Joan Thirsk, English cryptologist, historian, and academic (b. 1922)
Irene Joan Thirsk, (née Watkins; 19 June 1922 – 3 October 2013) was a British economic and social historian, specialising in the history of agriculture. She was the leading British early modern agrarian historian of her era, as well as an important social and economic historian. Her work highlighted the regional differences in agricultural in England. She also had an interest in food history and local English history, in particular of Hadlow, Kent.