GRIFFITH, ROBERT ARTHUR (Elphin , 1860-1936), author and lawyer;
b. at Caernarvon, 1860, son of John Owen Griffith (q.v.) (Ioan Arfon) and Ann (formerly Roberts). He was educated at the Liverpool institute and University College, Aberystwyth. For many years he practised as a solicitor at Bangor. He became a barrister of the Middle Temple in 1903, joining the North Wales and Chester circuit. In 1915 he became stipendiary magistrate for Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare, a position which he held until his retirement in 1935. On the literary side he was a keen eisteddfodwr; he assumed the bardic name of Elphin. He wrote two volumes of Welsh verse (Murmuron Menai and O Fôr i Fynydd) and a Welsh comedy entitled Y Bardd a'r Cerddor. [With David Edwards (1858-1916) and John Owen Jones (1861-1899), qq.v. in Appendix, he produced the pseudonymous The Welsh Pulpit: divers notes and opinions. By a Scribe, a Pharisee, and a Lawyer (1894) — Griffith was the ‘Lawyer’]. He also contributed as literary critic to Welsh periodicals such as Y Geninen. He d. at Cardiff 26 Dec. 1936, and was buried at Llandudno 31 Dec.
Bibliography:
- West. Mail;
- Aberdare Leader;
- Y Faner;
- WwW, 1920;
- [information from the department of printed books at N.L.W.]
Author:
Griffith Milwyn Griffiths, M.A., Aberystwyth
