George Scovell

George Scovell

George Scovell (1774 – 1861) was a member of the quartermaster's staff of the British Army in Iberia during the Peninsular War.

He is most remembered for the crucial role he played in breaking the codes of the French forces during that war. A gifted linguist, he was put in charge of a motley crew of various nationalities recruited for their local knowledge and language skills and called the Army Guides. They developed a system for intercepting and deciphering French communiqués.

In the spring of 1811, the French began using a code based on a combination of 150 numbers known as the Army of Portugal Code. Scovell cracked the code within two days.

At the end of 1811, a new code called the Great Paris Code was sent to all French army officers. It was based on 1400 numbers and derived from a mid-eighteenth century diplomatic code which added meaningless figures to the end of letters. By December of 1812, when a letter from Joseph Bonaparte to Napoleon was intercepted, Scovell could decipher enough of it to read Joseph's explicit account of French operations and plans. The information gained proved vital to Wellington's victory over the French at Vittoria on June 21, 1813.

In later life, Scovell was knighted and became Lieutenant-Governor (1829-1837) and Governor (1837-1856) of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Scovell retired from the British Army as a general.

References

Page on Scovell at the National Archives (UK): [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/spies/ciphers/scovell/default.htm] .

The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes: The Story of George Scovell by Mark Urban, ISBN 0571205380.

The Story of Sandhurst by Hugh Thomas.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Scovell — may refer to: * Claire Scovell LaZebnik, an American author * Edith Joy Scovell (1907 1999), a British poet * Eduardo Lefebvre Scovell (1864 1918), a British artist * Florence Scovel Shinn (1871 1940), an artist turned spiritual teacher * George… …   Wikipedia

  • George Sutherland Fraser — (8 November 1915 3 January 1980) was a Scottish poet, literary critic and academic. He was born in Glasgow, later moving with his family to Aberdeen. He went to the University of St. Andrews.During World War II he served in the British Army in… …   Wikipedia

  • Mark Urban — Born Mark L. Urban 1961 Marylebone, London, United Kingdom Nationality British Education King s College School Alma mater …   Wikipedia

  • Pearl Harbor advance-knowledge debate — The Pearl Harbor advance knowledge debate is a dispute over what, if any, advance knowledge American officials had of Japan s December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.Ever since the Japanese attack there has been debate as to how and why the… …   Wikipedia

  • Duchess of Richmond's ball — Before Waterloo (1868), by Henry O Neil, depicting officers departing from the Duchess of Richmond s ball The Duchess of Richmond s ball was held in Brussels on 15 June 1815, the night before the Battle of Quatre Bras. The Duchess s husband… …   Wikipedia

  • Peninsular War — For the 1862 American Civil War campaign, see Peninsula Campaign. Peninsular War Part of the Napoleonic Wars …   Wikipedia

  • Book cipher — A book cipher is a cipher in which the key is some aspect of a book or other piece of text; books being common and widely available in modern times, users of book ciphers take the position that the details of the key is sufficiently well hidden… …   Wikipedia

  • Timeline of cryptography — Below is a timeline of notable events related to cryptography.BCE *3500s The Sumerians develop cuneiform writing and the Egyptians develop hieroglyphic writing. *1500s The Phoenicians develop an alphabet *600 500 Hebrew scholars make use of… …   Wikipedia

  • Книжный шифр — Не следует путать с Книжный шифр Энея. Книжный шифр  вид шифра, в котором каждый элемент открытого текста (каждая буква или слово) заменяется на указатель (например, номер страницы, строки и столбца) аналогичного элемента в дополнительном… …   Википедия

  • Сабрина - маленькая ведьма (список серии) — Это список эпизодов сериала Сабрина маленькая ведьма, американского ситкома дебютировшего на канале ABC в 1996. В России сериал транслируется на канале СТС. Сериал состоит из 7 сезонов, включающих в себя 163 эпизода. Сериал впервые вышел в эфир… …   Википедия

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”