Eldon Griffiths

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Sir Eldon Wylie Griffiths (25 May 1925 – 3 June 2014) was a British Conservative politician and journalist.

Early life

Griffiths was born on 25 May 1925 in Wigan, Lancashire.[1] His Welsh father was a police sergeant. He attended Ashton-under-Lyne Grammar School.[1] Following the Second World War service in the Royal Air Force he gained a double first class degree in history from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and an MA from Yale University.[2][1]

Career

Journalism

After university Griffiths worked in the Conservative Research Department and became a journalist and farmer. He was managing editor of Newsweek.

Political career

He became the MP for Bury St Edmunds after a by-election in 1964, and represented the seat until he retired in 1992. His Daily Telegraph 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.[3] He served as Minister for Sport during the Edward Heath government of 1970 to 1974. He also served as parliamentary spokesman for the Police Federation. In 1985, he was made a Knight Bachelor for "political service".[4]

Academia

For a brief period while an MP, Griffiths worked as a professor at the University of California, Irvine,[5] a role in which The Times said led to him being called the member for Orange County.[6]

Director appointments

Griffiths was a director of one of Gerald Carroll's Carroll Group companies.[7]

Personal life

In June 2013, aged 88, he announced his third marriage, to Susan Donnell.[8]

Honours

He was a Freeman of the borough of St Edmundsbury.

References

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External links

Template:S-endTemplate:Ministers for SportTemplate:Authority controlTemplate:AsboxTemplate:England-Conservative-UK-MP-1920s-stub
Template:Error
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/checkTemplate:Succession box/check Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds
1964–1992 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/checkTemplate:Succession box/check Minister for Sport
1970–1974 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
  1. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Eldon Griffiths Obituary in the Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 June 2014
  3. ↑ Daily Telegraph, London 4 June 2014
  4. ↑ Template:London Gazette
  5. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named WW
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ "SFO looks at 500m fall of Carroll empire", Dominic O'Connell, Sunday Business, 1 October 2000, p. 1.
  8. ↑ Former MP of Bury St Edmunds to marry for third time at the age of 88, Bury Free Press. Accessed 18 January 2023.
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