Nathanael Robert Griffith (1847-1903)
1903 Obituary [1]
NATHANAEL ROBERT GRIFFITH, born on the 2lst October, 1847, was the eldest son of Mr. Robert Griffith, a colliery proprietor near Mold.
After being educated at private schools and at the RoyalS chool of Mines, of which he became an Associate, he obtained his early professional experience in collieries in the North of England as a pupil of Mr. George Baker Forster.
He then undertook the management of his father’s colliery, and was subsequently employed at various large collieries in North Wales.
In 1876 he was entrusted by the late Mr. Henry Robertson, M.P. for Shrewsbury, with the sinking of the Plas Power Pits and Colliery under the ownership of the Broughton and Plas Power Coal Company, of which Mr. Robertson was Chairman - which became the largest in North Wales. Mr. Griffith was connected with the Company as Consulting Engineer, and afterwards as Director, for the rest of his life. No man was better known in mining circles in North Wales, and he was respected for his remarkable engineering ability, while his generous, kindly disposition made him a general favourite.
Besides being Consulting Engineer to many collieries in North Wales, Mr. Griffith acted in a similar capacity to mines in Italy, Spain, France, Belgium and Norway. He was one of the founders of the North Wales Miners’ Permanent Relief Society, and was Chairman of the Board of Management. He was an active member of t.he Council of the Mining Association of Great Britain, in which capacity he was recently appointed D member of an Advisory Committee in connection with the Home Office inquiry as to the use of electricity in coal-mines. He married in 1868 the fourth daughter of the late Mr. Mortimer Maurice, of Wrexham.
Mr. Griffith died at his residence, Wybro House, Wrexham, on the 10th February, 1903, at the age of 55.
He was elected a Member of the Institution on the 6th April, 1897.