Irene Jessie Brown
Born
Irene Jessie Young

16 February 1919
Died7 June 2017 (aged 98)
Edinburgh, Scotland
Known forBletchley Park codebreaker
Spouses
  • Leslie Cairns (m. 1943)
  • Reginald Brown (m. 1948)
ChildrenIain Gordon Brown

Irene Jessie "Mouse" Brown (née Young; 16 February 1919 – 7 June 2017) was an author and codebreaker who worked at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire in Hut 6[1] during the Second World War. She was employed as a linguist and translator working in the Registration Room and the main Decoding Room.[2]

Early life

Irene Young grew up and attended school in Edinburgh (St. Margaret's Convent School, Canaan Park School and Esdaile College).[3] She was interested in French, English literature and Latin. At University of Edinburgh she read English Language and Literature.[1]

Bletchley Park

She began working at Bletchley Park in the Government Code and Cypher School in 1942.[1] Brown wrote a book (in her maiden name) about her time at Bletchley, Enigma Variations: a Memoir of Love and War.[4] Published in 1990, it was one of the first books to describe what life was like at Bletchley. Women formed roughly 75% of the workforce at Bletchley Park.[5] The book tells of her time in Hut 6, everyday life at “Station X”, her wartime experiences in general and the tragic death of her first husband (Leslie Cairn).[6][7] Irene and Leslie both worked in confidential roles. He in the Special Air Service (SAS), she as a codebreaker.[8] Neither could tell the other much about what they were doing. In 1944, he became missing in action in occupied France.[6]

Later life

She married Reginald Sydney Brown in 1948. They returned to Edinburgh and she worked in a departmental library at Edinburgh University. Her papers and correspondence are held there.[3] She lived much of her life in Edinburgh and died in 2017 at the age of 98.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Obituary - Irene Brown, Bletchley Park veteran". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  2. ↑ Smith, C. (26 August 2015). The Hidden History of Bletchley Park: A Social and Organisational History, 1939–1945. Springer. ISBN 9781137484932.
  3. 1 2 "Papers of Irene J. Young, Special Collections". University of Edinburgh Archive and Manuscript Collections. University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  4. ↑ Young, Irene (1990). Enigma variations : a memoir of love and war. Edinburgh: Mainstream. ISBN 1851582940. OCLC 20995363.
  5. ↑ "Women Codebreakers". Bletchley Park Research. 3 October 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Obituary: Irene 'Mouse' Brown, linguist, poet and author of a pioneering memoir on Bletchley Park". www.scotsman.com. 15 June 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  7. ↑ "Obituary: Irene Brown". The Times. 18 July 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  8. ↑ "What happened to the women of Bletchley Park?". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  9. ↑ "Irene Jessie "Mouse" (Young) BROWN's Obituary on The Scotsman". The Scotsman. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
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