John Croft, a codebreaker who lived to be 103 years old, spent much of his career in signals intelligence work. He was recruited while still an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1942 after being approached by his tutor about intelligence work. Following an interview with Col John Tiltman, Bletchley Park’s chief codebreaker, Croft underwent training in code-breaking techniques.
At Bletchley Park, Croft worked in the Testery, the section responsible for breaking German Lorenz enciphered teleprinter messages. These ciphers, codenamed Fish, carried high-level military communications including personal orders from Adolf Hitler to his generals. Croft and his colleagues broke the daily cipher settings, with the final decryption of messages completed using early computing machines at the Newmanry, which culminated in the development of the Colossus computer. Croft later transferred to a diplomatic section in London that focused on reading Soviet communications directed to communist parties across Europe.
After the war, Croft completed his degree at Oxford and attempted to join GCHQ, but was rejected despite appealing to Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin. He subsequently earned a master’s degree in sociology from LSE in 1953 and built a civil service career at the Home Office, eventually becoming head of the Home Office Research Unit before retiring in 1981. He was appointed CBE the following year.
Beyond his professional work, Croft was an accomplished abstract painter whose minimalist works were exhibited at university galleries and praised by critics. He lived later in life in the Isle of Man and Bath before his death in July 2026.
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