Sir Eldon Wylie Griffiths (25 May 1925 – 3 June 2014) was a British

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 ...

politician and journalist.

Early life

Griffiths was born on 25 May 1925 in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. His Welsh father was a police sergeant. He attended Ashton-under-Lyne Grammar School. Following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

service in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

he gained a double first class degree in history from

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

, and an MA from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

.Eldon Griffiths Obituary in the Daily Telegraph
Retrieved 4 June 2014

Career

Journalism

After university Griffiths worked in the

Conservative Research Department The Conservative Research Department (CRD) is part of the central organisation of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. It operates alongside other departments of Conservative Campaign Headquarters in Westminster. The CRD has been descri ...

and became a journalist and farmer. He was managing editor of ''

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''.

Political career

He became the MP for

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

after a by-election in 1964, and represented the seat until he retired in 1992. His ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'' obituary claimed he was "rangy, articulate, but dour... a political loner, and not over-popular on the Tory benches." However, it listed many achievements as MP and in other spheres. He served as Minister for Sport during the

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 ...

government of 1970 to 1974. He also served as parliamentary spokesman for the Police Federation. In 1985, he was made a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

for "political service".

Academia

For a brief period while an MP, Griffiths worked as a professor at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

, a role in which ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' said led to him being called the member for Orange County.

Director appointments

Griffiths was a director of one of Gerald Carroll's

Carroll Group The Carroll Group was a family-owned group of businesses formed in the early twentieth century that expanded rapidly in the 1980s when it was taken over by Gerald Carroll, grandson of the founder. At that time it was one of the largest private b ...

companies."SFO looks at 500m fall of Carroll empire", Dominic O'Connell, '' Sunday Business'', 1 October 2000, p. 1.

Personal life

In June 2013, aged 88, he announced his third marriage, to Susan Donnell.Former MP of Bury St Edmunds to marry for third time at the age of 88
Bury Free Press. Accessed 18 January 2023.

Honours

He was a Freeman of the borough of St Edmundsbury.

References

*''The Times Guide to the House of Commons'', Times Newspapers Ltd, 1966 & 1987 *

External links

* 1925 births 2014 deaths People educated at Ashton-under-Lyne Grammar School Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Yale University alumni Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Government ministers of the United Kingdom Knights Bachelor UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 Royal Air Force personnel of World War II {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1920s-stub