George Arthur Griffiths (7 May 1880 – 15 December 1945) was a British Labour Party politician. He was elected unopposed as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for

Hemsworth Hemsworth is a town and civil parish in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire and had a population of 13,311 at the 2001 census, with it increasing to 13,533 at the 2011 Census. Hist ...

at a by-election in 1934 following the death of the sitting MP Gabriel Price of South Elmsall. Mr Absalom Flavell, of

South Kirkby South Kirkby is a town in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England which is governed locally by South Kirkby and Moorthorpe Town Council. The town forms half of the civil parish of South Kirkby and Moorthorpe. The parish has a populatio ...

, had been recommended by a number of affiliated bodies for selection as prospective Labour candidate, but he voluntarily withdrew in favour of Mr Griffiths, who had a stronger backing, having been secretary and organiser of the Hemsworth Divisional Labour Party since 1917 when the constituency was created.. Griffiths held the seat at the next two general elections, and died in office in 1945. He was born in

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...

and started work in a coal mine when 13 years of age and was to move to Royston in 1903 where he was employed at the Monckton Colliery to progress to checkweighman. He became delegate for the Monckton Colliery branch to the Yorkshire Miners' Association in 1911 and was also a representative of the Barnsley area on the Miners' Welfare Committee. He also had a long record of public service as a member of the Royston Urban District and Council, being chairman several times. He was also a member of the West Riding County Council and served on the Public Health committee, Highways committee, Law and Parliamentary committee,

Public Assistance Committee A Public Assistance Committee (PAC), in the UK, was a body locally created after the abolition of the boards of guardians in 1930 by the Local Government Act 1929, when their powers and responsibilities for poor relief were passed to county and ...

and the West Riding Rivers Board.

References

* * Sheffield Independent newspaper article dated 7 May 1934. 1880 births 1945 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Miners' Federation of Great Britain-sponsored MPs National Union of Mineworkers-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1945–1950 British coal miners Welsh miners {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub