Eldon Griffiths

Sir Eldon Griffiths
Minister for Sport
In office
19 June 1970 – 4 March 1974
Prime MinisterEdward Heath
Preceded byDenis Howell
Succeeded byDenis Howell
Member of Parliament
for Bury St Edmunds
In office
14 May 1964 – 16 March 1992
Preceded byWilliam Traven Aitken
Succeeded byRichard Spring
Personal details
Born(1925-05-25)25 May 1925
Wigan, Lancashire, England
Died3 June 2014(2014-06-03) (aged 89)
PartyConservative
Spouse(s)
Sigrid Gante
​
​
(m. 1949; div. 1985)​

Betty Stannard
​
​
(m. 1985; died 2010)​

Susan Donnell
​
(m. 2013)​
Children2, including John Griffiths
EducationEmmanuel College, Cambridge
ProfessionJournalist and farmer

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

Career

Journalism

After university Griffiths worked in the Conservative Research Department and became a journalist and farmer. He was on staff of US magazine Newsweek, as managing editor.[citation needed]

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. 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".

Academia

For a brief period while an MP, Griffiths worked as a professor at the University of California, Irvine, a role in which The Times 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 companies.

Personal life

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

Honours

He was a Freeman of the borough of St Edmundsbury.

References

  1. 1 2 "GRIFFITHS, Sir Eldon (Wylie)". Who's Who & Who Was Who. Vol. 2024 (online ed.). A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Langdon, Julia (4 June 2014). "Sir Eldon Griffiths obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  3. ↑ Eldon Griffiths Obituary in the Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 June 2014
  4. ↑ Daily Telegraph, London 4 June 2014
  5. ↑ "No. 50154". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 1985. p. 1.
  6. ↑ Kidd, Patrick. "Times Diary". The Times. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  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.