Helene Aldwinckle

Helene Aldwinckle (née Helene Lovie Taylor) (26 October 192024 April 2020), was a Bletchley Park codebreaker during the Second World War.

Early life and family Helene Lovie Taylor was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1920, to Alexander and Helen Taylor (née Trail). Her father was a salesman. She grew up in Footdee, and attended Ashley Road Primary School then Aberdeen Academy, and eventually won a scholarship to study French and English at the University of Aberdeen. She was recommended by Aberdeen University Principal William Hamilton Fyfe to the Foreign Office, in part because of her extraordinary memory and interest in languages. During the first round of interviews, Aldwinckle was not aware of what she was being interviewed for, believing it to be a general civil service role.