*Two years ago I started researching a book about the British Censorship Department based in Bermuda during the Second World War. I have spent many hours tracking down the families of censors, as many of the censors themselves are now deceased. I met Caroline Holland, the cousin of censorship department secretary Beryl Cozens-Hardy, online a few months ago. I was surprised to learn that her aunt was still alive at that time. Her aunt was then in poor health but Ms Holland agreed to ask her a few questions on my behalf.One of the few remaining Imperial censorship staff members in the world has died in England, two months short of her 100th birthday.The Hon Beryl Cozens-Hardy was born in 1911 in Liverpool. She was 27-years-old when war was declared in 1939. During the war years she worked for the BBC, the Civil Service and the Foreign Office, stating that her work included intercepting contraband and counter espionage. She eventually joined the British censorship department in Liverpool. The censorship department was responsible for checking the mail to make sure letter writers weren’t inadvertently revealing some crucial bit of war information to people in other parts of the world. They also tried to stop goods and commodities, such as diamonds and money, from getting to the enemy and they also gathered information on enemy spies.When war started, censorship departments were set up all across the British Empire from Britain to the Caribbean to the Middle East but early on in the war, the main headquarters was in Liverpool. This was partly because of Liverpool’s importance as a convoy port, and partly because it was thought that any bombing would probably be on London. Unfortunately, this later proved to be grossly untrue. Liverpool was very badly blitzed during the war.“Her boss asked her if she would like to move to Bermuda,” said Ms Holland. “It was an invitation she readily accepted. Two shiploads of personnel travelled to Bermuda where their role was to intercept mail from the United States and bound for Germany. Liverpool was still in good shape when she left for Bermuda in 1940.”Miss Cozens-Hardy probably arrived before August 1940, as she was here to meet the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The couple visited Bermuda in the early part of that month on their way to the Bahamas, where the Duke of Windsor took up a position as Governor.“She recalled the Duke of Windsor coming to visit and going for a swim,” said Ms Holland. “He put his signet ring in a nook and it nearly got left behind. She appeared to have a role in looking after it.”In Bermuda, Miss Cozens-Hardy became personal assistant to controller Charles Watkins-Mence, and in her own words, “nobody got to see Mr Mence without going through me first”. Her office in the Hamilton Princess was on the first floor.“It had a lovely view,” Miss Cozens-Hardy told her niece. “My office was next to Mr Watkins-Mence’s office.”Before September 1940, the censorship staff in Bermuda was fairly small and mostly billeted at the Inverurie Hotel. After September, it was decided to ramp the department up. Waves of censors were moved from Liverpool. Air raids there became very disruptive and there were fears that Britain was about to be invaded by Germany. The Bermuda department eventually became one of the main departments, essentially the headquarters. It made an excellent listening post because all mail flown on flying boats between North America and Europe stopped in Bermuda. Liners also stopped off in Bermuda.To accommodate the larger numbers, the censorship department took over the Hamilton Princess and the Bermudiana Hotel. The Bermudiana was mainly used for residential quarters; the Hamilton Princess provided work space and residential accommodation.“The workforce included sorters, who fed the censors mail for the correct departments, and mail from addressees on blacklists,” said Ms Holland. “It was the censors’ job to work out who was collaborating with the Nazis. She said there were dozens of censors seated at tables [reading the mail]. There were two very good cryptographers.”Unfortunately, Miss Cozens-Hardy refused to name names. She did remember special examiner, Nadya Gardner. Miss Gardner was part of a small team of examiners who secretly went through mail that came in diplomatic pouches. The team were experts at what they termed ‘chamfering’. They could steam open letters, usually with a little kettle, and reseal them. They could also unwrap packages encased in a web of twine, examine the contents, and then put everything back as though the contents were never disturbed. Miss Gardner, who was reputed to have been a ballet dancer, was instrumental in bringing down the Joe K spy ring in New York in 1941.“I do remember Nadya Gardner,” said Miss Cozens-Hardy. “She liked to dance in her bare feet, which shocked everyone, for some reason.”Bermuda developed the top scientific testing laboratory out of all British censorship departments. It was headed by Charles Dent, an up-and-coming young doctor. Letters were tested here for secret inks. Ms Holland had a passion for sailing. She and Dr Dent and his future wife Margaret Coed, a censor, bought a sail boat together for £800.In Bermuda, life was idyllic. There were no air raids. Food was more plentiful than in England, although there were some concerns that the 800 or so extra censorship staff members would deplete the food resources. Days could be quite busy with flying boats sometimes coming in from Lisbon and New York early in the morning and late at night. Thousands of pounds of mail had to be removed from them, sorted, read, in some cases tested for secret writing and returned for the next flight.“She said that Bermuda was a happy place to be at that time,” said Ms Holland. “It was a lovely life but hard work with little spare time except Saturday afternoons.”But there was plenty to do when the censors had spare time. Censors had the chance to swim in the hotel pool during their time off. There were endless, furiously competitive, games of tennis, and there were also theatrical and singing groups to take part in. There were several semi-well known artists, actors, magicians and opera singers within the censorship staff and they sometimes gave performances for the general public. When the United States came into the war after Pearl Harbor, censorship of the mail passing through Bermuda was eventually taken over by them. Miss Cozens-Hardy, along with the majority of censors in Bermuda, returned to England on May 1, 1944. “Beryl returned to the United Kingdom,” said Ms Holland. “She was put forward for the Foreign Office, passed a board exam and was given a job which included ongoing responsibility for censorship matters.Her main job was the restoration of British postal services throughout the world in the post war era. London was never her cup of tea but when she left the Foreign Office, she still returned to her place of work in the capital every three weeks to tie up any unresolved issues. She said that restoring the post after the war was not difficult. Returning the hotels to business seems to have been more tricky. A friend of her and her brother Peter went to Bermuda and went to the hotel where Beryl worked (the Hamilton Princess) and it had been renovated but was empty.”She was associated with the Girl Guides Association for 85 years, attaining the top ranking position in the world as Chairman of the World Committee between 1972 and 1975.Between 1961 and 1970 she was Chief Commissioner of the Girl Guides in England and in 1971 she was awarded an OBE for her services to the Girl Guides’ Association in the Queen’s New Year Honours. She also received a silver fish award from the Girl Guides, one of their highest honours.Miss Cozens-Hardy also held many public offices, as a Justice of the Peace, a rural district councillor and as a co-opted member of Norfolk’s Education Committee.She was admired and respected in Norfolk and much loved in the village of Letheringsett which was her home for the last 50 years of her life.She died at Letheringsett Hall, formerly the seat of the Cozens-Hardy family her brother Peter was the fourth and last Baron Cozens-Hardy. It is now a care home.In the last years of her life, she became profoundly deaf and her sight was also impaired. She continued to receive a flow of visitors in whom she took great interest, especially the lives of her much loved nephew and niece and their children, who survive her.Ms Holland said: “Every visit to her was enriching. She would much rather be finding out about one's children and cousins and parents than talking about herself or indeed her own distinguished past. I don't think there are many people who could match her generosity of spirit.”At her death she was still associated with GirlGuiding, now the name for the Girl Guides Association, and the movement is expected to be well represented at her funeral on October 14, as will the village of Letheringsett, who will not just mourn the demise of someone they loved but the end of an important era for the Cozens-Hardy family.To leave a message of condolence for Miss Cozens-Hardy’s family go to http://announcements.thetimes.co.uk/obituaries/timesonline-uk/obituary.aspx? n=beryl-cozens-hardy&pid=153856005.If you have any memories, information or pictures about the British Censorship Department in Bermuda please e-mail me at jmoniz[AT]royalgazette.bm.