Derek John Claremont Jones (; 2 July 1927 – 4 October 2008) was a British and Hong Kong

government official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of th ...

and a Senior Fellow of the Trade Policy Research Centre in London. He originally served in the

Civil Service 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 was posted to the

Hong Kong Government The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government) is the Executive (government), executive authorities of Hong Kong. It was established on 1 July 1997, following the ...

in 1971. In Hong Kong, he was the first to hold the post of

Secretary for Economic Services The Secretary for Economic Services ( and later ) was a minister position in the Government of Hong Kong, which is responsible for economic development in Hong Kong. The position was renamed to the Secretary for Economic Development and Labour () af ...

under the reform in 1973 and had served as

Secretary for the Environment The Secretary for Environment and Ecology () of the Hong Kong Government is responsible for environment protection policy in Hong Kong. The position was created most recently in 2007 as the Secretary for the Environment to replace portions of the ...

, Secretary for Transport and Official

Legislative Councillor A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the British ( ...

before he was posted to

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

serving as Minister for Hong Kong Relations with

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

and Member States in 1982. He subsequently retired from the government in 1986.

Early life

Jones was born in England, the United Kingdom on 2 July 1927 and was the eldest son of Albert Claremont Jones and Ethel Lilian Jones (née Hazell). He entered Colston School in Bristol and received further education in

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

where he graduated with a BA degree. He later obtained a BSc degree with honours in economics in the

London School of Economics and Political Science The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public university, public research university in London, England, and a member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the University ...

as well.

British Government

Jones had served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

from 1946 to 1948 before he joined the

in 1950. He was Economic Assistant in the Economic Section of the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...

from 1950 to 1953, a time when

Sir Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

was still

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. From 1953 to 1955, he was posted to Paris serving as Second Secretary in the United Kingdom Delegation to the

OEEC The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. It is a forum whose member countries ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. After that, he returned to the homeland and became Assistant Principal of the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created in 1768 from the Southern Department to deal with colonial affairs in North America (particularly the Thirteen Colo ...

from 1955 to 1957 and was later promoted as Principal of the Office from 1957 to 1966. When the Colonial Office was abolished in 1966, Jones was transferred to the

Commonwealth Office The secretary of state for commonwealth affairs was a British Cabinet minister responsible for dealing with the United Kingdom's relations with members of the Commonwealth of Nations (its former colonies). The minister's department was the Common ...

to serve as First Secretary. One year later, he was posted to the United Kingdom Mission in Geneva and became a Counsellor especially responsible for the trading affairs to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Government

In 1971, Jones was transferred to the

Hong Kong government The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government) is the Executive (government), executive authorities of Hong Kong. It was established on 1 July 1997, following the ...

and became Deputy Economic Secretary under the Economic Services Branch of the

Colonial Secretariat The Government Secretariat () is the collective administrative headquarters of the Government of Hong Kong. It is collectively formed by the offices of the Chief Secretary for Administration, Chief Secretary and of the Financial Secretary (Hong Kon ...

. In 1973, the Hong Kong Government, under

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Sir Murray MacLehose (later Lord), reformed its organisation according to the recommendations made in the '' McKinsey Report''. A new form of structure, nicknamed "Mini-Cabinet" by the local newspapers, was introduced that six new government posts were rearranged. They were namely the

Secretary for Home Affairs The Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs is the head of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau of the Government of Hong Kong, which is responsible for local issues, and the provision of community and youth services. List of office holders Regist ...

, Secretary for Housing,

, Secretary for Social Services,

Secretary for Security The Secretary for Security is the member of the Government of Hong Kong in charge of the Security Bureau (Hong Kong), Security Bureau, which is responsible for public safety, security, and immigration matters. The post was created in 1973 a ...

and

. Jones was appointed for the post of Secretary for Economic Services in November 1973, and became the Secretary for the Environment in September 1976. In September 1981, he was appointed as the newly created Secretary for Transport. However, he had served for only a few months before he was posted to

and served as Minister for Hong Kong Relations with European Community and Member States in early 1982. He was replaced by Peter Tsao in May 1986 and retired from the government. When he was Secretary of the Government, Jones was responsible to a number of issues including the construction of

Tsuen Wan line The Tsuen Wan line () is one of the ten lines of the rapid transit, metro network in Hong Kong's MTR. It is indicated in on the MTR map. There are 16 stations on the line. The southern terminus is Central station (MTR), Central statio ...

of the

MTR The Mass Transit Railway system, known locally by the initialism MTR, is a rapid transit system in Hong Kong and the territory's principal mode of Rail transport in Hong Kong, railway transportation. Operated by the MTR Corporation (MTRCL), ...

. Besides, he was also an Official

from 1973 to 1982 and was member of various organisations and public bodies, such as the director of

Kowloon Motor Bus The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) is a bus company operating Bus services in Hong Kong, franchised services in Hong Kong. It is the largest bus company in Hong Kong by fleet size and number of bus routes, with over 4,000 buses ...

China Motor Bus The China Motor Bus Company, Limited (), often abbreviated as CMB, is a property developer based in Hong Kong. Before its bus franchise lapsed in 1998, it was the first motor bus operator in Hong Kong, and was responsible for the introduction ...

and Hong Kong Industrial Estates Corporation, the chairman of the Advisory Committee on Environmental Protection, Transport Advisory Committee and Special Committee on Land Production and a member of the Oil Policy Committee. Jones was made

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

in the

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

of 1979 for his public services.

Later years

Jones was a Senior Fellow of the Trade Policy Research Centre in London from 1986 to 1990. Following that, he lived a quiet life in retirement. On 4 October 2008, he died peacefully in his sleep, after a short illness, in

St Agnes, Cornwall St Agnes () is a civil parish and town on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is about north of Redruth and southwest of Newquay. ''and'' An electoral ward exists stretching as far south as Blackwater. The po ...

. He was 81 and was buried in St Agnes Cemetery on 15 October.

Family

Jones had two marriages. He married Jean Cynthia Withams firstly in 1951. The couple had one son and two daughters. He married Kay Cecile Thewlis in his second marriage in 1970 and they had one son. Jones interests included travel,

reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

and

conversation Conversation is interactive communication between two or more people. The development of conversational skills and etiquette is an important part of socialization. The development of conversational skills in a new language is a frequent focus ...

Conferment

* Justice of the Peace (officia

*

(CMG), 1979

)

Footnotes

References

*
Summary of the McKinsey Report
', McKinsey & Company, Inc., November 1972. * Edited by Kevin Sinclair, ''Who's who in Hong Kong'', Hong Kong: Asianet Information Services Ltd., 1982. *
Triumph, Failure or Pyrrhic Victory — the Tokyo Round in Perspective
, ''World Economy'' Volume 10 Issue 3, September 1987. * ''Who's Who'', A & C Black, 2008. *
Jones, Derek John Claremont C.M.G.
, ''Telegraph Announcements'', UK: Telegraph, 9 October 2008. * ''London Gazette'': (Supplement) no. 47723, page 3,.

External links

Tribute to Derek Jones
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Derek John Claremont 1927 births 2008 deaths Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Government officials of Hong Kong Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Alumni of the University of Bristol Alumni of the London School of Economics Civil servants in the Cabinet Office Civil servants in the Colonial Office Civil servants in the Commonwealth Relations Office People educated at Colston's School