Jacob Hackenburg Griffiths-Randolph

Jacob Hackenburg Griffiths-Randolph was a judge and the Speaker of Parliament throughout the Third Republic, from 1979 to 1981. He was born in Accra on 6 September 1914 and died on 25 July 1986. His daughter Rebecca is married to former President Nana Akufo-Addo.

He went to Adisadel College and rose to regional manager of the trading firm John Holt in Kumasi before going to London to study law; he was called at the Inner Temple in 1952. In 1959 Nkrumah made him the first African Commissioner of Income Tax.

In 1962, warned of his imminent arrest after criticising Nkrumah in a church sermon, he left the church and went straight to the Togo border. A coup in Togo sent him on to Nigeria and then into exile in England until Nkrumah's overthrow in 1966. He then became a High Court judge, sitting in Bolgatanga, Cape Coast, Tamale and Accra until he retired in 1979. That September the new Parliament chose him unanimously as Speaker, and he held the office until the coup of 31 December 1981. He and his wife Frances had seven children.