Jim Griffiths
John Henry Williams | |
|---|---|
| Succeeded by | Denzil Davies |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 19 September 1890 Betws, Carmarthenshire |
| Died | 7 August 1975 (aged 84) Teddington, Greater London |
| Nationality | Welsh |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse | Winifred Rutley |
James (Jeremiah) Griffiths
Background and education
He was born in the predominantly Welsh-speaking village of Betws, near Ammanford in Carmarthenshire. The youngest of ten children; his father, William Griffiths was the local blacksmith. He spoke no English until he was five.[1] Educated at Betws Board School, he left at the age of 13 to work at Ammanford No. 1 colliery (Gwaith Isa'r Betws), where he eventually became Lodge Secretary. Griffiths was a pacifist and while campaigning against the Great War met fellow socialist Winifred Rutley, and they married in October 1918.[2] His brother (David Rees Griffiths, 1882–1953) was a Welsh poet who took the bardic name of 'Amanwy' after his native valley.
Political career
Griffiths continued his education by attending night school and became an active socialist. He helped establish a branch of the Independent Labour Party in Ammanford in 1908 and soon became its secretary. Later, he occupied the powerful post of secretary of the newly formed Ammanford Trades Council (1916–1919). At the age of 29, he left the colliery on a miner's scholarship (1919–1921) to the Central Labour College, London, where at the same time Aneurin Bevan and Morgan Phillips were studying.[3]
On returning home, Griffiths worked as
Following Labour's victory at the
During the long period in opposition, Griffiths became Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (1955–1959), and spokesman on Welsh affairs. He used his good relationship with Hugh Gaitskell to commit the Labour Party to a measure of devolution. Amid the Suez Crisis of 1956, he made an important speech opposing the underhanded tactics of the then Prime Minister Anthony Eden in which he stated: "This is for our country a black and tragic week... an unjustifiable and wicked war". This was said to sum up the mood of many at the time.
Given Griffiths' determination in having campaigned for a
Though by now suffering from ill-health, Griffiths avoided resigning from the
Personal life
He died in
Bibliography
- Plan for Britain: A Collection of Essays prepared for the Fabian Society by G D H Cole, Aneurin Bevan, Jim Griffiths, L F Easterbrook, Sir William Beveridge, and Harold J Laski (Not illustrated with 127 text pages).[6]
- Griffiths, James. Pages from Memory. London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1969.
- Griffiths, Winifred. One Woman's Story (privately printed, 1979)
References
- OCLC 573359444.
- , retrieved 7 March 2023
- ^ Jones, John Graham. "GRIFFITHS, JAMES (JEREMIAH) (1890-1975), Labour politician and cabinet minister". Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-333-56081-5.
- ISBN 978-1-849-90373-8.
- ^ Detail taken from Plan for Britain published by George Routledge with a date of 1943 and no ISBN
External links
- Election leaflet held by the national Library of Wales
- Selection of his writings
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Jim Griffiths
- Biography of James (Jeremiah) Griffiths (1890 - 1975), Labour politician and cabinet minister. Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig (Dictionary of Welsh Biography).
- James Griffiths Papers in the National Library of Wales
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