{{Short description|British codebreaker and author (1923–2025)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox writer | name = Gwen Watkins | image = Gwen Watkins.jpg | imagesize = | caption = in 1942 | pseudonym = | birth_date = 31 December, 1923 | birth_place = | death_date = 14 January, 2025 | death_place = | occupation = | nationality = British | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = | debut_works = | influences = | influenced = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Gwendoline Mary Watkins''' (née '''Davies''', 31 December 1923 – 14 January 2025) was a British codebreaker and author.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Michael |date=5 February 2025 |title=Gwen Watkins obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/05/gwen-watkins-obituary |access-date=10 February 2025 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> During World War II, she worked at Bletchley Park de-coding traffic between German airfields.<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 January 2015 |title=Bletchley codebreaker Gwen Watkins on women's role |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wales-30708544 |access-date=10 February 2025 |work=BBC News |archive-date=13 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313203149/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wales-30708544 |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Biography== Gwendoline Mary Davies was born in West Bromwich to parents Alfred and Harriet. The family later moved to Bournemouth, where she attended Talbot Heath School.<ref name=":0"/>
While at Bletchley, she met the poet Vernon Watkins.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=[BOOK REVIEWS] Cracking the Luftwaffe Codes: The Secrets of Bletchley Park |journal=Intelligence and National Security |volume=22 |issue=6 |pages=932–946 |doi=10.1080/02684520701770717}}</ref> They married in 1944 at St Bartholomew-the-Great.<ref name=buk>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Code Breakers at Bletchley Park |url=http://www.hmdt.org.uk/hmdtmusic/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Code-Breakers-at-Bletchley-Parkv2.pdf |access-date=15 September 2023 |website=Hackney Music Development Trust (HMDT Music) |archive-date=18 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718013001/https://www.hmdt.org.uk/hmdtmusic/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Code-Breakers-at-Bletchley-Parkv2.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Dylan Thomas was supposed to be the best man at their wedding, but he failed to turn up.<ref name="W" />
They were both engaged in breaking the Luftwaffe AuKa tactical codes in Block F (A). Gwen was at first billeted at Stony Stratford but later moved to RAF Church Green at Bletchley.<ref name="W">{{Cite web |title=WATKINS, VERNON PHILLIPS (1906 - 1967), poet {{!}} Dictionary of Welsh Biography |url=https://biography.wales/article/s2-WATK-PHI-1906 |access-date=2026-01-01 |website=biography.wales |archive-date=3 December 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251203090615/https://biography.wales/article/s2-WATK-PHI-1906 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Bletchley girls: War, Secrecy, Love and Loss - the women of Bletchley Park tell their story |last=Dunlop |first=Tessa |date = 8 January 2015|author-link=Tessa Dunlop |isbn=9781444795738 |location=London|oclc=907942861}}</ref> They were both Flight Sergeants and were stationed at Bletchley from June 1942 until May 1945.
One of their grandchildren, Marley Watkins, is a professional footballer who has represented the Welsh national team.<ref>{{cite news |date=25 May 2017 |title=Ethan Ampadu: Exeter City youngster included in Wales squad |work=BBC Sport |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40041499 |access-date=14 July 2017 |archive-date=14 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191114120459/https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40041499 |url-status=live }}</ref>
She was the author of several books, including ''Dylan Thomas: Portrait of a Friend'' (1983), ''Dickens in Search of Himself'' (1987), and ''Cracking the Luftwaffe Codes: The Secrets of Bletchley Park'' (2006).<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Rees |first=Jasper |date=23 October 2014 |title=Gwen Watkins on Dylan Thomas {{!}} Interview |url=https://www.walesartsreview.org/gwen-watkins-on-dylan-thomas/ |access-date=10 February 2025 |work=Wales Arts Review}}</ref> == References == {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watkins, Gwen}} Category:1923 births Category:2025 deaths Category:Bletchley Park women Category:20th-century British women writers Category:21st-century British women writers Category:British women centenarians Category:People educated at Talbot Heath School Category:People from Bournemouth Category:People from West Bromwich Category:Writers from Bournemouth Category:Writers from the West Midlands (county)