Sir Edward Clifford Cornford, KCB (6 February 1918 – 6 May 1999) was a British

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

and government scientist. Educated at

Kimbolton School Kimbolton School is a British HMC co-educational private day and boarding school in the village of Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire, England. There are 1,000 students, aged 4 to 18. Boarding and flexi-boarding is available to a limited number o ...

and

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

, he entered the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

(RAE) in 1938 as a junior scientific officer. He was part of the Air Warfare Analysis Section from the outset of its existence and throughout the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He rejoined RAE in 1945 and worked on guided weaponry; he served as head of the assessments division from 1951 to 1956, and then head of the guided weapons department. He was chairman of the Defence Research Policy Staff (1961–65), before serving as Chief Scientist (Army) from 1965 to 1968, then Deputy Chief Adviser (Research and Studies) from 1968 to 1969. He was Controller, Guided Weapons and Electronics at the

Ministry of Technology The Ministry of Technology was a department of the government of the United Kingdom, sometimes abbreviated as "MinTech". The Ministry of Technology was established by the incoming government of Harold Wilson in October 1964 as part of Wilson's am ...

from 1969 to 1972, and then Controller (Policy) at the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

's Procurement Executive from 1972 to 1975. Cornford was then Chief Executive of the Procurement Executive from 1975 (renamed

Chief of Defence Procurement The Chief of Defence Procurement was a senior post in the British Ministry of Defence. The post-holder was Chief Executive of the MoD Procurement Executive from 1971 until 1999 and then Chief Executive of the Defence Procurement Agency until 2007. I ...

in 1977). He retired in 1980. In retirement, he was a director of the

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

from 1981 to 1987 and chairman of Raytheon Europe from 1982 to 1991."Cornford, Sir (Edward) Clifford"
''

Who Was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It has been published annually in the form of a hardback book since 1849, and has been published online since 1999. It has also been published on CD-ROM. It lists, and gives information on, people from around ...

'' (online ed.,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1 December 2007). Retrieved 15 April 2025.

References

1918 births 1999 deaths British civil servants British scientists People educated at Kimbolton School Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath {{UK-scientist-stub