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.

Legal career

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.

• Leigh Rayment' s baronetage page
• Archives Network Wales
• Welsh Biography Online

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir Ellis Ellis-Griffith
• Monument to Sir Ellis Ellis-Griffith, 1st Baronet, at Brynsiencyn Church
• Portraits of Sir Ellis Ellis-Griffith at the National Portrait Gallery, London