John Griffith (engineer)

Infobox Engineer


image_size = 150px
caption = Sir John Purser Griffith
name = John Griffith
nationality = Irish
birth_date = 5 October 1848
birth_place =
death_date = Death date and age|1938|10|21|1848|10|5
death_place = Rathmines Castle, Dublin
education = Trinity College, Dublin
spouse = Sarah Purser
parents =
children =
discipline = Civil
institutions = Institution of Civil Engineers (president),

practice_name =
significant_projects =
significant_design =
significant_awards =

Sir John Purser Griffith (5 October 1848 – 21 October 1938) was an Irish civil engineer. [http://www.atypon-link.com/ITELF/doi/xml/10.1680/ijoti.1939.13198 ICE Obituary] ]

John Griffith was educated at Trinity College Dublin and gained a license in civil engineering in 1868. [http://www.rds.ie/home/index.aspx?id=1698 Royal Dublin Society biography] ] He served a two year apprenticeship under Dr Bindon Blood Stoney, the Engineer in Chief of the Dublin Port and Docks, before working as assistant to the county surveyor of County Antrim. He returned to Dublin in 1871 and worked as Dr. Stoney's assistant, becoming the Chief Engineer in 1898 before retiring in 1913.

He served as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers in Ireland between 1887 and 1889 [http://www.iei.ie/webpages/pagedetails.pasp?pageid=78&menuid=1 ICEI past presidents] ] and of the Institution of Civil Engineers between 1919 and 1920.Citation | first = Garth | last = Watson| title = The Civils | publisher = London: Thomas Telford Ltd | page = 252
year = 1988 | isbn = 0-727-70392-7] He was elected Commissioner of Irish Lights in 1913 and was a member of the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways between 1906 and 1911.

Griffith purchased and drained the bogland at Pollagh, part of the Bog of Allen, a peat fuelled power station was built which drove an excavator, excess peat being taken by the Grand Canal for sale in Dublin. [http://www.loughbooraparklands.com/heritage1.html#anc1b Lough Boora Parklands] ] The site was sold to the Turf Development Board in 1936 who used it as a basis for all of their later peat fuelled power stations, the area is now a nature reserve.

Griffith received a knighthood in 1911 and became vice-president of Royal Dublin Society in 1922. He served as Honorary Professor of Harbour Engineering in Trinity College, his alma mater, and received an honorary degree from the University of Dublin in 1914. From 1922 he was an elected member of the Seanad Éireann, the Irish senate, until its abolition in 1936. [http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/print.asp?housetype=1&HouseNum=1934&MemberID=1348&ConstID=215 Election records] ] In the 1930's he and his wife, Sarah Purser, endowed the Purser Griffith Travelling Scholarship and the Purser Griffith Prize to the two best performing students in European Art History at University College Dublin. [http://www.ucd.ie/adulted/courses/ax402.htm University College Dublin prizes] ]

He died at Rathmines Castle in Dublin on 21 October 1938.

References

s-start s-npo|pro s-bef|before=John Aspinall s-ttl|title=President of the Institution of Civil Engineers
years=November 1919 – November 1920 s-aft|after=John Alexander Brodie end

Persondata
NAME = Griffith, John Purser, Sir
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Irish civil engineer
DATE OF BIRTH = October 5, 1848
PLACE OF BIRTH =
DATE OF DEATH = October 21, 1938
PLACE OF DEATH = Dublin, Ireland