Sir Ellis Jones Ellis-Griffith, 1st Baronet PC KC (23 May 1860 – 30 November 1926), was a British barrister and Liberal politician.
Born in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Ellis-Griffith was the son of Thomas Morris Griffith, a builder. He was educated at University College, Aberystwyth, the University of London and Downing College, Cambridge, where he read law and was President of the Cambridge Union.[1] He was called to the Bar, Middle Temple, in 1887 and worked on the North Wales and Chester Circuit. He was a Recorder of Birkenhead from 1907 to 1912 and was appointed a King's Counsel in 1910. Ellis-Griffith unsuccessfully contested East Toxteth in 1892 but in 1895 was successfully returned to Parliament for Anglesey, a seat he held until 1918.
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 Llanindan in the County of Anglesey. He was narrowly defeated for Anglesey in the 1918 general election by the Labour candidate Owen Thomas, and also unsuccessfully contested the University of Wales constituency in 1922. He returned to the House of Commons in 1923, when he was elected for Carmarthen, but resigned the seat the following year.
Ellis-Griffith married Mary, daughter of Robert Owen, in 1892. They had two sons and one daughter. He died in Swansea suddenly in November 1926, aged 66, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his only surviving son Ellis. Lady Ellis-Griffith died in 1941.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Thomas Lewis |
Member of Parliament for Anglesey 1895–1918 |
Succeeded by Sir Owen Thomas |
| Preceded by John Hinds |
Member of Parliament for Carmarthen 1923–1924 |
Succeeded by Sir Alfred Mond, Bt |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Charles Masterman |
Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department 1912–1915 |
Succeeded by Cecil Harmsworth |
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baronet (of Llanindan) 1918–1926 |
Succeeded by Ellis Arundell Ellis-Griffith |