Nigel de Grey

Nigel Arthur de Grey (27 March 1886 – 25 May 1951) was a British codebreaker.

De Grey joined the British Room 40 codebreaking section in early 1915, from the publishing firm of William Heinemann. De Grey, together with Reverend William Montgomery, decrypted the Zimmermann Telegram on 17 January 1917. The Zimmermann Telegram was from the German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann to the German ambassador Heinrich von Eckardt in Mexico, and led in part to the US entering World War I.

In World War II, Nigel de Grey was assigned to Bletchley Park. After World War II, he remained with GC&CS, which was renamed GCHQ, eventually becoming a deputy director. He retired in 1951.

References

• Nigel West, "Grey, Nigel Arthur de (1886-1951)" in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography