Ellis Ellis-Griffith

Sir Ellis Jones Ellis-Griffith, 1st Baronet, PC, KC (23 May 1860 – 30 November 1926) was a British barrister and radical[1] Liberal politician. He was born Ellis Jones Griffith.

Ellis Griffith c.1895
Ellis Griffith c.1907

Family and education

Born in Birmingham, Griffith was the son of Thomas Morris Griffith, a master builder. He was educated at University College, Aberystwyth, the University of London and Downing College, Cambridge, where he read law and was President of the Cambridge Union.[2] Ellis-Griffith married Mary, daughter of Robert Owen, in 1892. They had two sons and one daughter.

He was called to the Bar, Middle Temple, in 1887 and worked on the North Wales and Chester Circuit. He was a Recorder of Birkenhead from 1907 to 1912 and was appointed a King's Counsel in 1910.

Political career

Griffith unsuccessfully contested West Toxteth in 1892 but in 1895 was successfully returned to Parliament for Anglesey. He was returned unopposed in 1900.

Upon his appointment as Recorder of Birkenhead in 1907 he was required to re-submit himself to his electorate at Anglesey and was returned unopposed. Whilst an MP he voted in favour of the 1908 Women's Enfranchisement Bill.[3] He was returned unopposed in December 1910. He served in the Liberal administration of H. H. Asquith as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department from 1912 to 1915, in which position he played an important role in steering the Welsh Disestablishment Bill through the House of Commons, and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1914. In 1918 he was created a baronet, of Llanidan in the County of Anglesey[4] and changed his surname to Ellis-Griffith.[5]

He was narrowly defeated at Anglesey in the 1918 general election by the Labour candidate Owen Thomas. He then unsuccessfully contested the University of Wales constituency in 1922.

He returned to the House of Commons in 1923, when he was elected for Carmarthen, but resigned the seat the following year.

He died in Swansea suddenly in November 1926, aged 66, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his only surviving son Ellis. Lady Ellis-Griffith died in 1941.

Election results
General election 1895: Anglesey
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Ellis Griffith 4,224 56.9
Conservative J R Roberts 3,197 43.1
Majority 1,027 13.8
Turnout 74.3
Liberal hold Swing

He was returned unopposed in 1900.

General election 1906: Anglesey Electorate 10,001
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Ellis Griffith 5,356 67.0 n/a
Conservative C F Priestley 2,638 33.0 n/a
Majority 2,718 34.0 n/a
Turnout 79.9 n/a
Liberal hold Swing n/a
January 1910 United Kingdom general election Electorate
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Ellis Griffith 5,888 70.7
Conservative Richard Owen Roberts 2,436 29.3
Majority 3,452 41.4
Turnout 80.5
Liberal hold Swing
General election 1918: Anglesey Electorate
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Owen Thomas 9,038 50.4
Coalition Liberal Ellis Ellis-Griffith 8.898 49.6
Majority 140 0.8
Turnout 69.4
Labour gain from Liberal Swing
General election 1922: University of Wales Electorate 1,441
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
National Liberal Thomas Arthur Lewis 487 39.5 - 41.3
Liberal Ellis Ellis-Griffith 451 35.9 N/A
Labour Olive Wheeler 309 24.8 +5.6
Majority 46 3.6 -58.0
Turnout 1,247 87.2 +1.4
National Liberal hold Swing N/A
General election 1923
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Ellis Ellis-Griffith 12,988
Unionist Alfred Stephens 8,677
Labour R. Williams 7,132
Majority 4,311
Turnout
Liberal hold Swing

References
  1. Tanner, Duncan (13 February 2003). Political Change and the Labour Party 1900-1918. ISBN 9780521530538.
  2. "Griffith (post Ellis-Griffith), Ellis Jones (GRFT880EJ)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1908/feb/28/womens-enfranchisement-bill-1
  4. "No. 30557". The London Gazette. 5 March 1918. p. 2782.
  5. "No. 30565". The London Gazette. 8 March 1918. p. 3043.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Thomas Lewis		 Member of Parliament for Anglesey
1895–1918		 Succeeded by
Sir Owen Thomas
Preceded by
John Hinds		 Member of Parliament for Carmarthen
1923–1924		 Succeeded by
Sir Alfred Mond, Bt
Political offices
Preceded by
Charles Masterman		 Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department
1912–1915		 Succeeded by
Cecil Harmsworth
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baronet
(of Llanindan)
1918–1926		 Succeeded by
Ellis Arundell Ellis-Griffith

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.