Leader Neil Kinnock Succeeded by The Lord Mishcon Children Josephine Marquand | Preceded by Position established Party Labour Party | |
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Prime Minister Harold Wilson
James Callaghan Preceded by The Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone Succeeded by The Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone Died 4 December 1989, Brighton, United Kingdom Books Human Rights - the Race Dimension, The battle for peace, In My Time: An Autobiography Education City Law School, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Aberystwyth University Similar Pearl Binder, Elwyn Jones, Troy Kennedy Martin, Stratford Johns, Richard Marquand | ||
Frederick Elwyn Jones, Baron Elwyn-Jones, CH, PC (24 October 1909 – 4 December 1989), known as Elwyn Jones, was a Welsh barrister and Labour politician.
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Background and education
Elwyn Jones was born in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, read history for one year at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and then at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He spent time in Germany in the 1930s as a young man.
Legal career
He became a barrister and Recorder of Merthyr Tydfil. He was also a broadcaster and journalist. He served as junior British Counsel during the Nuremberg Trials, and led for the prosecution (Leading Prosecutor) at the Hamburg trial of Marshal Erich von Manstein in 1948.
In 1966, he led the prosecution of the Moors murderers, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.
Political career
At the 1945 general election, he was elected as Labour Member of Parliament for Plaistow, east London. In 1950, he became MP for West Ham South, serving until 1974. In 1964, Elwyn Jones was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed Attorney General (receiving the customary knighthood) by Harold Wilson, a post he held until 1970.
In February 1974, he was once again elected to Parliament, now for Newham South, but left the House of Commons soon afterwards when he was made a life peer, as Baron Elwyn-Jones, of Llanelli in the County of Carmarthen and of Newham in Greater London. He then served as Lord Chancellor from 1974 to 1979, under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. In 1976 he was made a Companion of Honour.
Personal life
In 1937, Elwyn Jones married Pearl "Polly" Binder, an artist from Manchester. They had three children: Josephine, Lou and Dan. Josephine became a researcher on Jacob Bronowski's TV series The Ascent of Man and married Francis Gladstone (a relative of Prime Minister William Gladstone).
Elwyn Jones's brother Idris Jones (1900–1971) was captain of the Wales rugby union team in 1925, and was an industrial chemist who became Director General of Research Development for the National Coal Board.
Lord Elwyn-Jones died in December 1989, aged 80.