[ Hugh Foss, Bletchley Park codebreaker ] Draft Autograph Letter UNSIGNED with substantial corrections, all in Foss's hand, to a "Miss Kaye" thanking her fopr a "pleasant evening's dancing".

Author: 
Hugh Foss [ Hugh Rose Foss ] (1902-1971), British cryptanalyst, a Bletchley Park codebreaker [Japanese; Chelsea Reel Club (for Scottish country dancing); German Enigma Code; Japanese Naval Codes ]
Publication details: 
No place or date. Written on notepaper with printed heading "Hon. Secretary, London Fencing Club."
£90.00
SKU: 20126

Foss was a distinguished cryptanalyst, and his career is described in his entry in the Oxford DNB. At Bletchley Park during the Second World War he was the first person to decode a day's worth of the German Enigma Code (in 1940); and heading the Japanese Naval Section in Hut 7 (between 1942 and 1943). His wife Alison (née Graham, 1908-1979) inspired his interest in Scottish country dancing in the early 1930s. He was Vice-President of the Chelsea Reel Club on its formation in 1935; and became Chairman in 1938. While at Bletchley he taught a regular class on the subject, and until his death composed many Scottish country dances. Two pages, 12mo, good condition, beginning "In the bustle of the [elided] I am afraid I have neglected to write and thank you for the very pleasant evening's dancing on MOnday 17th [...] | We have now atarted our hilday so I have time to write letters. | [Minor corrections to following passage] At the Reel Club Guarantor's Meeting we chose a list of dates provisionally [...] I have not yet heard from the Hall of Remembrance. [Sentence added] The guarantors expressed the hope that you would continue to play for us next season [...] | We also hope to have practise dances on the following Tuesdays before Christmas [...] | We want next season to have a fiddler to keep you company [paragraph elided; letter unfinished]"