Ian Jacob
| Sir Edward Ian Claud Jacob | |
|---|---|
| Born |
27 September 1899 Quetta, Pakistan |
| Died | 24 April 1993 (aged 93) |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch |
 British Army
|
| Years of service | 1918–1945 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Battles/wars |
North-West Frontier Second World War |
| Awards |
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Companion of the Order of the Bath |
| Relations | Field Marshal Sir Claud Jacob (father) |
| Other work | Director-General of the BBC (1952–59) |
Lieutenant General Sir Edward Ian Claud Jacob GBE, CB (27 September 1899 – 24 April 1993), known as Ian Jacob, was a British Army officer, who served as the Military Assistant Secretary to Winston Churchill's war cabinet and was later a distinguished broadcasting executive, serving as the Director-General of the BBC from 1952 to 1959.
Jacob was born in 1899 in Quetta, Pakistan (then a part of the British Empire). His father was Field Marshal Sir Claud Jacob, in whose footsteps Ian followed by becoming a professional soldier with the Royal Engineers in 1918. In 1924, Jacob married Cecil Treherne, the daughter of another senior army officer, Surgeon Major-General Sir Francis Treherne. The couple had two sons.
Jacob trained as an officer at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and later at the Staff College, Camberley (where he passed the entrance examination with record marks). He also studied at Kings College, Cambridge.
Jacob served as the Military Assistant Secretary to the War Cabinet for the duration of the Second World War (he actually asked to be returned to his regiment in 1940, but was refused). He worked closely with Winston Churchill and implemented Churchill's communications during his thirteen wartime journeys outside the United Kingdom. Churchill valued Jacob's efforts enough to endorse his promotion from the rank of colonel to lieutenant general over the course of the war. As a brigadier (war-substantive lieutenant-colonel), Jacob was promoted to the substantive rank of colonel in the Regular Army on 30 June 1943. He was granted the acting rank of major-general on 8 September 1944 and advanced to temporary major-general on 8 September 1945. In the 1944 Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Companion in the Military Division of the Order of the Bath (CB).
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