GRIFFITH
,
DAVID
(
Clwydfardd
;
1800
-
1894
),
eisteddfodic bard and arch-druid
;
b. in
Vale Street
,
Denbigh
,
29 Nov. 1800
. Like his father,
Richard
Griffith
, he was a
watch- and clock-maker
by trade. He was a powerful man physically and, as a
Wesleyan lay preacher
, (
1827-94
), frequently walked thirty miles to keep his Sunday engagements — at the age of eighty-four he walked to the top of
Snowdon
and back. He says:
‘I was appointed
Arch-druid
… in
1860
; but it was at
Wrexham eisteddfod
in the year
1876
that I was licensed as
Archdruid of the Gorsedd … of the Bards of the Isle of Britain
’
(
Yr Eurgrawn
,
1895
, 127). From
1860
to
1894
he only missed one (
Carmarthen
) of these eisteddfodau. He began his long career as an
adjudicator
at a local eisteddfod (
Llan-nerch-y-medd
,
1835
) and he was the
official bard
of the
Aberffraw eisteddfod
in
1849
. He competed against
Bardd Nantglyn
(
Robert
Davies
,
1769
-
1835
, q.v.)
on many occasions and was awarded a
silver medal
as early as
1827
for a translation of
Goldsmith
's ‘
Deserted Village
,’ and composed the
englynion
which appear on the tombstone of
Owen
Williams
of
Waun-fawr
(
1790
-
1874
) (q.v.)
. In
1890
the government made him an award of £200. He d.
30 Oct. 1894
.
Bibliography:
-
Y Geninen
,
1895
, 86, 164, 260;
-
Yr Eurgrawn Wesleyaidd
, Dolgellau
,
Dec. 1844
,
April 1895
;
-
Bye–Gones, relating to Wales and the Border
Counties
,
1893-4
, 478-9.
Author:
Rev. Daniel Williams, (1878-1968), Llangollen
