Alun Gwynne Jones, Baron Chalfont
Lord Temporal | |
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In office 11 November 1964 – 10 November 2015 Life peerage | |
Personal details | |
Born | Alun Arthur Gwynne Jones 5 December 1919 |
Alun Arthur Gwynne Jones, Baron Chalfont,
Early life and military career
Gwynne Jones was born in modest circumstances in
For gallantry and relentless determination during a period of eighteen months in command of his company in jungle operations. By his personal share in difficult, hazardous and successful operations, he set a fine example to those around him.[12]
Gwynne Jones was brevetted to lieutenant-colonel on 1 July 1960,[13] and was decorated as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1961 Birthday Honours.[14] He retired from the army on 30 June 1961 with the honorary rank of lieutenant-colonel.[15]
Political life
Entering politics, he was a minister in the
He was created Baron Chalfont, of
On 27 March 1967, in the
Chalfont resigned from the Labour Party in the early 1970s. He declared his resignation a "decision of personal and political principle". In October 1974, just after Labour won a second general election that year, he stated in an interview with the BBC journalist Robin Day: "I had hoped for a realignment of the politics of the radical left in this country and I believed when I left the Labour Party that a great success by the Liberal Party in this election could have helped that forward."[citation needed] In 1979 Lord Chalfont was one of a group of ex-Labour politicians who defected to support the Conservatives and Margaret Thatcher at the general election.[18]
Chalfont was the author of several military history books on subjects including the Napoleonic Wars.
He contributed an article on The Strategic Defence Initiative to the
Chalfont is a former chairman of the
Lord Chalfont retired from the House of Lords on 10 November 2015.
Personal life
In 1948 Gwynne Jones married Mona Mitchell (who died on 31 May 2008), the daughter of Harry Douglas Mitchell, and together they had one child, a daughter. He turned 100 on 5 December 2019 and died the following month, on 10 January 2020.[19]
Publications
- 1976: Montgomery of Alamein. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
- 1979: Waterloo: Battle of Three Armies. Anglo-Dutch by William Seymour; French by Jacques Champagne; Prussian by E. Kaulbach; prologue & epilogue by Lord Chalfont; edited by Lord Chalfont. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 978-0283987489.
- 1985: Star Wars: suicide or survival? London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
- 1987: Defence of the Realm. London: Collins.
- 1989: By God's Will: A Portrait of the Sultan of Brunei. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
- 2000: The Shadow of my Hand. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (autobiography).
Arms
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References
- ^ "Lord Chalfont". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
- ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ "Person Page". thepeerage.com.
- ^ "No. 34995". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 November 1940. p. 6624.
- ^ See The Fragile Universe: A Portrait of Alun Lewis, dir. by John Ormond (Cardiff: BBC Wales, 1969)
- ^ "No. 36085". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 July 1943. p. 3104.
- ^ "No. 36182". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 September 1943. p. 4238.
- ^ "No. 37698". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 August 1946. p. 4238.
- ^ "No. 37823". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 December 1946. p. 6168.
- ^ "No. 39039". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 October 1950. p. 5082.
- ^ "No. 40033". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 December 1953. p. 6588.
- ^ "No. 41257". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 December 1957. p. 7428.
- ^ "No. 42112". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 August 1960. p. 5451.
- ^ "No. 42370". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1961. p. 4149.
- ^ "No. 42400". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 June 1961. p. 4838.
- ^ "No. 43492". The London Gazette. 17 November 1964. p. 9821.
- ^ Secret plan to persuade 'reactionary' Falklands to accept Argentinian rule, The Guardian, 29 November 2001
- ^ Russell, William (30 April 1979). "Ex-Labour MP defects to Tories". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
- ^ "Lord Chalfont obituary". The Times. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
- ^ Debrett's Peerage. 2003. p. 296.
External links
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage[usurped]
- UK Parliament
- Interview with Lord Chalfont BBC October 1974. Starts at 2min 30 sec on clip. - YouTube.
- Portraits of Alun Gwynne Jones, Baron Chalfont at the National Portrait Gallery, London