Chaplain of the Fleet and Bishop of Sodor and Man Rt Reverend Noel Jones CB Royal Navy

THE RIGHT REVEREND NOEL JONES
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Noel Debroy Jones spent most of his ministry in the Royal Navy, rising to become Chaplain of the Fleet. As Bishop of Sodor and Man, he was a leading traditionalist in the debates about the development of the Church of England.
A Royal Navy chaplain has a challenging role. Although he does not wear badges of rank he lives in the wardroom and must therefore overcome a them-and-us ‘officer’ cachet with a flock that, although it goes down to the sea in ships and certainly sees the works of the Lord in great waters, is not known for godliness, being perhaps more interested in the next run ashore in a foreign port than the fate of their eternal souls. He must gain the confidence of the lads on the messdeck without affectation. While not forgetting his prime duty towards the spiritual, he must be able to support the professional welfare organisations by offering wise and confidential counsel to the worried or distressed.
Noel Jones trained for ordination at Wells Theological College after education at Haberdashers School, Monmouth and St David’s College, Lampeter. He was ordained in the diocese of Monmouth in 1955 and served in Newport curacies until invited in 1960 by Bishop John Mort, the Bishop of Northern Nigeria, to be Vicar of Kano.
After two years in Nigeria, Jones joined the navy and was appointed chaplain to the Inshore Flotilla based in Singapore. Although designed as coastal minesweepers, these vessels were used for offensive patrols during the 1962 uprising in Brunei, the British protected sultanate in Borneo. This started with a marked increase in piracy, becoming overtly political as the ‘North Borneo National Army’ began resisting incorporation into the Federation of Malaysia. Jones soon established a remarkable rapport within the flotilla – it is recorded that sailors from minesweepers berthed away from the one in which Jones was conducting his Sunday service would hire taxis at their own expense to go and hear him preach. To say that this was unusual is an understatement. Brunei was a ‘brushfire’ shooting war and Jones earned his campaign medal up front.
Back in Singapore, he performed in the customary upturned bell of HMS Puncheston the first of his many naval baptisms and built a reputation as an inspirational priest with a high moral purpose and a delightful preaching style, humorous, down-to-earth, direct and eschewing over-much theology. Early in his career, a senior officer wrote on his fitness report; ‘This man should certainly be Chaplain of the Fleet and made a bishop’.
In his youth an effective rugby and hockey player, Jones was particularly proud of having passed the very physically demanding Royal Marines commando course – a process not normally required of chaplains – and thus properly qualified to wear the coveted green beret. He was appointed to 42 Commando and in November 1967 took part in the massive amphibious operation that concluded the rather messy British withdrawal from Aden at the foot of the Red Sea. Britain had been unable to install a pro-Western regime after announcing in 1964 that the South Arabian Federation would receive independence by 1968. 42 Commando, standing guard over the airfield, was the last unit to leave. Jones tells the story of how he tried to visit a hospital where he expected to find wounded people and in the reception area, having recognised by their turbans and guns on their knees that the enemy had taken over, ‘turned and ran like a madman for a low wall which I hopped over just in time’.
In 1969 he married Joyce Leelavathy Arulanandam whom he had met while in Singapore.
In 1974 he underwent the Mid Service Clergy Course at St George’s House, Windsor Castle, followed by a tour as staff chaplain in the Ministry of Defence. From 1977 to 1980 he was the senior chaplain of the three services in Hong Kong where his practice of visiting every sailor’s family – often accommodated in depressing high-rise flats – and introducing himself as ‘your vicar’ was much enjoyed. On one occasion a riot broke out among some excitable Chinese workers building the new Prince of Wales block on the HMS Tamar site. Jones left his lunch, went outside and calmly disarmed the axe-wielding leader. The senior naval officer reports that Jones was ‘a tremendous help’ and that one of his successful projects was the design of the chapel in the new block.
During the Falklands conflict of 1982, Jones undertook the breaking of sad news to next of kin; his message, his sympathy and comfort were universally praised and appreciated by the bereaved.
In 1983 he was appointed an Honorary Chaplain to the Queen and in 1984 Chaplain of the Fleet and Archdeacon for the Royal Navy which carried with it a seat on the general Synod. He assisted at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of York. He was appointed CB in 1986.
On being approached to become Bishop of Sodor and Man, he is reported, on opening the letter, as asking: “Where on earth is Sodor?”. This name reflects the ancient diocese of the southern or sudreyjar islands of Man, the western isles and the Hebrides in contrast to the northern Orkney and Shetland, active during a period of Norwegian control that ended in 1266, Man separately coming under the kings of England.
This unique diocese has only 16 clergy; the bishop is a full voting member of the Tyndwald. Noel Jones is remembered with great affection as the ‘bishop in the pink dress’ as it was his practice to wear his scarlet soutane in public ‘so that the Island should know it has a bishop’. He reputedly ‘ran the bishopric like an aircraft-carrier’ and was much involved in local affairs; with Joyce their house was a warm centre of hospitality.
In some ways his traditionalist views were at variance with the general low church attitudes of the islanders. Jones was a firm opponent of the ordination of women. In debate with friends he would listen to all the arguments and precedents but would always end by saying; “I just have this gut feeling that it is wrong”. He was a leading member of the ‘Forward in Faith’ movement and presided at international gatherings of traditionalist bishops in 1995 and 1998. In the debate on the remarriage of divorced people in church, he wanted to ‘prevent couples from committing perjury at the altar. The person being re-married is effectively saying; “I didn’t really mean it last time”’.
He retired at the age of 70 and became an assistant bishop at the diocese of York, the occasions when he preached in York Minster being notably well attended. He continued to support the traditionalist position both in Britain and the USA.
His wife Joyce, their son Benjamin, an actor, and their daughter Vanessa, a published novelist, survive him.

The Right Reverend Noel Jones, Chaplain of the Fleet 1984-89
and Bishop of Sodor and Man 1989-2003 was born on December 25, 1932.
He died on August 28 aged 76.