Margaret Rock
Margaret Alice Rock (7 July 1903 – 26 August 1983) was one of the 8000 women mathematicians who worked in Bletchley Park during World War II. With her maths skills and education, Rock was able to decode the Enigma Machine against the German Army. Her work during the war was classified by the Official Secrets Act 1939, so much of her work was not revealed during her lifetime. Early life Rock was born and raised in Hammersmith, London to parents of Frank Ernest Rock and Alice Margaret Simmonds. Rock attended Edmonton elementary and North Middlesex School. Rock's father served in the Royal Navy as a surgeon between 1894 and 1896 while her mother took care of her and her brother. Frank Rock would send letters to his children frequently, to stay in communication in 1914, just before World War I. In 1917, Margaret, her mother and brother settled in Portsmouth, London, after moving frequently for three years. Rock attended Portsmouth High School, an all female private boarding school. Her father died when HMS Laurentic sank off the coast of Ireland having struck two mines laid by a German U-boat. Rock was encouraged by the letters her late father wrote to