Career As A Historian
After the war, Hinsley returned to St John's College and lectured in history, being in 1969 appointed Professor of the History of International Relations. From 1979 to 1989 he was Master of St John's College and from 1981 to 1983 he was vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge.
Hinsley edited the multi-volume official history of British Intelligence in the Second World War, and argued that Enigma decryption had speeded Allied victory by 1-4 years while not fundamentally altering the war's outcome.
He was criticised by Marian Rejewski and Gordon Welchman, who took exception to inaccuracies in Hinsley's accounts of the history of Enigma decryption in the early volumes of his official history, including crucial errors in chronology. Subsequently a revised account of the Polish, French and British contribution was included in volume 3, part 2.
The volumes of British Intelligence in the Second World War edited by Hinsley and published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) London are:
- Volume 1: Its Influence on Strategy and Operations, F. H. Hinsley with E. E. Thomas, C. F. G. Ransome and R. C. Knight, (1979, HMSO) ISBN 0-11-630933-4
- Volume 2: Its Influence on Strategy and Operations, F. H. Hinsley with E. E. Thomas, C. F. G. Ransome and R. C. Knight, (1981, HMSO) ISBN 0-11-630934-2
- Volume 3, Part 1: Its Influence on Strategy and Operations, F. H. Hinsley with E. E. Thomas, C. F. G. Ransome and R. C. Knight, (1984, HMSO) ISBN 0-11-630935-0
- Volume 3, Part 2: Its Influence on Strategy and Operations, F. H. Hinsley with E. E. Thomas, C. A. G. Simkins, and C. F. G. Ransom, (1988, HMSO) ISBN 0-11-630940-7
- Includes Bibliography (pages 961-974), and The Polish, French and British Contributions to the Breaking of the Enigma; a Revised Account (Appendix 30, pages 945-959).
- Volume 4: Security and Counter-Intelligence, F. H. Hinsley and C. A. G. Simkins, (1990, HMSO) ISBN 0-11-630952-0
- Abridged Version, F. H. Hinsley, (1993, HMSO) ISBN 0-11-630956-3 (& 1993, Cambridge University Press) ISBN 0-521-44304-0
Hinsley also co-edited (with Alan Stripp) and contributed to Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park (1993), which contains personal accounts from those who worked at Bletchley Park.
NB: Volume 5 of British Intelligence in the Second World War: Strategic Deception was written by Michael Howard (1990, HMSO) ISBN 0-11-630954-7
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