Sir, – In “Invisibly famous: The brilliant Irish wartime codebreaker who worked at Britain’s Bletchley Park” (Books, May 6th), Rosita Boland asks, “Be honest. Until now, did you have a prior familiarity with the name Emily Anderson?”
I expect most people who have studied music in English-speaking countries are very familiar with her name, having been introduced to the daily lives of Beethoven and Mozart through her translations of their correspondence from German to English. As a student in the US in the 1960s, I was well aware of her legendary contributions in the world of music. Imagine my astonishment when, decades later, having settled in Galway, I discovered that the same Emily was in fact a Galway girl! Her life was clearly full of mysteries, but research by Rosaleen O’Neill published in 1999 revealed much about this remarkable woman. Inspired by that, Music for Galway immediately decided to establish an annual public concert in her name, and since 2001 many have listened to the music of Beethoven and Mozart with fresh ears, knowing of this connection. These concerts have hosted winners of the prize for young violinists instituted in her memory by the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1967; they have been broadcast on RTÉ Lyric FM and repeated at the National Concert Hall. To answer Rosita Boland’s question, I imagine quite a lot of people would join me in saying honestly, “Yes”! – Yours, etc,
JANE O’LEARY,
Galway.
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Sir, – Emily Anderson was one of many Irish people working within the British Foreign Office during the second World War, as Jackie Uí Chionna her biographer observes, but of the 13,500 who worked in signals intelligence at Bletchley Park only three are recorded on the Roll of Honour as coming from Ireland (Queen of Codes: the Secret Life of Emily Anderson, Britain’s Greatest Female Codebreaker, published by Headline).
My father, John James Doherty, attended Knockastolar National School, St Eunan’s College Letterkenny, and the University of Birmingham before spending the war at Bletchley Park as a cryptanalyst and linguist.
He may have been the only recruit from an Irish-speaking family.
While his German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Latin and Greek were fully utilised, my father never disclosed whether his knowledge of Irish helped in Hitler’s defeat. – Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
Gaoth Dobhair,
Co Dhún na nGall.