William Jervis Jones

William Jervis Jones (16 August 1941 – 20 April 2018) was an English linguistic historian, described as "one of the most distinguished scholars" in the field of German studies in Britain. Originally from Cornwall, he was a graduate of Oriel College, Oxford, and began teaching in the University of London in 1966, initially as an assistant lecturer in German at Westfield College; he was promoted to lecturer in 1969, and reader in 1984, before being appointed professor of German at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College in 1990. He retired in 2001. He was the subject of a Festschrift. His brother is the Australian–British librarian David Jones, author of The Australian Dictionary of Acronyms & Abbreviations (1977, etc).