John Grigg (writer)
Encyclopedia
John Edward Poynder Grigg (April 15, 1924 – December 31, 2001) was a British
writer, historian and politician. He was the 2nd Baron Altrincham from 1955 until he disclaimed that title
under the Peerage Act
on the day it received the Royal Assent
in 1963.
, a Times
journalist associated with the imperialist circle of Joseph Chamberlain
, Conservative MP, Governor of Kenya
, and member of Churchill's wartime government, who was created first Baron Altrincham
in 1945, and his wife Joan Dickson-Poynder, the daughter of Lord Islington. From Eton
, John Grigg joined the army
and was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards
. While in the army, Grigg served as officer of the Guard at St. James Palace and Windsor Castle
and saw action against the Germans in France and Belgium.
After the war Grigg attended New College, Oxford
, where he read Modern History. While there, he gained a reputation for academic excellence, winning the University Gladstone Memorial Prize in 1948. Upon graduation, Grigg joined National Review
, which was owned and edited by his father. As Altrincham's health failed, his son assumed most of the managerial and editorial duties before formally taking over the editorship of the now-renamed National and English Review in 1954.
in the 1951 general election, but was defeated by the sitting member Leslie Hale
. Grigg contested the seat again in the 1955 general election but was similarly unsuccessful. With his father's death in 1955, Grigg inherited the title of Baron Altrincham, which seemingly ended any hope of election to the House of Commons. Nonetheless, Grigg refused to apply for a writ of summons, abjuring his right to his seat in the House of Lords
.
His father's death freed Grigg to edit the National and English Review into a publication more reflective of his views. In 1956 he attacked the Conservative government for its handling of the Suez crisis
and pressed for an immediate withdrawal of British forces from the area. He followed his father in championing reform of the House of Lords, though he added that, in lieu of reform, abolition might be the only alternative. But Grigg stirred what was perhaps his greatest controversy when, in August 1957, he argued in an article that the Queen's court was too upper-class and British, and instead advocated a more "classless" and Commonwealth court. More personally, he attacked the Queen's style of speaking as "a pain in the neck": "Like her mother, she appears to be unable to string even a few sentences together without a written text...The personality conveyed by the utterances which are put into her mouth is that of a priggish schoolgirl, captain of the hockey team, a prefect, and a recent candidate for Confirmation".
Grigg's article caused a furor and was attacked by the majority of the press, with a minority, including the New Statesman
and Ian Gilmour's The Spectator
, agreeing with some of Grigg's ideas. Henry Fairlie
of the Daily Mail
attacked Grigg for "daring to pit his infinitely tiny and temporary mind against the accumulated experience of centuries". The Archbishop of Canterbury
, Geoffrey Fisher
, also attacked Grigg. When Grigg was leaving Television House
, after giving an interview defending his article, a member of the League of Empire Loyalists
came up to him and slapped his face, saying: "Take that from the League of Empire Loyalists". The man, Philip Kinghorn Burbidge, was fined 20 shillings and said: "Due to the scurrilous attack by Lord Altrincham I felt it was up to a decent Briton to show resentment".
In 1960 the National and English Review ceased publication as a result of financial difficulties. Grigg moved to The Guardian
, where he worked as a columnist for ten years. When Viscount Stansgate
succeeded in obtaining passage of the 1963 Peerage Act
, Grigg was the second person (after Viscount Stansgate himself) to take advantage of the new law and disclaim his peerage. Yet he never achieved his ambition of election to the Commons, and he subsequently left the Conservative party for the SDP
in 1982. He also worked as a columnist for The Times
from 1986 until 1993 and wrote occasionally for The Spectator
.
. The first volume, The Young Lloyd George, was published in 1973. The second volume, Lloyd George: The People's Champion, which covered Lloyd George's life from 1902 to 1911, was released in 1978 and won the Whitbread Award
for biography for that year. In 1983 the third volume, Lloyd George, From Peace To War 1912-1916, was published and subsequently received the Wolfson prize
). When he died in 2001 Grigg had nearly completed the fourth volume, Lloyd George: War Leader, 1916-1918; the final chapter was subsequently finished by Margaret MacMillan
and the book published in 2002. In all the volumes, Grigg showed a remarkable sympathy, and even affinity, for the "Welsh Wizard", despite the fact that their domestic personalities were very different.
