- David Griffiths (missionary)
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David Griffiths (20 December 1792 - 21 March 1863), was a British Christian missionary and translator in Madagascar. He translated the Bible and other books into the Malagasy language. The Malagasy Bible of 1835 was among the first Bibles to be printed in an African language.
Life and work
David Griffiths was born on 20 December 1792 at Glanmeilwch, Llangadoc, Carmarthenshire, in south Wales. He was the son of William Griffith David and his wife Elizabeth. He became a member of the neighbouring Congregational church at Gwynfe in 1810, and soon after began to preach. He conducted a school of his own at Cwmaman in 1811-12; entered the college at Neuaddlwyd 1812, that at Wrexham 1814, and in 1817 or early in 1818 left Llanfyllin, whence the Wrexham College had been meanwhile removed, for the missionary college at Gosport.
He married Mary Griffiths in May 1820, and in June received the appointment of missionary to Madagascar, as colleague of the Rev. David Jones, who had gone out two years before. On 27 July he was ordained at Gwynfe, and on 25 October sailed with his wife from London, reaching Mauritius on 23 January 1821, and soon afterwards proceeded to Madagascar. With the help of his colleague he soon formed a flourishing church, preached twice every Sunday, and established day and night schools, his wife teaching the girls. In 1824, the schools in the capital numbered 300 scholars, and there were 32 other schools over the country, all of which he visited weekly.
In 1825, many Madagascans were able to help the work in all its branches. Griffiths and Jones devised a Roman-letter alphabet for Malagasy; in 1827 a printing press was obtained, and the following year a catechism, a hymnal, and some schoolbooks were published in Malagasy, and the printing of the Gospel of St. Luke was begun.
In 1828 king Radama I of Madagascar, who had been a friend of the Christian missionaries, died at the age of 36. A period of confusion followed, and the mission's work was for a time interrupted. In 1830 night-schools, however, were opened for the lowest classes, and the work of the mission generally was continued with success. In 1831 the New Testament was published in Malagasy, and a large part of the Old Testament.
But in the same year the mission experienced many new difficulties. Although the Queen of Madagascar, Ranavalona I, was favourable to the work, her ministers were opposed to it, and the missionaries were ordered to leave. But this order was cancelled, and from 1832 to 1835 the mission was continued successfully.
In 1835, however, a fierce persecution arose, and Ranavalona was forced by her ministers to expel the missionaries. David Griffiths preached his last sermon in the chapel on 22 February, and left the island in September 1835, reaching Britain in February 1836.
At the end of two years he received an intimation from Ranavalona that he might return as a merchant but not as a missionary. He did so in May 1838.
Persecution still raged throughout the island, and Griffiths was charged with having helped some Madagascan Christians to leave the country and was sentenced to death, a sentence afterwards commuted to payment of a fine.
He returned to Britain in 1842, and settled as pastor of the congregational church at Hay-on-Wye in Powys. While here he formed a new congregation at Kington, Herefordshire.
About 1850, some hopes being raised of renewing the mission in Madagascar, the London Missionary Society asked Griffiths and Joseph John Freeman, the only missionaries then surviving, to revise the Malagasy translation of the Bible. J. J. Freeman soon died (1851), and the whole work devolved upon Griffiths, who spent some five years on it.
In 1858 he moved to Machynlleth, where he busied himself in preparing for the press a grammar and other works in Malagasy.
He died on 21 March 1863 at Machynlleth, where he was buried.
Griffiths wrote the 'History of Madagascar' in Welsh, the 'Persecuted Christians of Madagascar' (London, 1841) in English, a Malagese grammar (Woodbridge, 1854), some catechisms, a hymn-book, and nine or ten original treatises. He also revised many works already translated, e.g. the 'Pilgrim's Progress,' the 'Whole Bible,' and dictionaries.
He had eight children by his wife, who died at Swansea on 15 July 1883, aged 93. One of his daughters, Margaret Jane, married the missionary and translator, Griffith John, and worked with him in China until her death in 1873.
Further reading
- D. Griffiths, The persecuted Christians of Madagascar ... 1838 to 1840 ... (1841)
- D. Griffiths, Hanes Madagaskar (1842)
- D. Griffiths, A Grammar of Malagasy (1854)
- J. Sibree, The Madagascar mission (1907)
- B. Gow, Madagascar and the Protestant impact ... 1819-95 (1979)
- R. M. Jones, 'Griffiths, David (1792-1863)', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- G. Campbell, David Griffiths and the Missionary 'History of Madagascar' (2012)
The archives of the London Missionary Society relating to Madagascar are conserved at the School of Oriental Studies in the University of London.
References
Gwyn Campbell, David Griffiths and the Missionary “History of Madagascar.”Brill, 2012. ISBN 9789004209800
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Griffiths, David". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.Categories:- 1792 births
- 1863 deaths
- Welsh Christian missionaries
- Welsh writers
- People from Carmarthenshire
- 18th-century Welsh people
- 19th-century Welsh people
- 19th-century writers
- 19th-century educators
- Welsh educators
- Congregationalist missionaries
- Christian missionaries in Madagascar
- Bible translators
- Translators of the Bible into Malagasy
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