Albert Edward Jones (1864-1934), director of technical construction at the Whitehead and Co
1934 Obituary [1]
ALBERT EDWARD JONES had been intimately associated with torpedo design for a period of forty-seven years.
He was born in Birmingham in 1864 and in 1880 joined the Brush Electric Light Corporation as a junior draughtsman. He became a draughtsman at the Leeds works of Messrs. Greenwood and Batley in 1883 and at the same time studied technical electricity under Professors Rucker and Stroud at the Yorkshire College.
Four years later he was appointed chief inspector at the Fiume works of the Whitehead Torpedo Company. He was appointed works manager in 1889 and subsequently became managing director. At that time he was responsible for the manufacture of high-pressure air compressors and submarine boats, in addition to torpedoes and torpedo accessories, at the works, where about 1,000 hands, forty draughtsmen, and nine engineers were employed.
From 1911 until the outbreak of the War, Mr. Jones acted as technical director to the firm, and stayed in Fiume, after the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand had occurred, to superintend the trials of the under-water torpedo launching gear of the new Austrian Dreadnoughts Viribus Unitis and Svet Istvan.
He made his attempt to leave for Italy too late, and was arrested and interned in Austria for the duration of the War.
He was allowed to return to England in 1918, but left again for Fiume in 1920. The torpedo works were closed, however, two years later, and Mr. Jones again returned to England.
It was then decided to re-open the establishment at Wyke Regis, near Weymouth, which was originally a branch of the Fiume works. Mr. Jones was re-appointed technical director of the Whitehead Torpedo Company, at Wyke Regis, in 1923, and took a leading part in all modern torpedo developments.
He held this position until his death, which occurred at his home in Weymouth on 30th April 1934.
He had been a Member of the Institution since 1911.