L. E. Jones

Sir Lawrence Evelyn Jones, 5th Baronet, MC, TD, FRSL (6 April 1885 – 6 September 1969), was an English writer, known for his light verse, humorous prose, a trilogy of reminiscences and three collections of short stories. Life and career 1885–1945 Lawrence Evelyn Jones – known to his friends as "Jonah" and to readers as L. E. Jones – was born in London on 6 April 1885, the second son of Sir Lawrence Jones, 4th Baronet, and his first wife, Evelyn Mary, née Bevan (d 1912). He grew up in Norfolk and was privately educated before going to Eton in 1897, with his elder brother, Willoughby. The latter died in 1898, aged 14. At Eton, Jones became Captain of Boats and President of "Pop". He went on to Balliol College, Oxford, where he gained a second class degree in Greats. After leaving Oxford he initially pursued a career as a barrister, switching in 1912 to more remunerative employment as a merchant banker. In that year he married Lady Evelyn Alice Grey, daughter of the fourth Earl Grey at St George's, Hanover Square. They had five children, all daughters, two of whom died young. During the First World War Jones joined the Bedfordshire Yeomanry with which he went to France in June 1915. The following year he transferred to the newly formed Machine Gun Squadron and later to the Infantry. He was severely wounded and taken prisoner in 1918. He won the Military Cross, having earlier been awarded the Territorial Decoration, and retired as a major. He returned to merchant banking, from which he retired in 1945. He then turned to authorship.