Charles Ernest Jones Explained

Sir Charles Ernest Jones, CMG, CCS (1892–1953) was a British colonial civil servant. He had a long career in the Ceylon Civil Service and served as Secretary to the Treasury.[1]

Life

He was the only son of Edwin Harris Jones R.N. of Drayton, Hampshire. He was educated at Portsmouth Technical College, and graduated B.A. from the University of London in 1911, B.Sc. in 1913.[2] [3] [4]

Jones joined the Ceylon Civil Service on 28 November 1914. He became a member of the Asiatic Society in 1917,[5] that year as a Cadet becoming an office assistant in Kegalle District.[6] He was Assistant Government Agent in Mannar District in the 1920s, moving to Trincomalee District in November 1935, having been acting agent at Uva that year.[7] [8] [9]

In 1941 Jones was Controller of Exchange, Imports and Exports.[10] He took over as acting Financial Secretary of Ceylon from Harold James Huxham, in November 1942, for a few months.[11] He several times held the post under that condition, for example during the first half of 1945, and again in 1946 when the official holder was Sir Oliver Goonetilleke. In the latter period, as acting Financial Secretary, he sided with N. U. Jayawardena, seconded to the Treasury Department, who had raised hackles in the Civil Service Association.[12] [13]

Jones became a director of the Bank of Ceylon, in the Dominion of Ceylon, in 1949. He was knighted CMG in 1950, at which time he was Permanent Secretary in the Ceylon Ministry of Finance.[14] In 1951 he was serving as Permanent Secretary to J. R. Jayewardene.[15]

Family

In 1923 Jones married Hilda Yorath, daughter of George Yorath of Ross-on-Wye, who survived him: they had one son.[2] [16] He was Michael Yorath Jones (b. 1924), educated at Marlborough College, who served in the RNVR and then worked for Shell from 1947.[17]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sir Charles Ernest Jones . npg.org.uk . National Portrait Gallery . 27 October 2020.
  2. News: n/a . Portsmouth Evening News . 9 November 1923.
  3. News: Farlington . Portsmouth Evening News . 28 August 1925.
  4. Web site: Index of Graduates by Surname: J; British History Online . www.british-history.ac.uk.
  5. Back Matter . The Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland . 1928 . 31 . 81 . 43474070 . 0304-2235.
  6. Book: Ceylon Administration Reports . 1917 . Government Printer, South Africa . 14 . en.
  7. Book: Administration Reports (Ceylon) . 1928 . Government printer . 47 . en.
  8. Book: The Ceylon Blue Book . 1935 . Government Printer, South Africa . 5 . en.
  9. Book: Fernando . Waduge Lionel . Kataragama and Its Festivals, 1819-1939 . 1985 . 177 . en.
  10. Book: Shenoy . B. R. . Ceylon Currency and Banking . 1941 . vi .
  11. Book: Silva . K. M. De . Sri Lanka: The Second World War and the Soulbury Commission, 1939-1945 . 1997 . Stationery Office . 978-0-11-290558-5 . xxiv . en.
  12. Book: Silva . K. M. De . Sri Lanka: The Second World War and the Soulbury Commission, 1939-1945 . 1997 . Stationery Office . 978-0-11-290558-5 . xv . en.
  13. News: Nation special - NUJ – The First Five Decades . www.nation.lk . 2008-08-17.
  14. Web site: London Gazette 4th Supplement 2 June 1950 .
  15. Book: Relations . Great Britain Office of Commonwealth . The Commonwealth Relations Office List . 1951 . H.M. Stationery Office . 152 . en.
  16. Book: Kelly's. Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes. 1961. Kelly's Directories. 1132.
  17. Book: College . Marlborough . James . L. Warwick . Marlborough College Register: 1843-1952 . 1952 . The College . 847 . en.