Catalogue description Government Code and Cypher School: Sigint Board and Related Committees and Sub-Committees: Minutes, Papers and Correspondence

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Details of HW 42
Reference: HW 42
Title: Government Code and Cypher School: Sigint Board and Related Committees and Sub-Committees: Minutes, Papers and Correspondence
Description:

This series consists of the minutes, papers and correspondence of the Signals Intelligence Board and its predecessor, the Cryptography and Interception Committee, and of all their respective committees and sub-committees.
Date: 1924-1945
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Government Code and Cypher School, Cryptography and Interception Committee, 1924-1943

Government Code and Cypher School, India Y Board, 1942-1945

Government Code and Cypher School, Signal Intelligence Board, 1943-1946
Physical description: 31 file(s)
Access conditions: Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated
Immediate source of acquisition:

From 2002 Government Communications Headquarters
Accumulation dates: File series ran from 1924 to 1946
Selection and destruction information: All surviving records of the Y and Sigint Boards and their respective committees and sub-committees have been selected for permanent preservation as showing the central direction of the pre-war and World War II signals intelligence effort. Selected under section 2.2.1.3 (external relations and defence) of the PRO acquisition policy.
Accruals: Series is accruing
Administrative / biographical background:

The Cryptography and Interception Committee of the Government Code and Cypher School (more commonly referred to as the Y Board) was established in 1924 at the request of the armed forces to prioritise the work of the School, and guide its operations. The Board itself met relatively infrequently, and conducted its business through a number of committees and sub-committees, dealing with particular technical subjects or with work in specified geographical locations. The Y Board was replaced in October 1943 by the Signal Intelligence Board (SIB or, more commonly, the Sigint Board).

A separate India Y Board operated between 1942 and 1945, exercising similar functions in respect of setting service priorities for signals intelligence work in the sub-continent. There were also Y Boards and Committees for the Middle East, for Gibraltar and for North Africa. A Y Committee for West Africa was proposed but never established

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