Then
an admiral came to visit Bletchley and wanted to know where all his Wrens were. When a number of young women in civilian clothes were pointed out to him, he blew his top. ‘It’s
disgraceful,’ he said. ‘My Wrens should be jumping up, hands down seams of skirts.’ He went back to London on a mission, determined to sort out the lax discipline at Bletchley,
and from then on everyone in the armed forces was forced to wear uniform to work.
The Bombes were proving their worth and more and more were needed, along with more and more Wrens to operate them. Dozens of Bombes were installed in country houses around Bletchley Park which
were specially requisitioned as bases for the machines themselves and as accommodation for the hundreds of Wrens who would be operating them. Some of these country mansions were very beautiful,
others were close to derelict. The first five, at Steeple Claydon, Walton
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