Obituaries

SIR JAMES JONES

Sir James Jones, KCB, Permanent Secretary at the Department of the Environment, 1972-75 , died on September 6 aged 80. He was born on October 28, 1914 . ABLE Seaman Jim Jones had not long . returned in his destroyer from a mine - l aying expedition to N orway when he was startled by a summons to join the Admiralty. He had been pounced upon by Sir William (later Lord) Beveridge, to join the so-called "cat and mouse" scheme. This was the device under which bright young men, whose gifts were not being fully exploited on active service, were snatched back by vigilant Whitehall mandarins during the Sec - ond World War so that they might play a more rewarding role on the home front. Beveridge had been Master of University College, Oxford, when Jones, a particularly clever mature

student, was there just before the war. Working in Whitehall Beveridge now had the young rating turned out of his lower deck hammock and dispatched to Bath, to join the Admiralty's "P " branch — concerned with the produc - tion of warships and weapons for the Royal Navy. That was in 1941; Jones was to spend the next three years there. In 1944, however, his aptitude for administration earned him a transfer to London where he was promoted to be private secretary to the Admiralty's Permanent Secretary, Sir Henry Markham. This posting also secured him a permanent career in the Civil Service although not, as things turned out, in the Admiralty itself. Acting on advice as to the best career prospects in Whitehall, he chose to join the Minis - try of Town and Country Planning, then in its infancy, and spent the rest of his working life in that or related areas of administration.