{{Short description|British barrister and politician (1860–1926)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable, Sir | name = Ellis Ellis-Griffith | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|Bt|KC}} | image = 1907 Ellis Griffith.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | office = Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department | term_start = 19 February 1912 | term_end = 4 February 1915 | prime_minister = H. H. Asquith | predecessor = Charles Masterman | successor = Cecil Harmsworth | office1 = Member of Parliament<br />for Carmarthen | term_start1 = 6 December 1923 | term_end1 = 19 July 1924 | predecessor1 = John Hinds | successor1 = Alfred Mond | office2 = Member of Parliament<br />for Anglesey | term_start2 = 13 July 1895 | term_end2 = 14 December 1918 | predecessor2 = Thomas Lewis | successor2 = Owen Thomas | birth_name = Ellis Jones Ellis-Griffith | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1860|05|23}} | birth_place = Birmingham, Warwickshire, UK | death_date = {{death date and age|1926|11|30|1860|5|23|df=yes}} | death_place = Metropole Hotel, Swansea, Wales, UK | party = Liberal (Before 1916, 1921–1926) | other_party = Coalition Liberal (1916–1921) | spouse = {{marriage|Mary Owen|1892}} | children = 3 | father = Thomas Morris Griffith | mother = Jane Jones | relatives = | education = Holt Academy | alma_mater = University College, Aberystwyth, University of London, Downing College, Cambridge | occupation = Barrister | profession = }} '''Sir Ellis Jones Ellis-Griffith, 1st Baronet''', PC, KC (23 May 1860 – 30 November 1926) was a British barrister and radical Liberal politician.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2XWGuS25msYC&pg=PA307 |title = Political Change and the Labour Party 1900-1918|isbn = 9780521530538|last1 = Tanner|first1 = Duncan|date = 13 February 2003}}</ref> He was born '''Ellis Jones Griffith'''.

==Early life and career== Griffith was the only child of Thomas Morris Griffith (1827-1901), a master builder, and his wife Jane (née Jones) (1823-1881). Both his parents were Welsh, but had been living in Birmingham at the time of his birth, before moving to Brynsiencyn when Griffith was a child.

He was initially educated at the Holt Academy, and passed both the Cambridge & Oxford local examinations in 1873.<ref>{{Cite news|date=28 February 1874|title=Brynsiencyn, Anglesey|page=8|work=Caernarvon & Denbigh Herald|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002967/18740228/103/0008|access-date=27 Dec 2021}}</ref> The following year he passed a scholarship examination for the University College, Aberystwyth, where he began studying in 1876. He took an arts degree at the University of London in 1879, graduating with double honours in English and Philosophy, before moving to Downing College, Cambridge, in 1880, where he read law and was President of the Cambridge Union.<ref>{{acad|id=GRFT880EJ|name=Griffith (post Ellis-Griffith), Ellis Jones}}</ref>

==Legal career== thumb|right|Ellis Griffith c.1895 Griffith was called to the Bar, Middle Temple, in 1887 and worked on the North Wales and Chester Circuit. Among his most notable cases was his defence of Major Spilsbury in the Gibraltar Tourmaline smuggling case in 1898.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tourmaline Case, 1898 - Macquarie Law School|url=http://www.law.mq.edu.au/research/colonial_case_law/colonial_cases/less_developed/tangier/tourmaline_case_1898/|access-date=2021-12-27|website=www.law.mq.edu.au}}</ref> He was Recorder of Birkenhead from 1907 to 1912 and was appointed a King's Counsel in 1910.

==Political career== Griffith initially stood unsuccessfully for 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1908/feb/28/womens-enfranchisement-bill-1|date=28 February 1908|title=WOMEN'S ENFRANCHISEMENT BILL. |website=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)}}</ref> 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<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30557 |date=5 March 1918 |page=2782}}</ref> and changed his surname to '''Ellis-Griffith'''.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30565 |date=8 March 1918 |page=3043}}</ref>

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, before returning to the House of Commons in 1923, when he was elected for Carmarthen, but he resigned the seat the following year, citing personal unfulfillment in his parliamentary career.<ref>{{Cite news|date=18 July 1924|title=Welsh Members and Their Troubles|page=6|work=The Western Mail|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000104/19240718/090/0006|access-date=27 Dec 2021}}</ref>

