Patricia Davies (codebreaker) facts for kids

Patricia Davies (born 19 June 1923) is an English former codebreaker. She worked as a special linguist in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRENS) during World War II. Her job was to listen to secret radio messages. She and her younger sister, Jean Argles, were known as "The Codebreaking Sisters." As a teenager, Patricia listened to German and coded radio messages. She wrote them down and decoded them. Then, she sent these important messages to Bletchley Park, a top-secret British codebreaking center.

After the war, Patricia Davies became a television producer, journalist, and author. She also helped organize the Chiswick Women’s Institute. Until her sister Jean passed away in 2023, they were the last people who had to sign the Official Secrets Act for their wartime work. This meant they could not talk about their secret jobs. Later in life, they found out they had both done top-secret war work. When they were in their nineties, they often shared their wartime stories on radio and television. Their book, Codebreaking Sisters: Our Secret War, became a best seller.

Patricia's Early Life

Patricia Owtram was born on June 19, 1923. Her parents were Dorothy and Carey Owtram. She had two siblings, Jean and Robert. Her father owned a cotton mill in Bolton, Lancashire. Their family was very interested in the military.

Patricia was homeschooled for a while, then went to boarding school. She left school at 17. In the 1930s, her family hired Lilly Getzel, a Jewish refugee from Austria. Lilly had escaped the Nazi dictatorship. Patricia spent evenings with Lilly and learned to speak German. This skill helped her greatly when she joined the WRENS.

When World War II began, Patricia's mother became an Air Raid Precautions warden. Her father, Carey Owtram, went to the Far East with his army regiment in 1941. After the fall of Singapore in 1942, he was held in Japanese POW camps until the war ended.

Her Secret War Work

In 1942, when Patricia was 18, she joined the WRENS. A German language test showed she spoke German very well. Because of this, she signed the Official Secrets Act. This meant she could not tell anyone about her work. After two weeks of basic training, she became a Petty Officer.

Working at Y Stations

Patricia started working at British navy signal collection sites called Y stations. These stations were where secret German military messages were picked up. Workers would write down these messages. If they were in a special code, they were sent to Bletchley Park to be broken.

Patricia first worked in Yorkshire. In 1943, she moved to Lyme Regis as a Chief Petty Officer. Later, she went to Dover. At Y stations, WRENS worked in pairs, around the clock. They wrote down German military messages between ships. These messages were from places like the North Sea or the Dover Straits.

After the War

Later, Patricia worked for the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in London. She helped General Eisenhower by looking through German documents. Her job was to find possible war criminals. She was offered a job as a translator for the Nuremberg trials. However, her mother asked her to come home to be with her father. He had returned after being a prisoner of war.

After the war, Patricia worked as an assistant archivist at the British embassy in Oslo, Norway. She studied at St Andrews University and Somerville College, Oxford. She also had a study fellowship at Harvard.

A Career in Television

Patricia worked as a journalist in Manchester. She then became a television producer for the new Granada television. She helped create famous shows like Florizel Street (now known as Coronation Street). She also helped develop shows like University Challenge and The Sky at Night. She worked and traveled with Patrick Moore on The Sky at Night. Patricia retired in 1983.

In 2017, Patricia and her sister Jean published their father's wartime diaries. The book was called One thousand days on the River Kwai: The Secret Diary of a British Camp Commandant. This led to them giving talks and appearing on radio and TV. In 2020, Patricia Davies and Jean Argles published their own book, Codebreaking Sisters: Our Secret War. It was about their secret wartime experiences.

Awards and Recognition

Patricia Davies's service in the war was recognized with the Victory medal.

In 2009, the British government gave a Bletchley Badge to the women who worked at Bletchley Park. Patricia's name is on a brick at Bletchley Park. This brick honors those who helped with the codebreaking efforts.

In June 2019, Patricia received the Légion d'honneur. This is the highest award given by France. In 2019, she was also given the freedom of the Borough of Chiswick, where she lives. In 2024, she was made an Honorary Fellow of her old college, Somerville College, Oxford.

Patricia's Personal Life

During the war, Patricia and her sister Jean wrote letters to each other. Both had signed the Official Secrets Act. This meant they could not talk about their top-secret work. It was not until the 1960s and 1970s that they finally talked about their war work. They then discovered how similar their secret experiences had been. Their parents never knew about the top-secret work their daughters did.

Patricia Owtram married Ray Davies, who was a BBC journalist.

In 2023, Patricia was still giving talks to groups. She once joked, "It usually raises a laugh when I tell them that I may be the only old lady in Chiswick who knows how to use a Sten gun."

Her Legacy

Details about Patricia Davies's life and work are in several books. These include Army Girls (2021), The Bletchley Girls (2015), and Elizabeth and Philip (2022), all by Tessa Dunlop.

A portrait of Patricia and her sister holding a telegram from their father was painted by Dan Llywelyn Hall. There are also seven films about Patricia Davies in the Veterans Video Archive. On Armistice Day in 2022, when she was 99, Patricia joined an interview to talk about her wartime experiences.