Claribel[1] Spurling (1875 – 1941) was an English teacher, children’s writer, and cryptanalyst who worked as a codebreaker with MI1(b) during World War I and with the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS). She was the only person to pass an 'impossible' test designed by the head of MI1(b) to check the quality of applicants. In civilian life, she was a schoolteacher and a warden of university halls, and she co-wrote stories and drama for children with Beatrice Clay.

Early life

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She was born in 1875 to Reverend Frederick William Spurling, and grew up in Oxford. In 1907, when her father was appointed to Chester Cathedral, Claribel took a post as a history teacher at Green’s School, Chester, and was appointed headmistress of Birkenhead High School in 1916.[2][3]

During World War I, Claribel intended to travel to Canada, but could not obtain permits to do so.[2] In 1917, her brother, Captain Francis Spurling, was killed in action. Claribel joined the Women's Royal Naval Service that year.[4]

Cryptanalysis

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When MI1(b) expanded in 1917, its director, Malcolm Vivian Hay, devised an 'impossible' test to quality-check the applicants as the 'Cork Street Code Breakers' took on more personnel. Claribel Spurling was the only person to get a score of 100% on the test and to be taken on via that pathway.[5] She worked on French, German and Italian codes with MI(b). In January 1920, she joined GC&CS as a translator, where she also worked on Italian and Swedish. She was appointed a Junior Assistant there within a few months.[6]

Later life

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Later in 1920, Spurling worked as the warden of Ellis Lloyd Jones Hall. After working towards the establishment of an international club for university women, she became the first warden of Crosby Hall, home of the International Federation of University Women, in 1927.[2][7] She brought her love of drama to both roles, encouraging dramatic performances at social and ceremonial occasions.[8]

She wrote stories and drama for children, including collaborating with Beatrice Clay, whom she had taught with at Green’s School, on material based on myth and legend.[9][10][11][12]

She died in 1941.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Some sources, following an MI1(b) personnel list compiled by Paul Gannon, give her name as June Spurling (Norburn 2021:84).
  2. ^ a b c d Clay, B.E. (1941). "Claribel Spurling" (PDF). Have Mynde: 7.
  3. ^ The School World. Macmillan and Company. 1916. p. 18.
  4. ^ Chionna, Jackie Ui (2023-04-13). Queen of Codes: The Secret Life of Emily Anderson, Britain's Greatest Female Code Breaker. Headline. ISBN 978-1-4722-9548-4.
  5. ^ Fara, Patricia (2018-01-05). A Lab of One's Own: Science and Suffrage in the First World War. Oxford University Press. p. 191. ISBN 978-0-19-251416-5.
  6. ^ Norburn, Bryony, The Role of Female Cryptanalysts from 1914 to 1946 (PhD thesis, 2021), p. 209.
  7. ^ "Association Notes" (PDF). Have Mynde: 41. 1927.
  8. ^ Tylecote, Mabel (1941). The Education of Women at Manchester Univesity 1883 to 1933. Manchester University Press. p. 133.
  9. ^ Clay, Beatrice; Spurling, Claribel (1911). Frithjof and Ingebjorg: A Tale of the Northland. Phillipson & Golder.
  10. ^ Richmond, Velma Bourgeois (2023-08-25). Nordic Sagas as Children's Literature: Victorian and Edwardian Retellings in Words and Pictures. McFarland. pp. 312, 334. ISBN 978-1-4766-4978-8.
  11. ^ SPURLING (Claribel)), Beatrice Elizabeth CLAY (and (1921). The Magic Mirror.
  12. ^ Clay, Beatrice Elizabeth; Spurling, Claribel (1913). A Holiday Engagement. Hodder and Stoughton.
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