Jenkins, Roy Harris (1920-2003), was a British political leader and author. He served as chancellor of Oxford University from 1987 until his death on Jan. 5, 2003.
Jenkins served in the House of Commons from 1948 to 1976 as a member of the Labour Party. He was also chancellor of the exchequer from 1967 to 1970 and home secretary from 1965 to 1967 and from 1974 to 1976. From 1977 to 1981, he served as president of the Commission of the European Community, an economic organization that was later incorporated into the European Union. In 1981, Jenkins quit the Labour Party. He helped form the Social Democratic Party and served as its leader in 1982 and 1983 (see Social Democratic Party (SDP) ). In 1982, he won election to the House of Commons as a member of the Social Democratic Party. In 1987, he lost his seat in the House of Commons. That same year, he was made a life peer and took the title Baron Jenkins of Hillhead.
Jenkins was born on Nov. 11, 1920, in Abersychan, Wales, near Merthyr Tydfil. He graduated from Oxford University in 1941. Jenkins wrote several books, including Mr. Balfour’s Poodle (1954) and Asquith: Portrait of a Man and an Era (1964).
