Godfrey Elton, 1st Baron Elton (29 March 1892 – 18 April 1973), was a British historian, academic and Labour Party politician. Having served in the British Army during the First World War, he was elected a fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford in 1919 and appointed a lecturer in modern history by the University of Oxford. In 1934, he entered the House of Lords, having been made a peer by Ramsay MacDonald. He stepped down from his university posts in 1939 and became secretary of the Rhodes Trust.
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Early life
Elton was born on 29 March 1892 in Sherington, Oxfordshire, England. He was the eldest son of Edward Fiennes Elton and his wife Violet Hylda Fletcher. He was educated at Rugby School, then an all-boys public school (i.e. independent boarding school). At Balliol College, Oxford, he first studied Literae humaniores (i.e. classics), and gaining a first class in Moderations in 1913. He then changed course to study history. However, he never took his finals as, following the outbreak of the First World War, he volunteered for the British Army.