Stamp for Newmarket man Bill Tutte whose code breaking changed the course of wartime history

Nations wage wars, but it is individuals who fight them and a new stamp, issued to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day features one of those, a Newmarket man whose code breaking work was said by Winston Churchill to have shortened World War Two by at least two years.

Bill Tutte, who was born at Fitzroy House in Black Bear Lane, is one of nine people featured on the Royal Mail stamps honouring the courage and dedication of individuals whose actions saved lives, changed history and shaped Britain’s war effort.

The former Cheveley primary school pupil was one of Churchill’s secret army working at Bletchley Park where he cracked the Lorenz cipher, a code more complex than Enigma and used by Hitler to communicate with his top generals, without having ever seen the machine it was sent on. He had only snippets of messages sent using the machines and intercepted by the British to work on.

Working with post office engineer Tommy Flowers together they built the world’s first electronic computer, Colossus and their work enabled allied military commanders to know enough about Hitler’s plans to ensure the success of the allied invasion of Normandy in 1944 which turned the tide of the war.

Bill’s work remained secret until two years before his death in 2002 probably because the Lorenz code was still being used by the Russians into the Cold War and it suited allied intelligence for them to believe the code had remained impregnable.

Thanks to a campaign launched in the Newmarket Journal back in 2011, Bill has already been honoured in his home town with a commemorative sculpture called The Codebreaker which was unveiled on Rutland Hill in 2014.

Members of the Bill Tutte Memorial working group also set up a scholarship scheme in Bill’s name which awards funds to qualifying Newmarket students who are studying maths or computer science at university.

“Behind every victory of a nation, there are countless unsung heroes whose courage and sacrifice shaped the future of the world,” said Emma Gilthorpe, chief executive of Royal Mail.

“On VE Day, we remember not only the leaders and generals, but the silent warriors whose contributions echo through history. Royal Mail is proud to issue these stamps honouring the courage, sacrifice, and resilience of those who fought for freedom and peace.”

Journal content editor Alison Hayes, who is chairman of the Bill Tutte Memorial Fund, which continues to raise money to support its scholarship scheme, said: “I and my fellow and former trustees are delighted at this further recognition of Bill’s incredible wartime achievement.

“He was a true hero. His weapon was not a gun or grenade but his genius and he used that at Bletchley Park to break a hugely complex code which contributed to the shortening of the war and the saving of countless numbers of lives.

“Although after the war Bill spent much of his life in Canada, he made regular trips back to Newmarket and when his wife died in 1994, he returned for four years living quietly with his late niece, Jeanne, in Manderston Road and spending his days enjoying the peace and solitude of the Heath which he loved.”