January, 2015 - Joan Clarke - The Suffering Bastard

Joan Clarke - June 24, 1917 - September 4, 1996

Joan Clarke's ingenious work as a codebreaker for Britain during WW2 saved countless lives.  But while Bletchley Park hero Alan Turing - who was punished by a post-war society where homosexuality was illegal and died at 41 - has been treated more kindly by history, the same cannot yet be said for Clarke.  Joan was the only woman to work in the nerve center of the quest to crack German Enigma ciphers.  She ultimately rose to deputy head of Hut 8, and would be its longest-serving member.

In 1939, Clarke was recruited into the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS) by one of her supervisors at Cambridge, where she majored in mathematics - although she was prevented from receiving a full degree, which women were denied until 1948.  As was typical for "girls" at Bletchley, (and they were universally referred to as girls, not women) Clarke was initially assigned clerical work.  Within a few days, however, her abilities shone through, and an extra table was installed for her in the small room within Hut 8 occupied by Turing and a couple of others.

In order to be paid for her promotions, Clarke needed to be classed as a linguist, as Civil Service bureaucracy had no protocols in place for a senior female cryptanalyst.  She would later take great pleasure in filling in forms with the line:  "grade: linguist, languages: none."

The navy ciphers decoded by Clarke and her colleagues were much harder to break than other German messages, and largely related to U-boats that were hunting down Allied ships carrying troops and supplies from the US to Europe.  Her task was to break these ciphers in real time, one of the most high-pressure jobs at Bletchley.  The messages Clarke decoded would result in some military action being taken almost immediately.  U-boats would then either be sunk or circumnavigated, saving thousands of lives.

The Drink:

The Suffering Bastard

1 oz bourbon
1 oz gin
1 oz fresh lime juice
dash Angostura bitters
4 oz ginger ale

Drinkability:  3
Drunkability:  3/4
Taxic Diversity:  2
Accessibility:  3
Priority for Conservation:  3/4

Comments:  3/4 splits depending on how much you like ginger ale.

From "Forgotten Women" hosted by CZ