Robert Eden was launched on one of the Special Operations Executive’s more desperate missions, an attempt to stir up resistance against the Nazi-aligned Government in Hungary. Called up as a Territorial Army artillery officer and sent to the Middle East, after serving with the Libyan Arab Force of Beduin operating in the desert under British officers to gather intelligence and conduct sabotage behind the Axis forward areas, he had transferred to the Cairo-controlled section of the SOE.

Training for operations in the Balkans, including crash courses in parachuting and Serbo-Croat, had followed. He and a small team of officers and radio operators were then dropped into Yugoslavia in early 1944, not to conduct clandestine operations there, but with a view to infiltrating agents across the River Drava into Hungary.

The country was allied with Nazi Germany, and SOE was not sanguine about establishing a resistance movement there. But its Prime Minister, Miklos Kallay, had put out feelers to the Western Allies as an insurance policy against Soviet domination after the war, so attempts had to be made.

Agents were infiltrated, but no successful contacts were made. So Eden turned his attention to guiding crashed Allied airman and escaped prisoners of war through Slovenia and Croatia to points from where they could be evacuated. He also reported on German aircraft activity in the region. In cooperation with Tito’s partisans, his small group helped 150 aircrew and escaped prisoners towards safety.

On withdrawal from Yugoslavia, he was attached to “Q” Patrol of the Special Boat Section for operations in Albania as the German 21st Mountain Corps, inserted after the Italian armistice in September 1943, was struggling to extract its troops from the country.

After VE-Day he was sent to the Far East to help to repatriate Allied prisoners-of-war and internees formerly held by the Japanese. This led him to Australia, from where he decided to take a short spell of leave in New Zealand.

Arriving in Auckland by flying boat, he was surprised to be ushered on to an aircraft to Wellington where he was greeted by the Prime Minister, Peter Fraser. A signal “Eden arriving by flying boat” had led to the expectation of the imminent arrival of the British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, a distant cousin.

Robert John Pulleine Eden was the eldest son of Brigadier Henry Eden, who had been taken prisoner when the 51st Highland Division was obliged to surrender at St Valéry-en-Caux in June 1940. He was educated at Rugby.

On demobilisation, he began a successful business career, while keeping up his military connections through membership of the Territorial Army SAS. He entered local government politics and became chairman of Essex County Council schools committee. Under his chairmanship, this was largely responsible for the foundation of the Boarding Schools Association, still flourishing for independent and local education authority schools.

Just short of his 60th birthday, he bought a house on the fringe of Exmoor and took up hill farming and, as hobbies, training sheepdogs and bee-keeping. He also studied theology and became a lay reader and an assistant to the vicars of several of the more remote moorland parishes.

His marriage to the Hon Rosemary Vivian was dissolved in 1969. That year he married Elizabeth (Beth) Cleverly, who survives him, with a daughter of his first marriage and two daughters of his second.

Robert Eden, officer of the wartime SOE, was born on February 16, 1920. He died on February 20, 2007 aged 87