Eric Newton 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

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

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

He passed away on 13 February 1979, at 65.[5]

References
  1. Nicholas J. White, British Business in Post-Colonial Malaysia, 1957-70: Neo-colonialism or Disengagement?, Routledge, 2 Aug 2004
  2. Wooten & Gibson, 1964, Who's who of Rhodesia, Mauritius, Central and East Africa
  3. A. & C. Black, 1971, Who was who, Volume 7, p.320
  4. Kenya Gazette, 8 Mar 1955, Vol. 57, No. 12
  5. Graya: A Magazine for Members of Gray's Inn, Issue 73, Gray's Inn, 1979


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