Grigg also wrote a number of other books, including a biography of Nancy Astor, Volume VI in the official history of The Times covering the Thomson
proprietorship, and The Victory that Never Was, in which he argued that the Western Allies prolonged the Second World War for a year by invading Europe in 1944 rather than 1943.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
writer, historian and politician. He was the 2nd Baron Altrincham from 1955 until he disclaimed that title
Baron Altrincham
Baron Altrincham, of Tormarton in the County of Gloucester, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 1 August 1945 for the politician Edward Grigg. His son, the second Baron, was a politician, journalist, historian and writer. Soon after the passage of the Peerage Act...
under the Peerage Act
Peerage Act 1963
The Peerage Act 1963 is the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that permitted peeresses in their own right and all Scottish hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, and which allows newly inherited hereditary peerages to be "disclaimed".-Background:The Act resulted largely from the...
on the day it received the Royal Assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
in 1963.
Early years
John Grigg was the son of Edward GriggEdward Grigg, 1st Baron Altrincham
Edward William Macleay Grigg, 1st Baron Altrincham, KCMG, KCVO, DSO, MC, PC was a British colonial administrator and politician.-Early years:...
, a Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
journalist associated with the imperialist circle of Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain was an influential British politician and statesman. Unlike most major politicians of the time, he was a self-made businessman and had not attended Oxford or Cambridge University....
, Conservative MP, Governor of Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, and member of Churchill's wartime government, who was created first Baron Altrincham
Baron Altrincham
Baron Altrincham, of Tormarton in the County of Gloucester, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 1 August 1945 for the politician Edward Grigg. His son, the second Baron, was a politician, journalist, historian and writer. Soon after the passage of the Peerage Act...
in 1945, and his wife Joan Dickson-Poynder, the daughter of Lord Islington. From Eton
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, John Grigg joined the army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards
Grenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...
. While in the army, Grigg served as officer of the Guard at St. James Palace and Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
and saw action against the Germans in France and Belgium.
After the war Grigg attended New College, Oxford
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
, where he read Modern History. While there, he gained a reputation for academic excellence, winning the University Gladstone Memorial Prize in 1948. Upon graduation, Grigg joined National Review
National Review (London)
The National Review was founded in 1883 by the English writers Alfred Austin and William Courthope.It was launched as a platform for the views of the British Conservative Party, its masthead incorporating a quotation of the former Conservative Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli:Under editor Leopold...
, which was owned and edited by his father. As Altrincham's health failed, his son assumed most of the managerial and editorial duties before formally taking over the editorship of the now-renamed National and English Review in 1954.
Political career and controversy
A liberal Tory, Grigg entertained hopes of election to the House of Commons. He stood for election for the recently created Oldham WestOldham West (UK Parliament constituency)
Oldham West was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Oldham in the north-west of Greater Manchester. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
in the 1951 general election, but was defeated by the sitting member Leslie Hale
Leslie Hale, Baron Hale
Charles Leslie Hale, Baron Hale was a British Liberal Party then Labour Party politician.-Background:Hale was the son of Benjamin George Hale, a managing director. He went to the Ashby Grammar School and trained to be a solicitor in Leicester...
. Grigg contested the seat again in the 1955 general election but was similarly unsuccessful. With his father's death in 1955, Grigg inherited the title of Baron Altrincham, which seemingly ended any hope of election to the House of Commons. Nonetheless, Grigg refused to apply for a writ of summons, abjuring his right to his seat in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
.
His father's death freed Grigg to edit the National and English Review into a publication more reflective of his views. In 1956 he attacked the Conservative government for its handling of the Suez crisis
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
and pressed for an immediate withdrawal of British forces from the area. He followed his father in championing reform of the House of Lords, though he added that, in lieu of reform, abolition might be the only alternative. But Grigg stirred what was perhaps his greatest controversy when, in August 1957, he argued in an article that the Queen's court was too upper-class and British, and instead advocated a more "classless" and Commonwealth court. More personally, he attacked the Queen's style of speaking as "a pain in the neck": "Like her mother, she appears to be unable to string even a few sentences together without a written text...The personality conveyed by the utterances which are put into her mouth is that of a priggish schoolgirl, captain of the hockey team, a prefect, and a recent candidate for Confirmation".
