- Jim Griffiths
James "Jim" Griffiths CH (
19 September 1890 –7 August 1975 ), was a Welsh Labourpolitician , trade union leader and the first everSecretary of State for Wales .He was born in the strongly Welsh-speaking village of
Betws , nearAmmanford inCarmarthenshire . The youngest of ten children his father was the local blacksmith. His brother (David Rees Griffiths, 1882–1953) was a notable Welsh poet who took the bardic name of 'Amanwy' after his native valley.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. Griifiths was a pacifist and while campaigning against the
Great War met Winifred Rutley, who he married in 1918.He continued his education by attending night school and became an active
socialist . He helped establish a branch of theIndependent Labour Party inAmmanford in 1908 and soon became its secretary. He went on to occupy the powerful post of secretary of the newly formed Ammanford Trades Council between 1916–1919.At age 29, he left the colliery on a miner's scholarship to the
Central Labour College , London, On returning home he worked asLlanelly Labour Party agent, between 1922–1925, before becoming an agent for the Anthracite Miners' Association, 1925–1936, and President of the powerful Miners' Federation of South Wales – The Fed – in theAnthracite district of West Wales between 1934–1936.In 1936, he was elected Labour MP for the
safe seat of Llanelly. Three years later he continued his rise through the Labour movement by getting elected to Labour'sNational Executive Committee in 1939.Following Labour's victory at the 1945 general election, he was made a Privy Counsellor and Minister for National Insurance by Prime Minister
Clement Attlee . In this role he was responsible for creating the modern state benefit system. He introduced theFamily Allowances Act 1945 , a new Industrial Injuries Act, and the National Insurance Act 1948. Along withAneurin Bevan he was one of the chief architects of theWelfare State .He became Chairman of the Labour Party between 1948–1949, and in 1950 he became
Secretary of State for the Colonies . Within two years however the Labour Party was out of office. During the long period in opposition he was deputy leader of the Labour Party, 1955–1959, and spokesman on Welsh affairs. He used his relationship withHugh Gaitskell to commit the Labour Party to a measure ofdevolution . During theSuez Crisis of 1956, he made an important speech opposing the underhanded tactics of the then Prime MinisterAnthony 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.Having campaigned for a Secretary of State for Wales since the 1930s,
Harold Wilson persuaded him to delay retirement and serve as the first Secretary of State for Wales following Labour's 1964 general election victory. He established theWelsh Office and laid the foundations for the role until the 1966 general election when he returned to the backbenches. He was appointed aCompanion of Honour .Though by now suffering from ill-health he avoided standing down because he feared Labour would lose a by-election in Llanelli.
Plaid Cymru had captured the neighbouring seat of Carmarthen in 1966 and the popular Llanelli Rugby coachCarwyn James was poised to stand for the Party in a by-election had the ageing Griffiths stood down.He remained in Parliament until 1970 and was succeeded by
Denzil Davies . He published his autobiography, "Pages From Memory" (London: Dent, 1969), the same year.He died in
Teddington , Richmond, London, aged 84, leaving two sons and two daughters. He is buried at the Christian Temple chapel in Ammanford.In a memorial address
Jim Callaghan , then Prime Minister, described him as "one of the greatest sons of Wales. We honour the memory of Jim Griffiths of Ammanford. I mention his birth place because, despite all his honours and journeyings, it was the place of his birth, deep in the heart of Wales, that essentially shaped his life and actions."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). [ Detail taken from "Plan for Britain" published by George Routledge with a date of 1943 and no ISBN ]
Footnotes
reflist
External links
* [http://www.llgc.org.uk/ymgyrchu/Datganoli/SeneddiGymru/DASGX1.htm Election leaflet held by the national Library of Wales]
* [http://www.terrynorm.ic24.net/ Selection of his writings]References
* [http://www.archivesnetworkwales.info/cgi-bin/anw/search2?coll_id=206&inst_id=1&term=james%20griffiths Archives network Wales website]
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