Page, Denys Lionel, 1908-1978

Sir Denys Page. Elected Fellow of the British Academy 1952. President of the British Academy 1971-74.

Extract relating to military intelligence work:

Soon after his return to England [having got married in Rome not long before the outbreak of war in 1939], Page joined the department of the Foreign Office located at Bletchley Park which dealt with the branch of knowledge known as Ultra. He was assigned to the section which under the direction of Oliver Strachey dealt with the various hand ciphers used by our enemies, which came from divers sources. Page’s great ability, combined with his command of German, enabled him to take an important part in this work, so much so that when Strachey retired in 1942 Page was chosen to succeed him. At the end of the war Page headed a special command mission to Lord Mountbatten’s headquarters first at Kandy and later at Singapore, and did not return to Oxford until 1946.

(See: List of humanities scholars who worked in military intelligence in the Second World War)