HC Deb 10 December 1953 vol 521 c282W
127. Mr. Wyatt

asked the Secretary of State for War why Captain Gerald Selby Lewis Griffiths, of the Durham Light Infantry, was regranted a commission in 1940 despite the fact that when he was previously serving as an officer in the Royal Tank Corps he was, in January, 1935, convicted at Lewes of a serious offence for which he served a term of imprisonment.

Mr. Head

This officer was granted a commission in the Supplementary Reserve of Officers on 24th February, 1931. He resigned his commission in January, 1935. on purely military grounds. At the time when he was granted an emergency commission from the ranks on 26th October, 1940, the machinery for selecting candidates for commissions was working under heavy pressure. This no doubt led to his previous record being overlooked.