Royston Swire Griffiths
Royston Swire Griffiths (1885-1917)
Son of William and Edith Griffiths, of Llanelly
Husband of Gladys Swire-Griffiths, of 27, Barnfield Road, Exeter.
Died. 17-Mar-17 Major R.G.A. France. Age 31.
Commemorated: Faubourg D'Amiens Cemetery, Arras
1917 Obituary [1]
Major ROYSTON SWIRE GRIFFITHS, R.G.A., was born at Burry Port, Carmarthenshire, on 8th November 1885.
He was educated privately and at Llanelly County School, and passed the Matriculation Examination of the University of London.
At the age of eighteen he went to an engineering works in Bonn, Germany, for twelve months, and on his return he was apprenticed to the British Westinghouse Co., of Manchester.
On the completion of his apprenticeship three years later, in 1907, he remained with the Company, and was engaged on the erection staff of the gas-engine department in various parts of the country and abroad.
Among the various devices he evolved may be mentioned a method for making more effective the sealing in of metallic wires or tubes to glass vessels, and to prevent surface leakage when used as electrical conductors. He also invented an improved hand-grenade.
Soon after the outbreak of the War he joined the Naval Division of the Royal Engineers, and in January 1915 he obtained his Commission in the Royal Garrison Artillery.
He was on active service in France when he succumbed to a sudden illness on 17th March 1917, at the age of thirty-one, having attained the rank of Major.
He was elected a Graduate of this Institution in 1906, and an Associate Member in 1913.