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 The Attorney General of Kenya is the head of the Kenyan State Law Office, the principal legal adviser to the government of Kenya, and ''ex officio'' Member of Parliament and Cabinet (government), Cabinet. The current attorney general Justin Muturi ...

between 1955 and 1961.Nicholas J. White, British Business in Post-Colonial Malaysia, 1957-70: Neo-colonialism or Disengagement?, Routledge, 2 Aug 2004

Early life

Griffith-Jones was born in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

in 1913 to Oswald Phillips Griffith-Jones and his wife Edith.Wooten & Gibson, 1964, Who's who of Rhodesia, Mauritius, Central and East Africa His paternal aunt was

Anne Griffith-Jones Anne Laugharne Phillips Griffith-Jones Order of the British Empire, OBE (15 April 1891 – 28 November 1973) was a British educationalist who founded Singapore's Tanglin Preparatory School, which is now known as the Tanglin Trust School. E ...

. He was educated at

Cheltenham College ("Work Conquers All") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent School Day and Boarding School , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Nicola Huggett ...

and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

in 1934.

Career

On completing his studies, he joined the

Colonial Legal Service The Colonial Service, also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions, under the aut ...

and in 1935 began his career as a solicitor and advocate in

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...

and

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan ...

. In 1939 he became

Crown Counsel Crown counsel are lawyers, generally in Common Law jurisdictions, who provide advice to the government and acts as prosecutors in cases. In various jurisdictions their title can vary and they could also be known as the Queen's Advocate, King's Advo ...

. He saw active military service during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and was a prisoner of war between 1942 and 1945. After the war, he resumed his legal career as a Crown Counsel in the

Malayan Union The Malayan Union was a union of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca. It was the successor to British Malaya and was conceived to unify the Malay Peninsula under a single government to simplify administratio ...

. In the early 1950s, he moved to

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and was made

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1954. The following year, he was appointed Attorney-General and Minister for Legal Affairs. He served as

Acting Governor An acting governor is a person who acts in the role of governor. In Commonwealth jurisdictions where the governor is a vice-regal position, the role of "acting governor" may be filled by a lieutenant governor (as in most Australian states) or an ...

in 1962–63. In 1963 he succeeded Sir John Hay as head of Guthrie and oversaw a restructuring of the group. He spent his later years on the board of several companies.

Death

He died on 13 February 1979, at 65.Graya: A Magazine for Members of Gray's Inn, Issue 73, Gray's Inn, 1979

References

1913 births 1979 deaths British colonial governors and administrators in Africa British Kenya people Colonial governors and administrators of Kenya People educated at Cheltenham College Colonial Legal Service officers Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George 20th-century King's Counsel People from Singapore {{UK-gov-bio-stub