CARTER-JONES, LEWIS (1920-2004), Labour politician

He was born on 17 November 1920, the son of Tom Jones of Kenfig Hill, Bridgend, a former miner who had become an insurance agent. He was educated at Kenfig Hill council school, Bridgend County School and the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, where he graduated with a BA hons. degree in economics and a diploma in education. While at university he became chairman of the Student Finance Committee and, passionately interested in all kinds of sports, captain of the college, university and county hockey XI. He was head of the business studies department at Yale Grammar School, later Technical School, Wrexham, and he also became a rugby union referee. During World War II, he served in the RAF, becoming flight-sergeant navigator. He had joined the Labour Party in 1940 while a student and became a member of the TGWU. He unsuccessfully contested the Chester division in the 1956 by-election and in the 1959 general election. He was elected the Labour MP for the Eccles division of Lancashire in the 1964 general election and was subsequently re-elected there in each general election until his retirement at the general election of 1987. His successor in the constituency was Joan Lestor. He assumed the surname of Carter-Jones in lieu of Jones.

His cause, above all others, was that of the disabled, particularly the war-disabled. His mission in life was to encourage the use of modern technology to assist them. He developed a major interest in the use of technology to aid the severely disabled and the very elderly, industrial training and industrial safety. Lewis Carter-Jones was crucial to the passing of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Bill of November 1969. He was chairman of the Possum Charity Foundation and of the Committee for Research into Aids for the Disabled, organised by the National Foundation for Crippling Diseases. He was also an advisory member of the British Association for the Retarded and chairman of the Committee of the National Listening Library. He was a member of a large number of committees and bodies related to these concerns. Carter-Jones had focused interests outside his main field of activity. For 20 years from 1966 he was secretary of the Indo-British Parliamentary Group. He also developed a lifelong interest in Colombia after he had been a member of the Inter-parliamentary Union visit. His constituents had come to respect him, not least for his help to the Lancashire aviation industry, but also to love him for what he was, a thoroughly good and decent man. He was awarded the CBE in 1995.

He married in 1945 Patricia Hylda, the daughter of Alfred Bastiman of Scarborough, Yorkshire, and they had two daughters. They lived at 5 Cefn Road, Rhosnesni, Wrexham. He died on 16 August 2004.

Author

• Dr John Graham Jones

Sources

• Who was who?
• Dod's Parliamentary Companion
• The Independent, 2 September 2004

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Article: Lewis Carter-Jones

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q6536400

Published date: 2008-07-30

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/