Royal Navy Research Archive Forums

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: DestinationUnknown on 09 November 2020 10:52:52 am

Title: Searching for information on someone who worked at the Admiralty Citadel
Post by: DestinationUnknown on 09 November 2020 10:52:52 am
Perhaps you can point me in the right direction - apologies if this is not the correct forum to post in, but I was not sure what this would come under!

My late mother worked at the Admiralty Citadel building during WW2. Her name was Amelia Sangster. She would not say much about what she did apart from the fact that it was well underground, secret and she used a machine "like a teleprinter but with a different keyboard". She wore no uniform and had no official rank. I want to find out what she did. I cannot find any records through 'normal' search avenues, and having contacted the RN Archives, I was told to try this forum. My mother has since passed away, and took her signing the official secrets act very seriously when she was alive, so would not tell us anything.

If anyone could help me/knows where I should look for information I would be very grateful. Thank you.
Title: Re: Searching for information on someone who worked at the Admiralty Citadel
Post by: PhiloNauticus on 09 November 2020 03:33:20 pm

Sounds like your mother was in the Civil Service ?  Otherwise she would have been in uniform.

Either as a teleprinter operator or perhaps as a Cipher Clerk.    See this link :


http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/29/a5760029.shtml

and the cipher machine in use then was the Typex:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typex