John Anthony Hardinge Giffard, 3rd Earl of HalsburyFRS (4 June 1908 – 14 January 2000), was a Britishcrossbencher peer and scientist, succeeding to his title in 1943.^[1] A visionary industrialist and public servant who helped develop jet engines and the British computer industry, he also introduced the original private members bill to the House of Lords which eventually became law asSection 28 of theLocal Government Act 1988.^[2]

Giffard was educated atLudgrove School (where a schoolmaster inspired an interest in astronomy) andEton. His years at Eton were highly successful, as he was a house captain, rowed in the school eight, and was elected to the small band of school prefects known asPop.^[3]

Giffard was managing director of theNational Research Development Corporation 1949–1959, after having been Director of Research ofDecca Record Company 1947–1949, and previously worked forLever Brothers, andBrown-Firth Research Laboratories. Subsequently, he served on many public bodies, including chairing the Committee onDecimal Currency (1961–1963); the review on doctors' and dentists' pay 1971-1974 (from which he resigned) and theHalsbury Report into the pay of nurses and midwives 1974-1975.^[1] Between 1966 and 1997 he wasChancellor ofBrunel University.^[1]

He wasPresident of the British Computer Society during 1969–70.^[4] In 1970 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of theBritish Psychological Society.^[5]

In addition, he was also a friend ofJ. R. R. Tolkien and was one of the few people to readThe Silmarillion in Tolkien's lifetime, in 1957.^[6]

His grandmother was theEdwardian couturiereLady Duff-Gordon, otherwise known by her professional nameLucile, who was a survivor of theRMS Titanic disaster.^{[citation needed]}

• Hansard 1803–2005:contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Halsbury
• Obituary from The Guardian

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