Ernest Jones, scholar, psychoanalyst (1879 -- 1958) | NCP-LA

Ernst Jones was a lifelong friend and colleague of Sigmund Freud from their first meeting in 1908.  He became Freud's official biographer. Jones was the first English-speaking professional in Psychoanalysis and became its leading exponent in the English-speaking world. Ernest Jones was President of the International Psychoanalytic Association and the British Psychoanalytic Society in the 1920s and 1930s.

Jone's early published work on psychoanalysis had been devoted to expositions of the fundamentals of Freudian theory, an elaboration of its theory of symbolism and its application to the analysis of religion, mythology, folklore and literary and artistic works. Under the influence of Melanie Klein, Jone's work took a new direction.

With the arrival in Britain of refugees German and Austrian analysts in the 1930s, including Anna Freud in 1938, the hostility between the orthodox Freudians and Kleinians in the British Society became more intense. Jones chaired a number of "extraordinary business meetings" the aim of defusing the conflict and these continued into the war years. The meetings which became known as the controversial discussions were established on a more regular basis from 1942. By that time, Jones had removed himself from direct participation, owing to ill health. He resigned from the presidency of the British Society in 1944, the year when under the presidency of Sylvia Payne there finally emerged a tripartite compromise agreement. This allowed the Freudians, Kleinians and of Independents to run their own training and accreditation programs.