Irene Dixon - Wren operator of Colossus Mk 1 - 1924–2021

Irene Dixon (nee Griffiths), one of the very first operators of Colossus and a tremendous supporter of the work of TNMOC, died aged 96 on New Year’s Day 2021.

Irene, who grew up in the East End of London, might never have come to Bletchley had it not been for a chicken pox infection which stopped her being sent to work in a munitions factory in Birmingham. Someone must have spotted her talent and, when she had recovered, she was given state-of-the-art psychometric tests at Mill Hill in North London. Soon she became a Wren and found herself transported from her East Ham terrace house with an outside toilet and tiny garden to a naval ‘cabin’ on the HMS Pembroke in the stately home of Woburn Abbey.

From there, she would journey to Bletchley Park where she worked in the newly established Newmanry, established to automate codebreaking. There she came to know and converse with some of the great names of the day: Max Newman, Jack Good, Donald Michie, Shaun Wylie who supervised her work – and her great favourite and fellow East Ender Tommy Flowers. In the past few years on her regular visits to TNMOC, she would vividly recall her encounters with and admiration for those men. She took delight in telling of her clandestine glimpse enabled by one of the great codebreakers at the behind-the-scenes activity, normally out of sight to all but the codebreakers themselves. And she still treasured a personal note from Max Newman which put her in charge of her section.

For decades, of course, she had to remain silent about her work. Immediately after the war, she was posted to the Meteorological Office in Scotland and later held a management post in marketing in Unilever before leaving to start a family with her beloved husband Sid. We don’t know when she told Sid about her work at Bletchley and of its importance in revealing D-Day enemy intelligence, but Sid had good reason to be grateful to her work at Bletchley because he was he was a soldier in the 9th Survey Regiment which landed on Juno Beach during the Normandy Landings.

Irene made her first return visit to Bletchley Park in the mid-1990s and saw Colossus being reconstructed by the late Tony Sale. She was thrilled by that work to recognise at long last the achievements of her colleagues.

Then in 2014, at a TNMOC celebration of the 70th anniversary of Colossus attacking its first Lorenz-encrypted message, she made the first of many regular visits to the museum and met her long-lost Bletchley friend Wren Betty O’Connell. From then on, they were in almost daily email contact rekindling memories and delighting in their renewed friendship. They would reminisce about using the very first Colossus, Colossus Mark I, and Irene would tell of her experiences of using the forerunner of Colossus, the Heath Robinson machine.

Betty O’Connell recalls, “Together we stood at the entrance to Woburn Abbey, together we shared the same ‘cabin’ and together we worked on Colossus Mk I. In 2014 we met again and a seed that was planted over 70 years ago resulted in a renewed friendship and four years of exciting occasions with TNMOC. With Irene’s passing, a light has gone out.”

Irene was determined that the codebreaker’s achievements should be recognised more widely and even in her 90s was lobbying her MP to have the site of Tommy Flowers’ East End house recognised. She eagerly and entertainingly responded to requests from journalists, especially relishing her chance to extol the virtues of Colossus creator Tommy Flowers on her appearance on BBC television news.

Irene’s impact on the Museum was enormous. Andy Clark, previous TNMOC chair and now trustee, said, “Irene’s energy was extraordinary. She cared deeply about the people with whom she had worked and was proud of all their achievements. Her anecdotes vividly brought to life what it was like working eight-hour shifts in a top-secret environment realising that the work was of great importance without quite understanding how important. She highlighted the contributions of so many whose names were not so widely known. With a twinkle in her eye, she fired our imaginations and enriched our knowledge so much that now we can share that first-hand knowledge with our visitors about what life was like for a Wren at Bletchley.”

Current TNMOC chair Andrew Herbert, who also came to know Irene well, said, “I have happy memories of talking to Irene at some of our events celebrating the history of Colossus and the other machines she used when she was at Bletchley Park during the war. We will miss her sparkling anecdotes and infectious sense of humour. Hers was an incredible generation and it is so sad to be losing them. But they will be remembered for the better world they fought to secure for us, their children and grandchildren.”

In her final years, Irene was the uncomplaining, diligent full-time carer for her husband Sid until he died in 2020. The couple’s impact in their East End community, especially through their church, is hard to overestimate.

Irene’s personality and humour charmed everyone. As she told journalist, Nick Heath, “"If I'd known that I'd been working on messages from Hitler's high command I would have found it very difficult not to have told my parents. In fact, I'm glad my father didn't know, he would have probably told people I won the war."

Irene is survived by a daughter, son and three grandsons.