Sir Eric Malcolm Jones KCMG CB CBE

Hut 3 was one of the integral departments within Bletchley Park’s WWII mission. Established in early 1940, to decipher and translate German Luftwaffe and Army intercepts, the hut was fraught with organisational problems with Whitehall and within the team itself. Squadron Leader Eric Jones was brought in to review and report on the problems in March 1942 and was subsequently appointed to manage Hut 3 by Edward Travis. Jones was an instinctive and brilliant administrator and well liked by his staff.

He was born in Buxton, Derbyshire on the 27th April 1907 and was educated at King’s School in Macclesfield before joining the family textile business, aged just 15. In 1940 he enlisted and subsequently joined the Air Intelligence branch of the Air Ministry.

The cataloguing system he introduced in Hut 3 was revolutionary and a report that Jones wrote on instigating a more multi-service approach to analysis on site was adopted. He was described affectionately as the 'King of Calm' whilst working at Bletchley. Peter Calvocoressi who worked under Jones at Bletchley was to say of him 'he respected and probably admired the intellectual qualities of his subordinates, but was not intimidated by them and showed that since whether they approved or not, he had been appointed to govern them, he would do so.’ Jones played a critical role in coordinating Bletchley Park’s intelligence collection efforts in the run up to D-Day in June 1944.

In 1943 Jones was promoted to Group Captain and became further involved in organisational planning. After the war Jones was deployed to the USA as a liaison officer for GCHQ and was appointed a Deputy Director in 1950. He became the Director of GCHQ and served from April 1952 to May 1960, and during his tenure shaped the intelligence provision during the Suez Crisis in 1956. He was knighted in 1957. He died on the 24th December 1986 in Gloucester.