Eric Griffith-Jones
Sir Eric Newton Griffith-Jones KBE CMG QC (1 November 1913 – 13 February 1979) was a British lawyer and administrator who served as Attorney General of Kenya between 1955 and 1961.[1]
Early life
[edit]Griffith-Jones was born in Singapore in 1913 to Oswald Phillips Griffith-Jones and his wife Edith.[2] His paternal aunt was Anne Griffith-Jones.[2] He was educated at Cheltenham College and was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1934.[1]
Career
[edit]On completing his studies, he joined the Colonial Legal Service and in 1935 began his career as a solicitor and advocate in Straits Settlements and Johor.[1] In 1939 he became Crown Counsel in Singapore. He saw active military service during the Second World War and was a prisoner of war between 1942 and 1945.[1] After the war, he resumed his legal career as a Crown Counsel in the Malayan Union.[1]
In the early 1950s, he moved to Kenya and was made Queen's Counsel in 1954.[3] The following year, he was appointed Attorney-General and Minister for Legal Affairs.[4] He served as Acting Governor in 1962–63. In 1963 he succeeded Sir John Hay as head of Guthrie and oversaw a restructuring of the group.[1] He spent his later years on the board of several companies.[1]
Death
[edit]He died on 13 February 1979, at 65.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g Nicholas J. White, British Business in Post-Colonial Malaysia, 1957-70: Neo-colonialism or Disengagement?, Routledge, 2 Aug 2004
- ^ a b Wooten & Gibson, 1964, Who's who of Rhodesia, Mauritius, Central and East Africa
- ^ A. & C. Black, 1971, Who was who, Volume 7, p.320
- ^ Kenya Gazette, 8 Mar 1955, Vol. 57, No. 12
- ^ Graya: A Magazine for Members of Gray's Inn, Issue 73, Gray's Inn, 1979
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- 1913 births
- 1979 deaths
- British colonial governors and administrators in Africa
- British Kenya people
- Colonial governors and administrators of Kenya
- People educated at Cheltenham College
- Colonial Legal Service officers
- Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
- 20th-century King's Counsel
- People from Singapore
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