Sir Edward Martin Furnival Jones CBE (7 May 1912 – 1 March 1997) was Director General of MI5, the United Kingdom's internal security service, from 1965 until 1972.

Sir

Martin Furnival Jones

Born7 May 1912
Died1 March 1997(1997-03-01) (aged 84)
Wothorpe, England
NationalityBritish
Alma materGonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Occupation(s)Intelligence officer, solicitor
AwardsCBE (1957)[1]
Knight Bachelor (1967)[2]
Espionage activity
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service branchMI5
RankDirector General of MI5

Career edit

Born in High Barnet[3] and educated at Highgate School, Furnival Jones was a Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge graduate, having read modern and medieval languages, as well as law.[4]

He was admitted as a solicitor in England in 1937, joining the leading City of London law firm Slaughter and May. When the Second World War broke out, Furnival Jones was commissioned into the Intelligence Corps, transferring to the Security Service, MI5, in 1941.[5][4]

He was Director-General of MI5 from 1965 to 1972.[6]

Personal life edit

Jones resided in the Hampstead Garden Suburb. He was a tennis player and bird watcher and loved to perform in amateur theatre in both the local groups, including the Play and Pageant Union and Speedwell Players. It was during a production of I Remember Mama that he first met his wife, Margaret.[7]

References edit

  1. ^ "No. 41089". The London Gazette. 13 June 1957. p. 3378.
  2. ^ "No. 44326". The London Gazette. 10 June 1967. p. 6269.
  3. ^ Obituary: Sir Martin Furnival Jones The New York Times, 16 March 1997
  4. ^ a b "Jones, Sir (Edward) Martin Furnival (1912–1997), intelligence officer and civil servant". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/65200. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  5. ^ West, Nigel (2 September 2009). The A to Z of British Intelligence. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810870284.
  6. ^ Andrew, p. 853
  7. ^ Nora Packer, writing in Garden Suburb Theatre newsletter edition 47, May 1997
Government offices
Preceded by Director General of MI5
1965–1972
Succeeded by