View source for Arthur Griffith-Boscawen

{{Short description|British politician (1865–1946)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix =[[Lieutenant-Colonel]] [[The Right Honourable]]
|name = Sir Arthur Griffith-Boscawen
|honorific-suffix = 
|image = Arthur Griffith-Boscawen.png
|caption = Griffith-Boscawen in 1946
|office1 = [[Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food|Minister of Agriculture]]
|term_start1 = 1921
|term_end1 = 1922
|predecessor1 = [[Arthur Lee, 1st Viscount Lee of Fareham|The Lord Lee of Fareham]]
|successor1 = [[Robert Sanders, 1st Baron Bayford|Sir Robert Sanders]]
|office2 = [[Minister of Health (United Kingdom)|Minister of Health]]
|term_start2 = 19 October 1922
|term_end2 = 7 March 1923
|predecessor2 = [[Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett|Alfred Mond]]
|successor2 = [[Neville Chamberlain]]
|birth_name=Arthur Sackville Trevor Griffith
|birth_date = 18 October 1865
|birth_place=[[Trevalyn Hall|Trefalyn]], Denbighshire, Wales
|death_date = 1 June 1946 (aged 80)
|death_place=London, England
}}

'''Sir Arthur Sackville Trevor Griffith-Boscawen''' [[Privy Council (United Kingdom)|PC]] (18 October 1865 – 1 June 1946) was a British politician in the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] whose career was cut short by losing a string of Parliamentary elections.<ref name="obit">{{cite news |title= Obituary: Sir Arthur Griffith-Boscawen – Politics and Work for the Church |work=[[The Times]] |publisher=The Times Digital Archive |date= 3 June 1946|page=6 }}</ref>

==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]].  His father, Captain Boscawen Trevor Griffith, served with the [[Royal Welch Fusiliers|23rd Welsh Fusiliers]] and saw action during the [[Crimean War]]; he was also chairman of the Denbighshire Court of Quarter Sessions for many years.<ref name="obit1930">{{cite news |title= Obituary: Mrs. Griffith-Boscawen |work=[[The Times]] |publisher=The Times Digital Archive |date=19 May 1930|page=21 }}</ref> The captain was the only son of Thomas Griffith and his second wife, Elizabeth Mary Boscawen, the daughter of Lt.-Gen. [[George Boscawen (British Army general)|Hon. George Boscawen]], who was the fourth son of [[Hugh Boscawen, 1st Viscount Falmouth|Viscount Falmouth]]. In 1875, the family assumed the additional surname of Boscawen when Elizabeth died.<ref name="obit"/>

Sir Arthur was educated at [[Rugby School]] and [[Queen's College, Oxford]].<ref name="obit"/>

In 1892, he was elected Member of Parliament for [[Tunbridge (UK Parliament constituency)|Tonbridge]] in [[Kent]], a county for which he became [[Justice of the Peace|JP]] in 1896.<ref name=kellys>{{cite book|title=Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1920|publisher=Kelly's|page=730}}</ref> Salisbury, whom he accused of ignoring 90% of MPs, appointed him private secretary to [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] [[Michael Hicks-Beach, 1st Earl St Aldwyn|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]] 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 United Kingdom general election|1906 general election]]. He unsuccessfully contested [[East Denbighshire (UK Parliament constituency)|East Denbighshire]] at a by-election in August that year, and [[Dudley (UK Parliament constituency)|Dudley, Worcestershire]] at the [[January 1910 United Kingdom general election|first general election]] held in 1910, before being returned for the latter seat [[December 1910 United Kingdom general election|later that year]]. He also sat as a member of the [[London County Council]] from 1910 to 1913; he was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in 1911.<ref name="obit"/>

Griffith-Boscawen had a special interest in working class housing throughout his career. He was a [[Tariff Reform]]er who admired [[Joseph Chamberlain]] because he became a very influential [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] 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 [[Church in Wales|Welsh Church]]; following its disestablishment and the end of his parliamentary career, he chaired the [[Welsh Church Commissioners]] from 1923 to 1945.<ref name="obit"/>

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]] in 1899–1900.<ref name=whoswho>{{cite book|title=Who's Who, 1945|publisher=A and C Black|page=1126}}</ref> 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 (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-Colonel]] from 1910. He was mobilised with the battalion at the outbreak of [[World War I]],<ref>''Army List''.</ref> later commanding a garrison battalion of the [[Royal Hampshire Regiment|Hampshire Regiment]] at [[Saint-Omer]] 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 and National Insurance|Ministry of Pensions]] in December 1916, then served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of the [[Board of Agriculture (United Kingdom)|Board of Agriculture]] from 1918 to 1921. He was appointed to the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]] in the 1920 [[New Year Honours]],<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31712 |supp=y|page=1|date=30 December 1919}}</ref> entitling him to the style "The Right Honourable".

In 1921, he was appointed to the [[Lloyd George Coalition Government]] as [[Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food|Minister of Agriculture]] but under the law at the time he was required to automatically stand for re-election to the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]].  Griffith-Boscawen lost [[1921 Dudley by-election|the ensuing by-election]], in part because of [[William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook|Lord Beaverbrook]]'s Canadian Cattle campaign, but another seat was found for him at a [[1921 Taunton by-election|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.

[[File:Memorial on the wall - geograph.org.uk - 1477856.jpg|right|thumb|Memorial in St James the Less, [[Pangbourne]]]]
When [[David Lloyd George|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]], who promoted him to [[Secretary of State for Health|Minister of Health]].  The following month a [[1922 United Kingdom general election|general election]] was held and Griffith-Boscawen once more lost his [[Taunton (UK Parliament constituency)|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 [[1923 Mitcham by-election|by-election]] at [[Mitcham (UK Parliament constituency)|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]].

Griffith-Boscawen wrote ''Fourteen Years in Parliament'' in 1907 and his ''Memoirs'' in 1925.  In later life he resided at [[Pangbourne]], Berkshire,<ref name=whoswho /> and died in London in June 1946 aged 80.<ref name="obit"/>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
*{{citation | title=Sir Arthur Griffith-Boscawen | journal=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] | place=Oxford }}
*{{cite book | author=Andrew Roberts | author-link=Andrew Roberts (historian) | title=Salisbury: Victorian Titan | place=London | date=1999 | ref=p.781 }}

== External links ==
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-arthur-griffith-boscawen | Arthur Griffith-Boscawen }}

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{{succession box
  | title  = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Tunbridge (UK Parliament constituency)|Tunbridge]]
  | years  = [[1892 United Kingdom general election|1892]]–[[1906 United Kingdom general election|1906]]
  | before = [[Robert Norton (British politician)|Robert Norton]]
  | after  = [[Alfred Paget Hedges]]
}}
{{succession box
  | title  = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Dudley (UK Parliament constituency)|Dudley]]
  | years  = [[December 1910 United Kingdom general election|Dec. 1910]]–[[1921 Dudley by-election|1921]]
  | before = [[Arthur George Hooper]]
  | after  = [[James Wilson (UK Labour politician)|James Wilson]]
}}
{{succession box
  | title  = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Taunton (UK Parliament constituency)|Taunton]]
  | years  = [[1921 Taunton by-election|1921]]–[[1922 United Kingdom general election|1922]]
  | before = [[Sir Dennis Boles, 1st Baronet|Dennis Boles]]
  | after  = [[John Hope Simpson]]
}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box
  | title  = [[Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food|Minister of Agriculture]]
  | years  = 1921–1922
  | before = [[Arthur Hamilton Lee, 1st Viscount Lee of Fareham|The Lord Lee of Fareham]]
  | after  = [[Robert Arthur Sanders, 1st Baron Bayford|Sir Robert Sanders]]
}}
{{succession box
  | title  = [[Secretary of State for Health|Minister of Health]]
  | years  = 1922–1923
  | before = [[Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett|Alfred Mond]]
  | after  = [[Neville Chamberlain]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Secretary of State for Health}}
{{Bonar Law Ministry}}
{{Authority control}}

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