GRIFFITH, THOMAS TAYLOR (1795 - 1876), surgeon and antiquary

Born at Wrexham, 11 December 1795, he was one of the eleven children (and the eldest son) of Thomas Griffith (1753 - 1846, surgeon), and great-grandson of John Griffith (1654 - 1698) or Siôn Gruffydd of Cae Cyriog, genealogist and herald, who died 31 October 1698. The family of Cae Cyriog in the Hafod township, Ruabon, was there at least as early as the mid 15th century (P. Fadog, ii, 184). His manuscripts descended to his great-grandson Thomas Taylor Griffith, and he exhibited them at the Cambrian Archaeological Association meeting at Wrexham in 1874. They were later (1910), deposited at the National Library of Wales, and in 1923 became its property - NLW MSS 7006-10 . The most important of them is NLW MS 7006D, the famous 'Black Book of Basingwerk ' (see under Gutun Owain). NLW MS 7008E is Griffith's collection of North Wales pedigrees.

Thomas Taylor Griffith was educated at Dr. Williams's school and the grammar school, Wrexham, and after apprenticeship to his father went to Guy's and S. Bartholomew's hospitals, then to Leeds under Hoy (1810), and to Paris under Puytryne, becoming M.R.C.S. in 1817 and an Hon. Fellow 1844. He entered into partnership with his father at Wrexham (c. 1820) and in 1826 set up on his own account, marrying in the same year the grand-daughter of William Robertson (1721 - 1793), the Scottish historian. In 1832 he attended princess Victoria on a visit to Wynnstay with the duchess of Kent.

He took a large part in setting up the North Wales branch of the British Medical Association, of which he was twice president, and in the founding (1832) of Wrexham infirmary, where his portrait is hung. He was active in supporting the incorporation of Wrexham (1849-57), endowing the new corporation with a special trust fund but declining to become its first mayor. He and his wife were among the pioneers of free education in the town, helping to found the Ragged School (1852-81), of which he was first treasurer. He died 6 July 1876.

Authors

• Emeritus Professor Arthur Herbert Dodd, (1891 - 1975)
• Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, (1881 - 1969)

Sources

• Wrexham Advertiser
• Archaeologia Cambrensis, 1876, 234
• A. N. Palmer, History of the town of Wrexham its houses, streets, fields, and old families. being the fourth part of "A history of the town and parish of Wrexham" (Wrexham 1893), 18, 53, 86, 97-8, 110
• History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher, and the Ancient Nobility of Powys Fadog, ii, 184-7
• C. Dodd, Wrexham Schools and Scholars (Wrexham 1924) (Wrexham, 1924), 15-18
• Border Counties Advertizer, Wrexham jubilee souvenir, 1907
• NLW Archives: NLW MS 7006D, NLW MS 7007C, NLW MS 7008E, NLW MS 7009E, NLW MS 7010C
• Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, x, 230
• The National Library of Wales Journal

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20734530

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/