Grigg's article caused a furor and was attacked by the majority of the press, with a minority, including the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
and Ian Gilmour's The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
, agreeing with some of Grigg's ideas. Henry Fairlie
Henry Fairlie
Henry Jones Fairlie was a British political journalist and social critic. Sometimes mistakenly believed to have coined the term "the Establishment", an analysis of how "all the right people" came to run Britain largely through social connections, he spent 36 years as a prominent freelance writer...
of the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
attacked Grigg for "daring to pit his infinitely tiny and temporary mind against the accumulated experience of centuries". The Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, Geoffrey Fisher
Geoffrey Fisher
Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth, GCVO, PC was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1945 to 1961.-Background:...
, also attacked Grigg. When Grigg was leaving Television House
Television House
Television House, on Kingsway in London was, from 1955, the London headquarters of Associated-Rediffusion, Independent Television News , TV Times magazine, the Independent Television Companies Association and, at first, Associated TeleVision...
, after giving an interview defending his article, a member of the League of Empire Loyalists
League of Empire Loyalists
The League of Empire Loyalists was a British pressure group , established in 1954, which campaigned against the dissolution of the British Empire. The League was a small group of current or former members of the Conservative Party led by Arthur K...
came up to him and slapped his face, saying: "Take that from the League of Empire Loyalists". The man, Philip Kinghorn Burbidge, was fined 20 shillings and said: "Due to the scurrilous attack by Lord Altrincham I felt it was up to a decent Briton to show resentment".
In 1960 the National and English Review ceased publication as a result of financial difficulties. Grigg moved to The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, where he worked as a columnist for ten years. When Viscount Stansgate
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
succeeded in obtaining passage of the 1963 Peerage Act
Peerage Act 1963
The Peerage Act 1963 is the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that permitted peeresses in their own right and all Scottish hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, and which allows newly inherited hereditary peerages to be "disclaimed".-Background:The Act resulted largely from the...
, Grigg was the second person (after Viscount Stansgate himself) to take advantage of the new law and disclaim his peerage. Yet he never achieved his ambition of election to the Commons, and he subsequently left the Conservative party for the SDP
Social Democratic Party (UK)
The Social Democratic Party was a political party in the United Kingdom that was created on 26 March 1981 and existed until 1988. It was founded by four senior Labour Party 'moderates', dubbed the 'Gang of Four': Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams...
in 1982. He also worked as a columnist for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
from 1986 until 1993 and wrote occasionally for The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
.
Work as a biographer and historian
By the late 1960s, Grigg turned his attention to the project that would occupy him for the remainder of his life: a multi-volume biography of the British prime minister David Lloyd GeorgeDavid Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
. The first volume, The Young Lloyd George, was published in 1973. The second volume, Lloyd George: The People's Champion, which covered Lloyd George's life from 1902 to 1911, was released in 1978 and won the Whitbread Award
Costa Book Awards
The Costa Book Awards are a series of literary awards given to books by authors based in Great Britain and Ireland. They were known as the Whitbread Book Awards until 2005, after which Costa Coffee, a subsidiary of Whitbread, took over sponsorship....
for biography for that year. In 1983 the third volume, Lloyd George, From Peace To War 1912-1916, was published and subsequently received the Wolfson prize
Wolfson History Prize
The Wolfson History Prizes are literary awards given annually in the United Kingdom to promote and encourage standards of excellence in the writing of history for the general public...
). When he died in 2001 Grigg had nearly completed the fourth volume, Lloyd George: War Leader, 1916-1918; the final chapter was subsequently finished by Margaret MacMillan
Margaret MacMillan
Margaret Olwen MacMillan, OC is a historian and professor at the University of Oxford, where she is Warden of St. Antony's College. She is former provost of Trinity College and professor of history at the University of Toronto and previously, at Ryerson University...
and the book published in 2002. In all the volumes, Grigg showed a remarkable sympathy, and even affinity, for the "Welsh Wizard", despite the fact that their domestic personalities were very different.
Grigg also wrote a number of other books, including a biography of Nancy Astor, Volume VI in the official history of The Times covering the Thomson
Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet
Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet GBE was a Canadian newspaper proprietor and media entrepreneur.-Career:...
proprietorship, and The Victory that Never Was, in which he argued that the Western Allies prolonged the Second World War for a year by invading Europe in 1944 rather than 1943.