===Elections contested=== ====UK Parliament elections==== {| class="wikitable" ! Date of election !! Constituency !!colspan="2"|Party !! Votes !! % !! Result |- | 1892 || Liverpool West Toxteth || style="background-color: {{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}" | | Liberal || 2,479 || 40.8 || Not elected (2nd) |- | 1895 || Anglesey || style="background-color: {{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}" | | Liberal || '''4,224''' || '''56.9''' || '''Elected''' |- | 1900 || Anglesey || style="background-color: {{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}" | | Liberal ||colspan="2" align="center"| '''''Unopposed''''' || '''Elected''' |- | 1906 || Anglesey || style="background-color: {{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}" | | Liberal || '''5,356''' || '''67.0''' || '''Elected''' |- | 1910 (Jan) || Anglesey || style="background-color: {{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}" | | Liberal || '''5,888''' || '''70.7''' || '''Elected''' |- | 1910 (Dec) || Anglesey || style="background-color: {{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}" | | Liberal ||colspan="2" align="center"| '''''Unopposed''''' || '''Elected''' |- | 1918 || Anglesey || style="background-color: {{party color|Coalition Liberal}}" | | Coalition Liberal || 8.898 || 49.6 || Not elected (2nd)<ref name="1918–49">{{cite book |last1=Craig |first1=Fred W. S |title=British parliamentary election results, 1918-1949 |url=https://archive.org/details/britishparliamen0000crai/ |publisher=Political Reference Publications |isbn=0900178019 |access-date=5 April 2025 |date=1969}}</ref> |- | 1922 || University of Wales || style="background-color: {{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}" | | Liberal || 451 || 35.9 || Not elected (2nd)<ref name="1918–49"/> |- | 1923 || Carmarthen || style="background-color: {{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}" | | Liberal || '''12,988''' || '''45.1''' || '''Elected'''<ref name="1918–49"/> |}

==Personal life & death== Ellis-Griffith married Mary (1862-1941), daughter of Robert Owen, in 1892. They had two sons and one daughter. The couple's only surviving son, Ellis succeeded in the baronetcy after his father's death, but died without issue in 1934.

In November 1926, Ellis-Griffith (who had previously suffered small bouts of ill health) was in Swansea, as defence in a manslaughter case at the assizes court. It was noted during the day that Griffith appeared unwell, and after retiring to his room at the Metropole Hotel that evening, he was found by two colleagues, in great pain, on the floor. Despite receiving medical treatment, he died at the scene, aged 66.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1 December 1926|title=SIR ELLIS GRIFFITH. DEATH OF AN EMINENT WELSH K.C.|page=7|work=Western Mail|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000104/19261201/161/0007|access-date=27 Dec 2021}}</ref> His wife was in the Italian Riviera at the time of his death, and was brought home shortly afterwards. The cause of death was later ruled as apoplexy.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2 December 1926|title=The public funeral of Sir Ellis Griffith|page=4|work=Aberdeen Press and Journal|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000577/19261202/021/0004|access-date=27 Dec 2021}}</ref> He was buried at St Nidan's Church, Llanidan on the 4 December.

==References== {{Reflist}} *{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080501023523/http://www.leighrayment.com/baronetage.htm Leigh Rayment' s baronetage page]}} *[http://www.archivesnetworkwales.info/cgi-bin/anw/fulldesc_nofr?inst_id=1&coll_id=220&expand= Archives Network Wales] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605134416/http://www.archivesnetworkwales.info/cgi-bin/anw/fulldesc_nofr?inst_id=1&coll_id=220&expand= |date=5 June 2011 }} *[https://biography.wales/article/s-ELLI-JON-1860 Welsh Biography Online]

== External links == * {{Hansard-contribs | sir-ellis-ellis-griffith | Sir Ellis Ellis-Griffith }} * [http://www.tlysau.org.uk/en/blowup1/15506 Monument to Sir Ellis Ellis-Griffith, 1st Baronet, at Brynsiencyn Church] * {{NPG name|name=Sir Ellis Ellis-Griffith}}

{{S-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Anglesey | years = 1895&ndash;1918 | before = Thomas Lewis | after = Sir Owen Thomas}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Carmarthen | years = 1923&ndash;1924 | before = John Hinds | after = Sir Alfred Mond, Bt}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | title = Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department | years = 1912&ndash;1915 | before = Charles Masterman | after = Cecil Harmsworth}} {{s-reg|uk-bt}} {{s-new | creation }} {{s-ttl | title = Baronet<br />'''(of Llanindan)''' | years = 1918&ndash;1926 }} {{s-aft | after= Ellis Arundell Ellis-Griffith }} {{S-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis-Griffith, Sir Ellis, 1st Baronet}} Category:1860 births Category:1926 deaths Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Category:Alumni of Aberystwyth University Category:Alumni of the University of London Category:Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge Category:Presidents of the Cambridge Union Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs for Welsh constituencies Category:UK MPs 1895–1900 Category:UK MPs 1900–1906 Category:UK MPs 1906–1910 Category:UK MPs 1910 Category:UK MPs 1910–1918 Category:UK MPs 1923–1924 Category:Welsh barristers Category:Members of the Inner Temple Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Carmarthenshire constituencies