Tributes to Eastbourne Wren who helped decipher Nazi war codes

Nancy Hookham, who was born in Eastbourne and lived in the town all of her life, passed away on March 5 at the age of 94.

Married in 1947 to Howard Hookham, Nancy, who attended the High School, had three sons, five grandchildren and three great grand-daughters.

Her son Chris said, “Mum was always a positive, outgoing, caring person giving talks about her life and wartime life in Eastbourne to local schools.

“She danced with EODS in productions, worked at the Town Hall producing identity cards, was heavily involved with the Eastbourne Art Association, loved gardening and was a member of the Hampden Park and Eastbourne Horticultural Societies.

“She enjoyed holidays in Canada with her sister Marie and she also ‘ran’ the family business from the office for many years with my father, myself and my brothers.”

Nancy joined the Wrens in 1943 and was posted to Bletchley Park after signing the Official Secrets Act.

In an interview in Military History Monthly, Nancy said her job involved entering figures and doing mathematical work with the aid of a calculating machine to decode German messages.

She said, “If we identified high numbers it meant they were significant and we would alert the cryptographer who worked further on deciphering the code.

“We never saw the end result and never knew what the messages were but sometimes a special breakthrough would be shared with us and it made our contribution feel worthwhile.

“We couldn’t tell anyone what we were doing and we weren’t allowed into the mansion except to play table tennis at lunchtime.”

After the war Nancy returned to her previous job in the wages office at the local brewery.

Nancy’s funeral was due to take place on St Mary’s Church in Hampden Park this month but her family said that following the coronavirus outbreak, there will be a private family burial with a memorial service taking place later in the year.