Tributeb to Bletchleyl hl Park veteran
AVETERAN of Bletchley Park has died aged 99. Elizabeth Johnston had just three months before her 100th birthday when she passed away in her sleep on November 4.
The war heroine was residing at Newlands Care Home in Stow-on-theWold at the time of her passing. Elizabeth was one of the few surviving veterans of Bletchley Park, the top secret home of the World War Two codebreakers, which was the forerunner of GCHQ. Recruited to Bletchley Park in 1942 straight from Glasgow University where she read modern languages, she joined as part of the Foreign Office drive to recruit civilian graduates with German language skills. She remained at Bletchley Park until the end of the war. She never spoke about her time there until she was asked to give a talk at her local church in 2014, having faithfully abided by the Official Secrets Act that she had signed when she arrived at Bletchley Park aged 22.
She was posted initially in Hut 8, where intelligence was distributed, and then moved to Block F, the Air Section. She is said to have often saw Alan Turing riding around on his bicycle. Born as Elizabeth Alexandra Dewar on 4 February 1921 in Glasgow, Scotland, she was the daughter of a coalminer who rose through the ranks to become general manager of many of Scotland’s coalpits.
Her early life was blighted by tragedy when she lost her mother aged seven, after her mothers death she was brought up by her father.
Something her family said “was exceptional in those days”.
He family added said: “Her education was characterised by frequent changes of school as her father was posted to different regions around the country.
“Perhaps this all contributed to her remarkable resilience.”
After the war, Elizabeth joined ICI where she was a finance manager, preparing accounts for each division.
She gave up her career when she met and married Kerr Johnston, a senior executive with BP.
Her family said that this was a “happy marriage that lasted 50 years” until Kerr’s death in 1999.
Elizabeth and Kerr had two sons, Alistair and Leslie, who both live in Gloucestershire (Maugersbury and Upper Slaughter).
Their mother moved to Newlands of Stow in 2017, where she is said to have remained happily for three and a half years until her death.