Irene 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 during the Second World War. She was employed as a linguist and translator working in the Registration Room and the main Decoding Room.

Early life Irene Young grew up and attended school in Edinburgh (St. Margaret's Convent School, Canaan Park School and Esdaile College). She was interested in French, English literature and Latin. At University of Edinburgh she read English Language and Literature. 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. 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). Irene and Leslie both worked in confidential roles. He in the Special Air Service (SAS), she as a codebreaker. Neither could tell the other much about what they were doing. In 1944, he became missing in action in occupied France.