Arthur Griffith-Boscawen
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Sir Arthur Sackville Trevor Griffith-Boscawen PC (18 October 1865 – 1 June 1946) was a British politician in the Conservative Party whose career was cut short by losing a string of Parliamentary elections.


Biography

Sir Arthur was born at Trevalyn Hall, Denbighshire, into a distinguished family of Welsh, Cornish, and Scottish lineage. He had an elder brother, Boscawen Trevor, and two sisters, Helen Evelyn Trevor (who married Brig.-Gen. Hugh Archdale) and Alice Catherine Trevor. His mother, Helen Sophia Duff (1834–1930), was the eldest daughter of Admiral Norwich Duff. Her grandfather George Duff was killed at the
Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition. As part of Na ...
. His father, Captain Boscawen Trevor Griffith, served with the 23rd Welsh Fusiliers and saw action during the
Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...
; he was also chairman of the Denbighshire Court of Quarter Sessions for many years. The captain was the only son of Thomas Griffith and his second wife, Elizabeth Mary Boscawen, the daughter of Lt.-Gen. Hon. George Boscawen, who was the fourth son of Viscount Falmouth. In 1875, the family assumed the additional surname of Boscawen when Elizabeth died. Sir Arthur was educated at Rugby School and Queen's College, Oxford. In 1892, he was elected Member of Parliament for
Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) (historic spelling ''Tunbridge'') is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Mall ...
in
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, a county for which he became JP in 1896. Salisbury, whom he accused of ignoring 90% of MPs, appointed him private secretary to
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...
Michael Hicks-Beach in 1895, a job he held before becoming Parliamentary Charity Commissioner in 1900, serving until 1905. Griffith-Boscawen may have been influential in helping to choose
Alfred Milner Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, (23 March 1854 – 13 May 1925) was a British politician, statesman and colonial administrator who played a very important role in the formulation of British foreign and domestic policy between the mid-189 ...
as the new Governor of Cape Colony. The aged Lord Rosmead was retiring, leaving the government, and Chamberlain in particular desperate to find a replacement. The choice of Milner, a brilliant Oxford scholar, was universally acclaimed in parliament as a shrewd option; the candidate was warmly praised for his courage in coming forward during the Jameson Raid crisis. Griffith-Boscawen lost his Tonbridge seat in the 1906 general election. He unsuccessfully contested East Denbighshire at a by-election in August that year, and Dudley, Worcestershire at the first general election held in 1910, before being returned for the latter seat later that year. He also sat as a member of the
London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...
from 1910 to 1913; he was knighted in 1911. Griffith-Boscawen had a special interest in working class housing throughout his career. He was a Tariff Reformer who admired
Joseph Chamberlain Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal Party (UK), Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually was a leading New Imperialism, imperial ...
because he became a very influential
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
even though he was not from an aristocratic background. He carved out a niche for himself as a parliamentary Churchman and strongly opposed moves to disestablish the Welsh Church; following its disestablishment and the end of his parliamentary career, he chaired the Welsh Church Commissioners from 1923 to 1945. Griffith-Boscawen was commissioned into the part-time 3rd (West Kent Militia) Battalion, Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), with which he saw embodied service in Malta during the time of the
Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...
in 1899–1900. The battalion later became the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) in the Special Reserve, and he commanded it as Lieutenant-Colonel from 1910. He was mobilised with the battalion at the outbreak of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, later commanding a garrison battalion of the Hampshire Regiment at
Saint-Omer Saint-Omer (; ; Picard: ''Saint-Onmé'') is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France. It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Sa ...
in France from 1914 to 1916, for which he was mentioned in dispatches. He was recalled to become Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Pensions in December 1916, then served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of the Board of Agriculture from 1918 to 1921. He was appointed to the Privy Council in the 1920 New Year Honours, entitling him to the style "The Right Honourable". In 1921, he was appointed to the Lloyd George Coalition Government as Minister of Agriculture but under the law at the time he was required to automatically stand for re-election to the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
. Griffith-Boscawen lost the ensuing by-election, in part because of Lord Beaverbrook's Canadian Cattle campaign, but another seat was found for him at a by-election in Taunton and he continued his career in government. Five years later the law on ministerial appointments would be amended to end the requirement for such by-elections. When Lloyd George's government fell in October 1922, Griffith-Boscawen was one of only a few members of the outgoing Cabinet who agreed to serve under the new Prime Minister,
Bonar Law Andrew Bonar Law (; 16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a British statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923. Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now a Canadi ...
, who promoted him to Minister of Health. The following month a
general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...
was held and Griffith-Boscawen once more lost his Taunton seat. He remained in government and set about producing a bill on local government rating which provoked fierce controversy in the country at large. In March 1923 he sought to re-enter the House of Commons in a
by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
at Mitcham, but was defeated by the future Labour Cabinet Minister, James Chuter Ede. Griffith-Boscawen was forced to retire from politics as a result. The resulting vacancy in the Cabinet was filled by
Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from ...
. Griffith-Boscawen wrote ''Fourteen Years in Parliament'' in 1907 and his ''Memoirs'' in 1925. In later life he resided at Pangbourne, Berkshire, and died in London in June 1946 aged 80.


References


Sources

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffith-Boscawen, Arthur Sackville Trevor 1865 births 1946 deaths Politicians from Denbighshire People educated at Rugby School Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of London County Council Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Agriculture ministers of the United Kingdom Knights Bachelor UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900 UK MPs 1900–1906 UK MPs 1910–1918 UK MPs 1918–1922 Kent Militia officers Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment officers British Army personnel of World War I Presidents of the Oxford Union Military personnel from Wrexham County Borough 19th-century British Army personnel Boscawen family West Kent Light Infantry officers